Why? You can also get the Fire HD 8 Plus, which features 3GB of RAM. The Plus comes with a faster charger and a wireless charging dock. However, there’s only one color option for the Plus model: slate gay. Storage is expandable up to 1TB via microSD for the base and Plus models. One big design difference I’ve noticed with this current-gen Fire HD 8 tablet is its awkwardly placed camera. On last-gen models, the front-facing camera is on the top bezel when you’re holding it in portrait mode. Now, in order to get the camera on the top bezel, you’ll have to hold the tablet in landscape mode. This might be a good change, though — this new position brings wide-viewing angles for video-conferencing calls. You’ll also find a microSD card slot on the bottom edge of the tablet. I watched Netflix’s Space Force on the Fire HD 8 tablet, and while John Malkovich’s camel-colored blazer popped and Steve Carell’s multicolored military medals were vivid, the display’s definition was unimpressive. You won’t be able to spot muted facial features, such as the actors’ pores and bulging forehead veins, which is par for the course for a tablet in this price range. Overall, the display isn’t awful, but it isn’t great either — it’s simply passable. The sound quality that emanated from the tablet’s Dolby Atmos speakers were surprisingly pleasing to the ears. On Spotify, I listened to “Break My Heart” by Dua Lipa, and the speakers delivered honeyed, jazzy vocals and well-balanced audio. The only downside is that the speakers, even at max volume, weren’t as loud as I would have liked. The sound didn’t quite fill my large testing space. On the Geekbench 4 overall performance test, the Fire HD 8 tablet earned a middling score of 2,437, which is far lower than the category average of 7,901. The Lenovo Tab 4 10 Plus and the Huawei Media M5 Lite netted scores of 4,097 and 3,705, respectively. As aforementioned, if you’d like to use the cameras, you’ll have to hold the slate in landscape mode. The Fire HD 8’s picture quality is nothing to write home about. The trim around my doorway is a rich, cherrywood color, but on both cameras, it looked like a dull brown. The cameras also struggled with reproducing textures; my burgundy, snake-skin satchel looked more like a solid, dark-red bag. You can also record videos with the two cameras. Alexa is the Fire HD 8’s shining star, especially when you command the digital assistant to turn on Show Mode, which transforms your tablet into a smart display. If you opt for the pricier Plus model, you can prop it on the included wireless charging dock to turn your tablet into an Echo Show-like device. One awesome use case for show mode is its amazing utility in the kitchen — ask Alexa for a taco recipe, for example, and a carousel of delicious recipes from different websites will appear. Alexa will also walk you through the instructions for the selected recipe step-by-step. While your fingers are sullied with remnants of pico de gallo, you can command Alexa to turn on some music while you make your tacos. On top of that, you can even make hands-free calls to anyone on your contact list. These examples are just the tip of the iceberg; there’s so much more that you can do with Show Mode and Alexa.
Bottom line
However, if you’re not into Fire OS, but you also don’t want to shell out too much cash for a pricey iPad, consider getting the Lenovo Tab 4 10 Plus. The Lenovo Tab 4 10 Plus offers the same awesome battery life as the 2020 Fire HD 8 tablet, but outputs better performance. Check out our best tablets list for more options. Overall, the Fire HD 8 is arguably the best tablet in the sub-$100 range — but it might not be the right one for you.
