Review: Kindle Fire HDX - Washington Post

You might be thinking about picking up your pumpkins right now, but companies are already gearing up some fierce competition for your holiday gift dollars. With the new Kindle Fire HDX, Amazon is refreshing its play in the tablet world, with an eye toward smaller, reading-focused tablets such as the iPad mini and Nexus 7.

Amazon loaned The Washington Post a review unit of its most basic model: a 7-inch, 16 GB Kindle Fire with WiFi connectivity. Here’s how it stacks up:

Hardware: Physically, the Kindle Fire HDX is a major improvement over previous models. Amazon apparently took heed of earlier feedback about hardware, cutting a good deal of bulk from the tablet and making such changes as moving the volume and power buttons to more logical spots on the device. The Fire HDX also has angled edges that make it easier to hold the tablet with one hand or two hands.

Internally, the tablet has a faster processor that mostly eliminates the lag that affected older models, though I found its keyboard is still not as responsive as its competitors’. It’s still not a tablet I would choose for work – though Amazon is marketing the Fire HDX and its security features to businesses.

The screen is bright and crisp for video, and users get a 30-day free trial of Amazon’s Prime Service, which includes access to Prime Instant Video. The Fire is slightly easier to read in bright light (there’s been little direct sunlight to test in DC lately) than other tablets, such as the iPad mini. Those who want a dedicated reading device are still best off with an e-ink reader.

Software: Amazon has made some revamps to the tablet’s appearance (it looks a little more Apple, with the shape of its icons). But, looks aside, the navigation here is designed to make it smoother to get from your most recent apps, to all your apps – and back. The effect, overall, is that it is easier to get from place to place on the tablet.

The firm’s Silk browser has also been improved, though it’s still not as smooth as Apple’s Safari or Google’s Chrome. But the redesign makes it easier to juggle multiple sites and move more quickly to most-used sites.

There’s also a new interface for Amazon shopping on the tablet, allowing consumers to save items they’re interested in buying without having to put them straight into their cars. Make no mistake, this tablet is designed to help Amazon sell its own goods.

Where the Fire continues to falls down, however, is in its app selection. Because Amazon uses its own version of Android, only a limited number of programs run on the Kindle. That’s fine if you’re using the tablet mostly to read, shop and watch video on Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime. But if you want to use the tablet for much more, you won’t have nearly as many choices as you would on other tablets.

Usability: There’s clearly been a lot of attention paid to making the Fire more intuitive. But if you still haven’t quite caught on, you can get help with in-device access to a customer service line by swiping down from the top of the screen and hitting the “Mayday” button. That will call up a customer service representative, live, on the screen.