Amazon's Fire HD 8 may be incredibly cheap, but it's a good Android tablet for anyone on a budget.
Amazon makes lots of cheap Android tablets. Some are low-powered, low-resolution slates, but others, like the newly updated Fire HD 8, are actually great bang for your buck based on our testing.
Since it's a budget tablet, the new Fire HD 8 isn't top-of-the-line, but it offers just enough quality tech to make it a great deal. The 8-inch screen has an HD 1,280 x 800-pixel resolution, which is sharp enough to make watching videos on it a good experience. It's just the right size for reading, and the grippy plastic body is comfortable to hold.
Amazon offers some fun colors, too, making this a great tablet for anyone who's bored with metallic tones and plain black budget devices. It should be relatively durable, though it isn't water-resistant, so don't go dunking it in the bath or pool.
The new Fire HD 8 offers decent performance, and Amazon's custom version of Android, Fire OS, runs smoothly. You can choose between 16 or 32GB of storage, but no matter how much you pick, you can expand it via a microSD card slot up to 256GB. We recommend that you do so, and you can check out the best microSD cards you can buy here.
You'll have access to the Alexa voice assistant and thousands of apps. However, although Fire OS is built on Android, it is not true Android. That means you won't have access to the Google Play store, where there are a ton more apps to choose from. Fire OS is very much a tailored experience envisioned by Amazon and it's a bit restrictive, but you can download most of the popular apps, including Netflix and Hulu. There's still no official YouTube app, but that's coming.
If you're a Prime member, you can watch Prive Video, read dozens of ebooks, stream music, and access shopping quickly on Fire OS. Prime buyers have the option of getting the tablet with special offers, which are ads on the lockscreen and elsewhere. The price will be lower, but ads may be annoying to some.
It's a very good deal for people who want a cheap Android tablet, especially if they aren't married to iOS or Android. If you have a young kid who would also love a cheap tablet, read all about the Amazon Fire Kids Edition tablet below.
Pros: Super cheap, cute color options, decent HD screen, Alexa, and sturdy build quality
Cons: Not the sharpest screen or the best processor