Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9
Amazon
Amazon has brought out not one, but two versions of its new Fire HDX tablet. The 7-inch screen version is likely to be the volume purchase, but is there a market for something with a bigger screen, an extra camera and a few tasty extras thrown in?
If so, it’s on sale now for £ 339.
Design
From a distance, the larger Kindle looks much the same as its cousin, with the same glossy black bezel on the front and rubberised plastic rear casing. It’s not a great deal heavier at 374g (Wi-Fi-only; the 4G version weights 384g) meaning it’s still easy to hold for extended periods. And like its cousin, the smooth edges are broken only by a microUSB charge / sync port and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9
Amazon
We’re glad to see that Amazon hasn’t simply upped the screen size while leaving the resolution the same. The extra inch-and-a-bit delivers a really rather superb resolution of 2,560 x1, 600 pixels, which equates to 339 pixels per inch – as good as you’ll find on any other tablet at the moment, including Google’s Nexus 10 and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1, which have the same resolution but are technically slightly less sharp because the pixels are spread over a wider area. It eclipses the iPad Air, too, which has a ppi of 264. Not that you’d really notice – at this level the human eye struggles to discern the difference. Suffice to say, it looks absolutely gorgeous, with pin-sharp detail and realistic colours. The high-res brings its own drawbacks however – watching HD YouTube video is fine for instance, but lower quality footage suffers all too quickly thanks to the display blowing up a small video, warts ‘n’ all.
Processor and Android
This larger Kindle HDX is running the same quad-core 2.2GHz processor backed by 2GB of RAM as the 7-inch version but that bigger screen means it has a bit more work to do to keep things moving. We found our usual AnTuTu benchmark test (which measures overall performance capabilities by running a series of processing tasks on the device) in the Amazon store (there’s no Google Play) but we couldn’t get it to run. Still, in general use we didn’t notice any significant slowdown.
It uses Fire OS 3, which is based on Android 4.2.2 and offers a more simplified, more iOS-style version of the standard Android interface. So you don’t get the busy widgets, but you do get quick access to all that Amazon’s increasingly huge store has to offer, including its book lending library, video from LoveFilm (streaming only for now), music and magazine subscriptions. The Mayday button is here again too, giving you instant access to an Amazon helper who’ll talk or text you through any problems on-screen – you can see them and talk to them, but they can only see your Kindle’s display.
Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 test photo
Dave Oliver
Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 test photo
Dave Oliver
Features and camera
The lack of Google Play is an occasional nuisance, though most of the big name apps are available from the Amazon store, such as Spotify, Facebook and so forth.
The Silk web browser is easy enough to use, and includes a Reading View option, which cuts out pics and presents text in a single, easy-to-read font and format.
The stereo speakers sound pretty good too, with a surprising amount of bass. There’s Dolby Audio sound processing on board that helps and this could well be one of the best-sounding tablets we’ve heard.
This version has an extra camera – an 8-megapixel lens on the back (the 7-inch HDX doesn’t have a rear camera at all). The autofocus isn’t quite as quick as we’d like and there isn’t much in the way of extras, but it’s capable of taking some pretty decent snaps in good light.
Conclusion
The larger HDX’s specs put it into competition with the likes of the Google Nexus 10 and Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. It may not have the versatility of either of those devices, or the iPad Air for that matter, but it costs less, looks great and is extremely fast, making it a strong contender, especially if you like your tablet to be straightforward and easy to use.
Also consider: Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 7-inch edition
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