Currently unavailable.
We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock.
Added to

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.

Fire HD 10 Tablet with Alexa, 10.1" HD Display, 16 GB, Black - with Special Offers (Previous Generation - 5th)

4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 16,951 ratings

To see product details, add this item to your cart. You can always remove it later.
The ad-supported option (also known as Special Offers or Lockscreen Ads) displays sponsored screensavers on your device's lockscreen. Learn more
  • Our largest display on our thinnest tablet yet. Available in black, white, and introducing silver aluminum.
  • Silver aluminum option features an all-metal backing for a premium tablet experience
  • Beautiful widescreen 10.1" HD display with over a million pixels (149 ppi / 1280 x 800)
  • Fast quad-core processor up to 1.5 GHz. Rear-facing 5 MP camera and front-facing HD camera.
  • Now with Alexa, a cloud-based voice service that provides quick access to the entertainment you want, including music, games, audiobooks, and more. Ask questions, shop, find news, weather, and more - just press the home button and ask.
  • Enjoy millions of movies, TV shows, songs, Kindle e-books, apps and games -- including Netflix, Facebook, HBO, Pandora and more
  • 16, 32, or 64 GB of internal storage. Free unlimited cloud storage for all Amazon content and photos taken with Fire devices. Add a microSD card for up to 200 GB of additional storage.

Top Brand: Amazon

Highly Rated
4.7/5 star rating from 100K+ customer ratings
Trending
100K+ orders for this brand in past 3 months
Low Returns
Customers usually keep items from this brand
Engineered by Amazon

Fast and responsive

The fast quad-core processor consists of two high-performance 1.5 GHz cores and two 1.2 GHz cores running simultaneously for quick app launches, smooth games and videos, and great overall performance.

Power when you need it

Don’t be tethered to an outlet—with up to 8 hours of mixed-use battery life, Fire HD 10 gives you the flexibility to go wherever the day takes you.

Beautiful HD display

Fire HD 10 features a widescreen 1280 x 800 high definition display with over a million pixels (149 ppi) for a bright, vivid picture. Enjoy a great viewing experience with wide viewing angles, less glare, blacker blacks and more brightness thanks to a fully laminated IPS (in-plane switching) LCD display.

Capture life’s moments

Fire HD 10 features a 5 MP rear-facing camera for taking photos and shooting 1080p video. Custom auto-white balance and auto-exposure algorithms help you capture sharp, colorful, and ideally exposed pictures and video in different lighting conditions. The 720p front-facing HD camera is perfect for Skype calls with friends and family.

No more worrying about storage space

Keep photos, movies, and compatible games and apps with you using a microSD card slot to expand your tablet’s storage by up to 200 GB. Plus enjoy free unlimited cloud storage for all your Amazon content and photos taken with your Fire device.

Stands up to everyday life

Amazon engineers Fire tablets to hold up against everyday life. As measured in tumble tests, Fire HD 10 is almost 2x more durable than iPad Air 2.

Designed for Entertainment

Read

Choose from millions of Kindle e-book and magazine titles. Connect with the largest online community of book lovers on Goodreads. Discover over a million titles with a Kindle Unlimited subscription. Also, listen to your favorite books with Audible. Plus, enjoy exclusive Kindle features you only get from Amazon like X-Ray, Whispersync, Vocabulary Builder, Page Flip, Blue Shade and more.

Watch

Enjoy all your favorite movies and TV shows on Amazon Video, Netflix, HBO NOW, and more. Discover hundreds of thousands of TV episodes and movies, plus fling Amazon Video content to your TV using Second Screen. Enhance your video experience with features you only get from Amazon, including ASAP, X-Ray, On Deck, and FreeTime Parental Controls.

Play

Over 400,000 apps including favorites like Facebook, Twitter, and Spotify. Play great titles like Frozen Free Fall, Angry Birds Slingshot Stella, and Sonic Dash from developers like Disney, Gameloft, Rovio Entertainment, and more.

Meet Alexa

Alexa comes to Fire Tablets

Alexa provides quick access to the entertainment you want, including music, games, audiobooks, and more. You can also ask Alexa questions, check your calendar, get news, find sports scores, and even control your smart home. All you have to do is press and ask.

Be Entertained

Whether you’re looking for your favorite playlist or need a quick joke, you can ask Alexa. Just press and ask for a song, artist or genre, and stream directly over Wi-Fi. Alexa also provides voice control for Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn, IHeartRadio, and more.

One Press. Millions of Possibilities.

When connected to Wi-Fi simply press the home button for 1 second then ask. Alexa will respond to you and will even show visual responses to certain questions.

Stay Informed

Now you can ask Alexa a question and get an immediate voice response. When you press and ask, Alexa can pull up your Flash Briefing, Wikipedia articles, news, sports scores, and more.

Everyday tasks made easier

Alexa on Fire tablets helps make the everyday easier. Just press and ask to set alarms and timers, check traffic, your calendar, to-do or shopping lists, and more.

Control your smart home

Alexa works with devices such as lights, switches, thermostats, and more from SmartThings, Insteon, Nest, ecobee, and Wink. Switch on the lamp before getting out of bed, turn on the fan or change the temperature on your thermostat while reading in your favorite chair, or dim the lights from the couch to watch a movie—all voice controlled from your tablet.

Meet Alexa
Fire OS

New Fire OS 5 features

In addition to Alexa, our latest Fire OS update allows you to quickly access great game play directly from the Games tab with Twitch, the world’s leading social video platform and community for gamers. Fire tablet owners will also have easy access to over 65,000 recommendations from ComiXology, which provides an unrivaled library of comic books, graphic novels, manga and more.

Share content with Family Library

Family Library links your Amazon account to that of your spouse or partner so you can easily share apps, games, audiobooks, and books, and it now allows Prime members to share their Prime Video content. Access your family's content across devices—both Amazon devices and free Amazon apps for other platforms, including iOS and Android.

Find the things you love easier

Fire OS is the best entertainment experience on a tablet with quick access to the things you do most. The home screen includes dedicated content pages for books, games, apps, video, music, audiobooks, and Newsstand, making it quick to pick up right where you left off. Powered by Amazon’s recommendations engine, you can quickly browse books, movies, TV shows, music, apps, and games suggested just for you.

No more waiting

With ASAP (Advanced Streaming and Prediction), Amazon movies and TV episodes are ready for you to watch instantly. ASAP dynamically adapts to your viewing habits.

On Deck automatically downloads Prime Video (for Prime members) and the first episodes of Amazon Original Series while your device isn’t in use, ensuring that there is always something new to enjoy instantly, even when offline.

Integrated on-device tech support

Screen Sharing brings Mayday-powered customer service to Fire tablets. Simply call customer service and Amazon experts can connect to your Fire tablet to co-pilot through features by drawing on your screen, walking you through how to do something yourself, or doing it for you—whatever works best.

The best of Prime

Try Prime free for a month

If you haven't tried Amazon Prime in the past, we'll give you a 30-day free trial. Experience what millions of members already enjoy—unlimited streaming of thousands of hit movies and TV episodes, ad-free access to over a million songs, reading a Kindle book a month for free, and Free Two-Day Shipping on millions of items. Learn more

Unlimited reading on any device

Prime Reading gives you unlimited access to over a thousand books, current issue magazines, comics, Kindle Singles, and more. With access from any device – including your phone, tablet, or Kindle – you can read however you want, whenever you want.

Stream thousands of movies and TV episodes with Prime Video

With Amazon Prime, members enjoy unlimited streaming of thousands of movies and TV episodes at no additional cost, including award-winning Amazon Original Series Transparent, top HBO shows; like True Blood, Girls, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and more popular movies and TV shows; like Downton Abbey, Under the Dome and Transformers: Age of Extinction.

No Wi-Fi, no problem—Prime Video downloads

Exclusive to Prime members, download thousands of Prime Video movies and TV episodes. Watch downloaded videos anywhere—on a plane, on vacation, in the car, or wherever you don't have a wireless connection. Prime Video offers offline viewing, included at no additional cost.

Over a million songs free with Amazon Music

Amazon Music gives Prime members unlimited, ad-free access to over a million songs, more than a thousand playlists, and hundreds of stations with unlimited skips. Find more music from your favorite artists, your favorite genres or let Amazon’s personalized recommendations introduce you to your next favorite band.

Add SHOWTIME, STARZ, and more to Prime

Prime members can add SHOWTIME, STARZ, and more to their Prime membership. These subscriptions are ready to watch anywhere, anytime—no cable or satellite subscription required. Starting as low as $2.99 a month, Prime members can go to Amazon Video to pick and choose their favorite channels to subscribe to, giving them instant access to episodes the same time they air on TV, including Homeland and The Affair from SHOWTIME, and Outlander and Ash vs Evil Dead from STARZ. Prime members can try any or all of these subscriptions with a free trial, and can cancel anytime.

Enjoy millions of movies, TV episodes, songs, books, apps, and games
Enjoy millions of movies, TV episodes, songs, books, apps, and games
Watch

Hundreds of Thousands of movies and TV episodes to stream, buy, or download

Whether you're a Prime member or not, enjoy a huge selection of TV episodes and movies, plus exclusive features like ASAP and Amazon FreeTime. Fire Tablets are an easy way to enjoy Netflix, Amazon Video, HBO NOW, Hulu Plus, and low-cost movie rentals.

Looking to cut the cord or get more from your cable?

Now you can watch TV without cable with subscriptions to apps like HBO NOW and Showtime, and with Sling TV—which includes ESPN and CNN—you can watch the big game or live news. Or use your cable subscription to stream what you love with on-demand through apps like HBO GO, Showtime Anytime, and Watch ESPN.

Watch on the big screen

Fling Amazon movies and TV shows from your tablet to your big-screen TV using Second Screen. This turns your TV into the primary screen, freeing up your Fire tablet to provide playback controls, a customized display for X-Ray, or simply be a place to email, browse the web, and more while you watch a movie. Second Screen is available for Amazon Fire TV, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4.

Read

Exclusive titles at the lowest prices

Over one million exclusive titles that you won't be able to find anywhere else. Shop the Kindle Store for millions of books, newspapers, and magazines. Over one million titles are priced at $2.99 or less. Over two million are $9.99 or less.

Read as much as you want with Kindle Unlimited

Choose from over one million titles and thousands of audiobooks. From mysteries and romance to sci-fi and more, freely explore new authors, books, and genres on any device for just $9.99 a month. Create virtual bookmarks with Whispersync, so your Fire tablet picks up right where you left off. Try Kindle Unlimited free for 30 days. Learn more

Enjoy vibrant magazines

Our interactive magazine experience allows you to start reading in just a few seconds with access to any back issue at any time on the cloud. Plus, most Kindle Magazines come with a 30-day free trial.

Share with friends on Goodreads

Fire tablets are integrated with the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations, with over 40 million members, 1.1 billion books added, and 43 million book reviews. See what your friends are reading, share highlights and rate the books you read with Goodreads on your Fire tablet.

NEW—Flip through books while saving your place

Page Flip makes it easy to find pictures, charts, maps and even your notes and highlights from different parts of a book. While you swipe to other pages or zoom out to see page thumbnails, Page Flip automatically saves the page you’re reading, pinning it to the side of your screen so you’ll never lose your place.

Blue Shade

Read comfortably at night…

Blue Shade is an exclusive Fire OS “Bellini” feature that works behind the scenes to automatically adjust and optimize the backlight for a more comfortable nighttime reading experience. Simply tap Blue Shade on the quick actions menu to turn on this feature and enjoy your favorite book, news article, app, or any other nighttime activity without straining your eyes.

…without giving up a good night’s sleep

Recent studies by Harvard Health Publications have shown that evening exposure to blue light from electronic screens can suppress our bodies’ production of melatonin, a naturally occurring hormone. The suppression of melatonin can prolong the time it takes to fall asleep, which in turn can delay REM sleep and reduce alertness the following morning. Blue Shade gives you the option to fine-tune the color settings, with the device intelligently adjusting the color filtering so that at any color or brightness, the blue wavelength light is always sufficiently suppressed compared to other wavelengths.

Play

Over 400,000 apps and games

Fire tablets feature instant access to thousands of the most popular free and best-selling games, social media, premium TV and movie providers, and so much more.

The best games

Enjoy best-selling games such as Game of War - Fire Age, SimCity BuildIt, Candy Crush Soda Saga, Monument Valley, and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.

Listen

Huge music selection

With millions of songs from thousands of artists, the Amazon Digital Music Store brings all your favorite music to your fingertips. Music you buy on your Fire tablet is saved to Your Music Library for free, and you can play or download it anytime.

Ad-free access to over a million songs with Prime Music

Prime members can enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to over a million songs, over a thousand playlists, and hundreds of stations. Find more music from your favorite artists, follow along to lyrics with X-Ray, or let Amazon's personalized recommendations introduce you to your next favorite band.

Listen to your favorite books

Audiobooks are great for your commute, while cooking, working out—all those times you can listen but can't read. Audible, an Amazon company, offers more than 180,000 titles, including best sellers, romances, thrillers, and much more. Every book is read by a professional narrator, including leading Hollywood actors such as Jake Gyllenhaal (The Great Gatsby) and Kate Winslet (Matilda).

Sync books across multiple platforms with Immersion Reading

Fire tablets can synchronize Kindle text with companion Audible audiobooks with real-time highlighting to create a more immersive reading experience, as well as deepen learning and comprehension. More than 60,000 Kindle books and companion Audible audiobooks are available across a wide array of genres.

Introducing Amazon Music Unlimited

For just $7.99/month for Prime Members (non-Prime price: $9.99/month), stream tens of millions of songs and explore curated playlists, stations, and weekly new releases—on-demand and always ad-free. Plus, with offline listening, your music is always at your fingertips.

Share with your kids

Designed with kids in mind

When kids use Amazon FreeTime, it's like they have their very own personalized tablet. The background color and fonts change to a kid-friendly design and they only see the titles that you give them access to.

Over 10,000 kid-friendly titles with FreeTime Unlimited

Amazon FreeTime Unlimited is the first-ever all-in-one subscription that brings together books, games, educational apps, movies, and TV shows—all the types of content that kids and parents love. From just $2.99 per month, enjoy unlimited access to content including titles from Disney, Nickelodeon, Sesame Street, PBS, and more.

Perfect for parents

Amazon FreeTime is built from the ground up to help give parents peace of mind when it comes to tablet use. Parents can create a profile for each of their children and choose which books, apps, games, and videos they want to give their kids access to. Amazon FreeTime is free on every Fire tablet.

Fire Kids Edition also available

The Fire Kids Edition includes the Fire tablet, 1-year of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, and a Kid-Proof Case—up to $109 in savings. Plus a 2-year worry-free guarantee. Learn more

Limit screen time, so they don’t just play

With Amazon FreeTime, parents can set daily limits for tablet use, or restrict certain categories—like games and video—while leaving unlimited time for reading.

Buy once, enjoy anywhere

Content on hundreds of devices

It's easy for you to access your content on other devices. The books, videos, audiobooks, and music that you buy can be enjoyed on other devices through Amazon apps, including apps that are available for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, game consoles, TVs, and more.

Sync your content across all your devices with Whispersync

Start streaming a movie from Amazon Video on your Fire tablet, pause, then resume watching the same scene on your TV. Whispersync remembers how much you've watched, read, or listened to so you can pick up right where you left off, no matter which device you are using.

Free cloud storage

With every Fire tablet, you get free, unlimited cloud storage for all your Amazon content including unlimited storage on photos you've taken with your Fire tablet, so you can rest easy knowing that you'll never accidentally lose the content you love. See details

Looking for specific info?

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
16,951 global ratings

Customers say

Customers like the picture quality, value, appearance and size of the tablet. They mention that the HD display looks incredibly clear and vibrant, and the video quality is excellent. They appreciate the size and quality of the product. However, some customers have reported issues with the battery life. Customers also differ on performance, and ease of use.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

2,480 customers mention1,900 positive580 negative

Customers generally like the quality of the tablet. They mention that it's a decent device, a very nice all-around machine, and a great little computer. The hardware is decent, and the tablet is a good, all- around the house, general purpose tablet that specializes in e-books. Some are also pleased and surprised at what the tablet can handle.

"...The tablet is factory new and completely unblemished (before I got my grubby hands on it at least.)...." Read more

"...For its price, it is a great size, reasonably powerful and well equipped, but is limited to Amazon's app store, which while by no means small, is..." Read more

"...I have watched a few movies and love the quality. I was worried about the speakers...." Read more

"...4 in terms of loading and connection issues both fire HD10 failed to meet the standards that the new fire HD 10 claims, I'm returning both plus the..." Read more

1,920 customers mention1,676 positive244 negative

Customers like the size of the tablet. They mention that it has a nice-sized screen for basic reading and video, and the larger screen makes a big difference. The picture is big enough and has incredibly lightweight. The wide screen format works well for them, and they love the aspect ratio.

"...As far as the size goes. The 10 inch size is wonderful! I love it! The tablet itself is rectangular instead of square...." Read more

"...the less vivid display and (slightly) longer load times, but the larger screen size and ability to use removable mini flash drives for extra storage..." Read more

"...10.1' screen is a plus, and the Bluetooth add-ons seem to work well so far; Bluetooth pairing was easy and stay on the device...." Read more

"...This is the right Kindle for you. The size is fantastic, the weight is perfect, and the picture/sound quality are excellent." Read more

1,749 customers mention1,425 positive324 negative

Customers like the picture quality of the tablet. They mention the HD display looks incredibly clear and vibrant, and the video quality is excellent. They also like the cost/hardware quality ratio, saying that the tablet is a good value for the price. Customers also like that the screen is easy to see and that the books are rendered in clean, clear text.

"...same resolution as my Motorola Xoom, it seems so much more crisp and clear, more defined. Much more then 1280 x 800 would suggest...." Read more

"...Audio is decent. Video is clear and sharp. Takes up to 128GB SD Card...." Read more

"...The Kindle is very lightweight! The camera quality seems great, though I don't use a Kindle to take pictures or video chat...." Read more

"...It's also a nice side for private viewing of videos, which I've not done much of on the previous Fires.3...." Read more

1,248 customers mention878 positive370 negative

Customers like the value of the tablet. They mention that it's a nice quality tablet at an affordable price and that it makes it easy to shop on Amazon.

"...The Grand Stand can be purchased at Amazon. It is not real expensive...." Read more

"...What I have found, thus far, is that the Fire HD 10 is a reasonably priced tablet that allows the user to experience the wonderful world of tablets..." Read more

"...Fire device, the Kindle Fire HD 10 has proven to be cheap, but not a good value. At least not for us...." Read more

"...But the size, value and ease in accessing Amazon universe led to daily use and recommendations to friends...." Read more

928 customers mention863 positive65 negative

Customers like the appearance of the tablet. They say the screen is beautiful, the design is ok, and it's nice and thin. They also like the new layout, which makes it more intuitive and easy to find things. Some appreciate the new composing icon and the fact that the tablet is factory new and completely unblemished.

"...The picture quality to me is beautiful, ABSOLUTELY beautiful, especially in H.D!..." Read more

"...I like the new layout, makes it more intuitive, more easy to find things...." Read more

"...The tablet is factory new and completely unblemished (before I got my grubby hands on it at least.)...." Read more

"...Read below and you'll see why.This Kindle has fantastic graphics. I have watched a few movies and love the quality...." Read more

3,761 customers mention1,826 positive1,935 negative

Customers are mixed about the performance of the Amazon tablet. Some mention that it has no lagging, while others say that it is slow and has a noticeable sluggish response time. Some customers also mention that the wifi tech inside it is the reason they cannot in all good.

"...Everything has worked out fine, no problems at all. Some of the new software I'm still experimenting with, so ill add to this review later on...." Read more

"...People have said it has a not so good pixel resolution and a slow drag on speed. These people were comparing it to the Samsung Galaxy Tablet...." Read more

"...Packaging was undamaged, and unboxing was uneventful. It came on quickly and immediately began the setup process, which was nice...." Read more

"...fire HD 10 I encountered loading, freezing, lost connection and re-start issues, I had to call customer service to load my books and the tech guy..." Read more

2,783 customers mention1,561 positive1,222 negative

Customers are mixed about the ease of use of the tablet. Some mention that the free apps are nice, while others say that the camera quality could be better. There are lots of apps available, and some customers say that it's a bit cumbersome to find the right app to navigate to all that you need. Some customers also say that basic apps have been downgraded, and it'd be impossible to see more than 15 apps at a time. Overall, the opinions are mixed, and the product is a mixed bag for customers.

"...Even the stuff inside the apps are free! So, why would you need another store!20,000 free apps is awesome! Just awesome!..." Read more

"...has been the sometimes overly sensitive touch screen, which will mysteriously turn pages or open and close apps if it gets just a little too dirty...." Read more

"...I used an extra 64gb I had. It installed easy, just lift out the door, insert the chip the correct way, until it goes all, and I mean all, the way..." Read more

"...4 times before it would fire up, then there was a problem with installation and backup, I have a lot of books and music on my original fire HD7..." Read more

1,171 customers mention246 positive925 negative

Customers are dissatisfied with the battery life of the tablet. They mention that it leaks battery life faster, turns off after 10-15 minutes, and uses a lot of juice. Some customers also report that the tablet is intermittently charging and drains rather quickly when watching videos.

"...Battery life isn't fantastic, but I have found it can be managed reasonably by adjusting the screen brightness as needed...." Read more

"...The only other issue I have come across is the battery life, which is less than spectacular if you are doing anything beyond reading a book, and..." Read more

"...The down side... The battery doesn't seem to last with this Kindle...." Read more

"...good, with the brightness turned down a fair bit the battery is lasting almost all day long, works great with my old Kindle's Bluetooth Keyboard...." Read more

This Review is for Fire OS 5
2 Stars
This Review is for Fire OS 5
Fire OS 5 ReviewThis review is aimed specifically at the major software update we just received, not at the particular Kindle Fire model. I myself use an HDX 8.9 which I love in terms of its hardware, and until the system overhaul that OS 5 brought had loved for its software as well. Since this review will be rather lengthy, you can just read the headings that seam pertinent to you. I will be reviewing this in terms of comparison and contrast with how it has improved or devolved since Fire OS 4.Topics:LOCK SCREENPULL-DOWN MENUMAIN USER INTERFACE (UI)BUILT-IN APPSBUGS1. LOCK SCREENPros: The lock screen has added a really nice feature allowing us to directly access the quick pull-down menu with wifi, airplane mode, etc. I will talk about the development of the pull-down menu in the next part of this review. Another nice feature is the ability to directly access the camera app from the lock screen with a swipe from the bottom right corner.Cons: As is the case with almost all the changes for OS 5, the cons far outweigh the pros. First, the biggest problem with the lock screen is the loss of the direct ability to pause, skip, or go back 30 seconds when listening to an audiobook or to music as we had before. Even with access to the pull-down menu on the unlock screen we are not able to control playback. We must unlock the screen first; and THEN access the pull-down menu to access the playback controls. Ridiculous.The other major nuisance of the lock screen is the fact that the unlock swipe has been changed from a right-to-left swipe in the middle of the screen (which allows for one-handed operation of a large tablet) to a down-to-up swipe from the middle of the bottom of the screen, forcing two-hand operation to unlock the tablet. To add insult to injury, this time fro the gesture to actual unlock seems to take longer than before.Finally, I find it obnoxious that Amazon added a quick-swipe into shopping on the lockscreen, as though accessing the Amazon store is as essential as accessing the camera quickly. Seems to me there are many other apps that deserve such a useful piece of lock screen real estate (say, e-mail).2. PULL-DOWN MENUPros: This is one of the aspects of OS 5 that is done pretty well overall. It provides all of the most essential features: Wifi, Airplane Mode, Blue Shade*, Do Not Disturb, Settings, Auto-Rotate toggle, Mayday (help), and Firefly (to catch the name of that song on the radio quickly). Blue Shade is an excellent feature addition which allows us to use the Fire before bedtime without the sleep-preventing overuse of blue light. The blue shade removes the blue light, turning the screen a reddish color, and dimming it, though you can easily adjust the red-yellow balance and brightness to your liking.Cons: The biggest Con has to do with the implementation of Audiobook playback controls. Music playback controls are largely unchanged. If you play a song, then playback controls are added into the native pull-down menu. However, for audiobooks, the playback controls are added as a white notification below the native pull-down menu. This has two disadvantages. First, the controls are ultra-small requiring super-accurate touches. Second, I have not figured out what triggers its disappearance, but the playback controls seem to randomly disappear from the notification section. The fact that I can even remove them from the notification while the audiobook is still playing is also weird. They should be there permanently unless I actually quit the audiobook app, as they were with OS 4.Non-Pro-Con: This depends on preference. I like less options; but others like more. If you own a Kindle Fire, like owning an iPad, you understand that you are losing customization choices with the OS. Nevertheless, some might be annoyed that there is no customizability with the actual pull-down menu’s native items, though all of the notifications and priorities can be controlled through the App Settings menu.3. MAIN USER INTERFACE (UI)Perhaps, I’m using the wrong wording, but when I say the main UI, I simply refer to how the whole Home Screen, Tabs, animations, etc. have been tweaked (or more accurately, mangled) with OS 5.Pros:Probably the best new feature that was added to the interface is the addition of a small box icon next to the home circle and back arrow icons. When the box is tapped you will get a carousel view of all running apps. In fact this view has revealed either a new problem with the OS or perhaps a problem that remained hidden in previous versions since there was no “App Reveal” button. I am including a screenshot of the problem. As you will see, the system seems to run duplicates once apps are opened. I am only including an example that shows two of these (Music and Settings), but the problem persists across all built-in apps. An app exists for Settings as well as menus accessible from Settings—Wi-Fi Settings, E-mail Settings, Parental Controls, etc. Music artists each take up an app tab, the music library requires an App tab, etc. Thus, the system appears to be wasting a lot of resources running so many separate apps. The other possibility is that this is always the case in the OS with the aim of speeding up launches, but the end result is still an extremely cluttered app carousel. We only need one Settings tab, one music tab, etc.Another possible Pro for some is the ability to change the Home Screen wallpaper. I prefer the simplicity of the original dark gray screen of OS 4 (less distracting when searching for a colorful app that could be lost in the colorful background), but I was easily able to change the wallpaper to a simple gray to suit my needs. Others may like the ability to put their own pictures or scenic backgrounds to more personalize the home page.Cons:Perhaps the most egregious of the UI problems is the removal of a main tab for Photos and Docs. Some might argue that the Docs tab gets less mainstream use, but Photos is undeniably one of the most frequently used apps for most users. Nevertheless, both Photos and Docs have been removed from the major tabs in the banner across the main screen WHILE KEEPING A TAB CALLED “SHOP”!!! That is to say, in order to push for impulse buying, Amazon has removed the instant accessibility to photos in favor of keeping an entire tab dedicated to shopping.Another major change with the OS is that instead of accessing tabs within the main screen, each tab has been broken into separate apps. Photos and Docs have been removed from the tabs and exist only as separate apps that we can open from the Home Screen or from the Apps tab. The result is more Home Screen clutter. What is crazy is that all of the apps are stuck on the Home Screen…they can no longer be removed for a neater Home Screen. The only workaround I have found is that I can combine them into their own “Folder” so that instead of taking up 50 App spaces, I can cull them into 1 App Folder space.While on the topic of the Home Screen, it is also worth noting that we can no longer save our favorite books as an app-like icon to the home screen. For example, I read my Bible every day. Previously this could just be seen immediately on my Home Screen next to my Silk browser app. Now I must go to the inconvenient Recent tab (discussed later).Regarding the Tabs (Music, Apps, Shop, etc.), these have become less useful. Previously, you were brought directly to your library for the selected tab; now the screen wastes resources animating a movement to a tab which shows you your most recently accessed apps, but you must additionally tap “Library” in order to see all of it, which is exactly the same Library interface we had on OS 4. Thus, two taps are required to do what was previously one tap. This is a small insignificant amount of time; but the digression in usability is the bigger problem. What happens when OS 6 requires three taps, then four?When Accessing the Apps tab, the results are far more problematic. Seeing only five apps in the Tab section, we almost always have to view the Library, but the apps library has become horrible. The apps are not viewable as icons. Instead they are in a list form with their icon, name, download/cloud status, and a context menu. First of all, this view makes it impossible to see more than 15 apps at a time. Second of all, you can’t tap the App name or icon to open it. Tapping these will bring you to the app information page in the Store! Ridiculous! This makes no sense from a UI perspective. Instead, the only way to open it is by tapping the tiny “Open” button on the right side.I’m not sure how many felt about the Carousel that previously dominated the Home Screen. I loved it. Instead this has been replaced by a Recent tab. I have two problems with this. One, it now requires two taps instead of one to access the most recently used 5 apps. Two, the apps are organized in a vertical pane instead of a carousel (though I know this is more habit/visual preference than a Con with the system UI). I think that we should either have the option to activate a carousel into the Home Screen or the carousel should be added as a permanent strip between the Tab titles and the apps on the Home Screen. I think this is much more efficient than forcing me to either tap Recent tab, the box/app-reveal icon, or the other associated tab (i.e., Books for my Bible).This is a small UI problem and easily fixable. Previously, we had sliders for turning things like On or Off (e.g., the Wi-Fi). However, they did not give a visual cue that they needed to be slid. They have changed these sliders to now look like sliders! Excellent, right? The “sliders” are shown as small floating dot inside of an oval that is orange when the dot is on the left to indicate On and gray when the dot is on the right for Off. HOWEVER, a sliding motion does not move this dot! Instead of sliding, we must TAP them. It makes no sense. If a tap is required, the icon should not be shown as a slider, it should be shown as a tap-switch; otherwise the sliding motion we used in OS 4 should be preserved to go with the much better visual slider cue.4. BUILT-IN APPSI will only speak about the system Apps I use most frequently, as I cannot comment on Apps that I didn’t really use in OS 4.Calculator: This app has a huge new problem. They got rid of the “C” and “CE” buttons! Thus, as you tap out “5 + 5” you can see the answer “10” below it on the screen like any normal smartphone calculator. No need to tap “=“ to find the answer. But how do you delete the numbers? No “C” button. You must first tap “=.” The “DEL” (which had only functioned as a backspace) will then change to “CLR” and then a really slow animation erases the answer so that you can begin a new problem. There is in fact space on the calculator to keep both the DEL and CLR buttons visible at the same time without squeezing, shrinking, or removing any other keys.Clock: The clock changes LOOK nice, but they don’t work nicer. When you want to set an alarm clock, for example, you no longer get a big number keypad where you can tap out the time you want. Instead, you get a tiny little clock-like circle of numbers 1 - 12 to choose the hour to wake. For selecting the minutes, you get the same clock circle for numbers 5 - 60. These numbers are so small and squeezed that it is not easy to tap out the right time on first touch. Worse, if you want a time like 5:22pm you have to do a really difficult tap on :25, then slowly slide your finger until the :22 appears. By the time you lift your finger, you may accidentally change it to :23 or :21 from the movement during the lift of your fingertip. This is an easily fixable problem. If they insist on keeping this interface because it is more attractive then a number pad, then blow up the clock…use more screen real estate. Then add little dots to represent the minutes between the 5-minute increments currently shown.Camera: I like how the camera added the ability to tap either a photograph shutter button or a video record button from the same menu without having to switch between Camera and Video mode. This is an excellent end-user consideration to make when adding/changing a feature. Also, I’m not sure if we had HDR previously; if not, I’m glad this was added. At the very least, the camera adds a “HDR recommended” text to the screen during camera mode if you do not have it activated but it might help the shot be better.E-mail: This has become slightly streamlined, making deletion of messages easier, and making the composing icon more meaningful by changing it to an always-visible pen in the bottom right corner. I like the e-mail client on here and I’m glad they didn’t tweak it too much.Calendar: I haven’t used the calendar very much in the past or even now. The reason: it is useless when you set a reminder but the reminder does not remind you. I want my calendar reminders to go off with their alarm and turn on my screen just like the alarm clock does. Instead, you won’t see the reminder until you take the time to turn on your Fire and look at your notifications. It works nicely in terms of its Cloud connectedness and its interface (if your requirements are relatively basic), but its inability to wake the device up and actually remind me of events leaves its purposes moot at this point.5. BUGSI have encountered several bugs, but cannot remember all of them at the moment. The only one I can remember at the moment happens when you have a Folder of apps on the Home Screen and open that folder, then open an app inside the folder. Once in the app, if you tap the Home circle at the bottom of the screen, it will bring you back to the Home Screen, BUT it will automatically enter the Keyboard mode trying to make you edit the name of the Folder containing the app you just accessed. I will update the bugs as I run into them.*Music/Audio playbook gets a new notification number near the device name in the top left corner. This may not be a bug in technicality, but it is strange to always tell us we have a new notification when it is simply a running app.*Pulling the headphones out used to stop audio playback EVERY time. Now, TWICE I have been sitting in my quiet office listening to something (an audiobook once and music the other time), and as I pulled the headphones out the playback did NOT stop. The result was super loud music/speaking all of the sudden filling the whole office. No clue how to make the problem repeat; I can only say that it is something that happens now and did not happen before.*When user uses Recents tab to play an Audiobook, the audiobook is opened so that the user may press play and listen to the audiobook. If the screen is turned off and then turned back on, after the unlock screen, the user is redirected to the Recents tab instead of remaining inside the open Audiobook app. The Audiobook app should be the first screen seen when unlocking the Fire tablet, just as the Music app is when it is left open before the screen is turned off.*If the tablet has an audiobook open in the Notifications tab but not playing when it is plugged into wall outlet (using the Amazon charger), the audiobook will disappear from the Notifications tabs in the pull down menu (despite the fact that tapping the Apps square at the bottom of the screen shows that the Audiobook app is still running).*When making a new collection in Books, the name cannot be the same as the name of a collection in Audiobooks, despite the fact that they are running in separate apps. Example: gave the name “Classics” to a collection in Audiobooks. Then named a collection in Books “Classics” but it was automatically changed to “Classics 2” without the ability to override.*Also in Collections. When a new collection is created, the preview thumbnail of one collection appears the same on the other collections (even though the books in each collection are different). Must exit the Collections screen and return to see the correct thumbnail. The collection thumbnails still seem to go haywire without a predictable replicability.CONCLUSIONI am aware of how long this review of OS 5 is, but I hope that bears witness to how much I love Amazon and how much I had loved my Fire HDX 8.9 before this attractive but non-user-friendly OS 5 was automatically downloaded and added to my device. I think that many user’s who read this will notice that they share in my dislike for many of the changes. I am not against change, I am simply against changes that do one or more of the following:Favor visual attractiveness over user friendliness (animations just to animate)Replace simplicity with unnecessary complexity (two taps instead of one)Overlook simple design issues (small buttons on large screens)I think that Amazon has made all three of these mistakes with the release of OS 5. Moreover, I am really unhappy with how hard Amazon has pushed shopping with the added swipe on the lock screen as well as with favoring a Shop tab over a much more widely used tab like Photos. I feel like I signed up for having the ads on the lock screen when I bought this; I knew, accepted, and sometimes even liked these. It keeps the lock screen from being boring. However, I feel like Amazon is favoring its bank account more than the end user with these choices, and it does not seem very Amazon-like to me.As a result, I give 4.5 stars for the tablet itself, but 2 stars for OS 5, which makes the 4.5 star tablet work like a 3-star tablet.Amazon has always been fantastic with customer service; it is why I have remained a customer since its humble beginnings. And I believe in Amazon’s ability to fix these issues. They have always done a great job responding to customer feedback. I really hope that by posting this review across all devices that at least one developer sees it and responds with actions that get me back to loving my Kindle Fire.Thanks for reading and hope this helps you make an informed decision about the OS ecosystem you may or may not want to enter.
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry, there was an error
Sorry we couldn't load the review

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2016
4 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2015
14 people found this helpful
Report