Fire Tablet with Alexa, 7" Display, 8 GB, Blue - with Special Offers (Previous Generation - 5th)
- Beautiful 7" IPS display and 1.3 GHz quad-core processor. Available in four colors.
- Now with the Alexa cloud-based voice service - just press and ask
- Enjoy millions of movies, TV shows, songs, Kindle e-books, apps and games
- 8 or 16 GB of internal storage and a microSD slot for up to 200 GB of expandable storage
- Prime members get unlimited access to a huge selection of songs, books, videos and more
- Up to 7 hours of battery life
Fast and responsive
The fast quad-core processor consists of four high-performance 1.3 GHz cores 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 7 hours of mixed use battery life, Fire gives you the flexibility to go wherever the day takes you.
Beautiful 7” IPS display
Fire features a 1024 x 600 IPS display with 171 ppi for a bright display with vivid colors and whiter whites. Enjoy a great viewing experience at all angles through a combination of IPS (in-plane switching) technology and an advanced polarizing filter.
Capture life’s moments
Fire features a 2 MP rear-facing camera for taking photos or recording 720p HD video. The front-facing VGA camera is perfect for Skype calls with friends and family.
No more worrying about storage space
Keep photos, movies, and compatible apps and games 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 is almost 2x more durable than iPad Mini 4.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Technical Details
Display |
7” touchscreen, 1024 x 600 resolution at 171 ppi, SD video playback, with IPS (in-plane switching) technology and advanced polarizing filter |
Size |
7.5” x 4.5” x 0.4” (191 x 115 x 10.6 mm) |
Weight |
11.0 ounces (313 grams) |
CPU & RAM |
Quad-Core 1.3 GHz with 1 GB of RAM |
Storage |
8 GB (4.5 GB available to user) or 16 GB (11.6 GB available to user) of internal storage. Add microSD card for up to 200 GB of additional storage for even more movies, TV shows, music, photos, personal videos, and apps. |
Battery Life |
Up to 7 hours of reading, surfing the web, watching video, and listening to music. Battery life will vary based on device settings, usage, and other factors such as web browsing and downloading content. Actual results may vary. |
Charge Time |
Fully charges in under 6 hours using the micro-USB power adapter included in the box, or slightly longer with other micro-USB power adapters that you may already have |
Wi-Fi Connectivity |
Single-antenna Wi-Fi. Supports public and private Wi-Fi networks or hotspots that use the 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n standard with support for WEP, WPA, and WPA2 security using password authentication; does not support connecting to ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) Wi-Fi networks. |
4G Connectivity |
N/A |
Ports |
USB 2.0 (micro-B connector) to connect to a PC/Macintosh computer, or to charge your device with the included power adapter; microSD slot for external storage |
Audio |
3.5 mm stereo jack and integrated speaker |
Content Formats Supported |
Kindle (AZW), KF8, TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively, Audible Enhanced format (AAX), DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, PCM/WAVE, OGG, WAV, M4V, MP4, AAC LC/LTP, HE-AACv1, HE-AACv2, MKV, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, HTML5, CSS3, 3GP, VP8 (WEBM) |
Sensors |
Accelerometer |
Camera Specs |
VGA front-facing camera. 2 MP rear-facing HD camera |
Location Services |
Location-based services via Wi-Fi |
Available Colors |
Black, Magenta, Blue, Tangerine |
Additional Features |
External volume controls, built-in Bluetooth with support for A2DP compatible stereo headphones, speakers, microphone, and LE accessories support |
Accessibility Features |
VoiceView and Screen Magnifier enable access to the vast majority of Fire tablet features. VoiceView features IVONA's award-winning natural language text-to-speech voice. Fire OS 5 also includes system wide closed caption settings, adjustable font sizes up to 50% larger, and a variety of book reading text adjustments such as adjustable colors and text spacing. Also includes adjustable font sizes/color, and built-in Oxford dictionary. Learn more about these features |
System Requirements |
Fire is ready to use right out of the box—no setup, no software to install, no computer required to download content |
Warranty and Service |
90-day Limited Warranty and service included. Optional 1-year, 2-year, and 3-year Extended Warranty available for U.S. customers sold separately. Use of Fire tablet is subject to the terms found here |
Included in the Box |
Fire tablet, USB 2.0 cable, 5W power adapter, and Quick Start Guide |
Generation |
5th generation - 2015 release |
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Customer Review: Really Impressive for the price!
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Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers like the performance, screen size and value of the tablet. They mention that it's very capable, responsive and the right size for reading, game play and casual web. They appreciate the sturdy build quality and the ease of use. However, some customers have different opinions on screen, battery life, and apps.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers like the performance of the tablet. For example, they mention it's fast, streams video really well, and is very responsive. Some say the video plays seamlessly with no glitches. Overall, most are happy with the performance and recommend it to others.
"...The screen is high quality in terms of brightness, colors, and contrast, only limited by its 600p resolution, which straddles the mid-ground between..." Read more
"...speaker/sound before headphones are plugged in and VERY HAPPY with Camera and photo quality...." Read more
"...It was always slow, would lag on web pages if more than 1 tab open, screen resolution not great and unlike other Ipad devices you can not run a lot..." Read more
"...It's a speedy response to about everything I want.*..." Read more
Customers like the value of the tablet. For example, they say it's acceptable value for money, has the best value-to-performance level, and is cheap enough to replace if necessary.
"Best value-to-performance level ever...." Read more
"...AMAZON FOR SUCH A WONDERFUL, STURDY, AND EASY PRODUCT FOR SUCH AN AFFORDABLE PRICE!!! This product is NOT INTIMIDATING and very easy to use!..." Read more
"...Why 4 stars and not 5, mainly it is great for the price, not just "great", and depending on your Amazon ecosystem involvement...." Read more
"...All in all, if you want a tablet, buy this one NOW. It is worth every penny and works great...." Read more
Customers like the quality of the tablet. They say it has a sturdy build, better than most Android tablets priced up to one, and is versatile. They also say it's reliable, and can withstand a pretty good fall. The screen is high quality, and the blueshade isn't gimmicky.
"...The screen is high quality in terms of brightness, colors, and contrast, only limited by its 600p resolution, which straddles the mid-ground between..." Read more
"...And of course, THANK YOU AMAZON FOR SUCH A WONDERFUL, STURDY, AND EASY PRODUCT FOR SUCH AN AFFORDABLE PRICE!!!..." Read more
"...Simple interface that mimics most Android smartphones*It feels sturdy in my hand, but not too weighty or bulky...." Read more
"...The screen is not very good for reading small text on websites and books. This is not going to replace your e-ink Kindle for reading...." Read more
Customers like the ease of use of the tablet. They mention it has a simple interface that mimics most Android smartphones. They also find the information very elementary and easy to understand. Customers also mention that apps are easy to port to FireOS. Overall, they are happy with the ease and simplicity of use.
"...Apps are easy to "port" to FireOS - remember, under the hood, FireOS IS Android - just Android without the Google bloat...." Read more
"...you take the time to include, in layman's terms, very elementary and easy information as to help inform those of us whom have no understanding..." Read more
"...Did anybody mention it is "Cheap",3) Free Time, setup ease, +/- content..." Read more
"...Because it's not intuitive and because I cannot get the owner's manual to tell me what to do with it, I have not yet figured out how to borrow..." Read more
Customers like the screen size of the tablet. They say it's not too big and not too small. They also say it is the perfect size for ebooks and web surfing to alleviate strain on the eyes. It is the right size to throw into a purse, big pocket or backpack with ease. Customers also say that it is just the right weight to it and easily fit into their case. They are still getting an amazing 7" tablet that is well designed to fit comfortably in your hand in either portrait or landscape.
"...Small, lightweight tablet with great picture and an ok speaker. I tend to use it with headphones at work anyway.*..." Read more
"...However, you are still getting an amazing 7” tablet, with front and rear facing cameras, a gorgeous interface, fairly snappy performance and..." Read more
"...You can complain that storage is limited to 8gb, and you'd be right to complain - prior Fire tablet owners had no micro-SD expansion options...." Read more
"...Here are my pros and cons thus far.PRO:Perfect size for Ebooks, and web surfing to alleviate strain on the eyes from my 5" phone..." Read more
Customers are mixed about the apps. Some mention that Amazon apps are front and center, simple to use, and have great features. They also say that preloaded apps include Kindle Books, Audible, Amazon Music, Amazon Photos, and Instant. However, some customers say that there are several apps they will never use and there is no easy way to uninstall them. They say the Kindle's platform lacks apps, especially games, and the app store leaves a bit to be desired.
"...resolution not great and unlike other Ipad devices you can not run a lot of apps. NOTE: that is not a comparison to Mini 2nd gens etc...." Read more
"...Amazon apps are front and center. You use the Amazon App Store for almost all the same apps available to Android users...." Read more
"...I am also disturbed because I cannot remove links to apps, a newspaper you think I should want and I don't want, links to email, links to freetime,..." Read more
"...I'm sorry, as of this moment in-app purchases are not working inside Freetime.Me:I'm sorry...." Read more
Customers are mixed about the battery life of the tablet. Some mention that it holds a charge well, while others say that it doesn't hold a charged. Some say that the tablet eats battery more than the 2011 version and that it has less battery time than previous versions.
"...The battery drainage is the issue so far and I'm finding the touch screen is also not as responsive as I would expect a touch screen to be as I..." Read more
"...Easily able to setup email boxes on the device*Amazing battery life...." Read more
"...Battery life is not great, you can boost this by shutting down Wifi if not needed. I did not find a way to activate/deactivate the Wifi..." Read more
"...+ The specs. 7 hour battery life. Quad-core processor, front and back cameras, 7 inch IPS 171 ppi ‘almost’ HD screen, 8gb of built in memory...." Read more
Customers are mixed about the screen of the tablet. Some mention that it's awesome and clear, while others say that the resolution is not great and the video quality is not as nice as they'd like. They also say that there's a display issue with a dead pixel.
"...But typical indoor usage the screen is awesome and clear.-..." Read more
"...slow, would lag on web pages if more than 1 tab open, screen resolution not great and unlike other Ipad devices you can not run a lot of apps...." Read more
"...✔✔ SCREEN - It is decently crisp and bright! With many other $50 tablets, you can expect their screens to be difficult to read outdoors...." Read more
"...Although this is not an HD screen, the photos already installed are crisp and clear. It is a good screen. There are good points to this device...." Read more
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Here are my pros and cons thus far.
PRO:
Perfect size for Ebooks, and web surfing to alleviate strain on the eyes from my 5" phone display
nice sturdy casing that gives it a nice heft but still weighs in as one of the lighter tablets on the market
Child Accounts- Amazon allows you to set up this tablet with age restricted access for kids making this a low cost piece of tech that is perfect for school kids and allows mom and dad to ration the amount of time lil Johnny can play Clash of Clans and how much he can hit the ol' Visa card for.
Battery life thus far; wife was on it for about 5 hours last night and battery was at about 46%
Kindle Integration -this goes without saying but having my ebooks and audible books synced to the tablet is awesome and my Kindle books look great
Price - it's a $50.00 tablet that looks and performs as well as ipad mini gen1
CON:
Screen resolution - if you're looking for a premium screen res on par with your latest smart phone or HD tablet look elsewhere. I'd say the resolution is on par with an Iphone 3G or the original Kindle Fire gen 1
Web browser
The built in "Silk" web browser isn't very nice and the interface is reminiscent of IE on mobile devices. I searched the APP store for Google Chrome or fire fox but apparently those aren't available.
Camera
This has a camera in the strictest sense but it's 2MP camera is slow to load and it's nowhere near on par with the 10MP most mobile devices are boasting these days
The weak ass speaker
OK. So I wasn't expecting a Bose sound out of this thing but the on board speaker is just not very good. Poor sound quality, and weak. My wife was attempting to listen to our Amazon Music library the other night and was underwhelmed with the quality. I haven't attempted this yet, but I'll be paring this to our SONOS bar or my Bluetooth headphones for music or ebooks.
SO there you have it. Despite some of the flaws in the design this is just a fantastic deal for $50.00. SO much so that I ordered a second one for myself and plan on purchasing a 6 pack as Holiday Presents next month for my nieces and nephews. If you are new to tech and want to familiarize yourself without spending a heft sum to get into the game, or if you're looking for a durable yet inexpensive piece of tech for your kids, or if you LOVE e-books then this is the unit for you.
Unlike those no-name online flea-market Android tablets for similar prices, you are getting Amazon quality, Amazon software integrity,* and Amazon service.**
[*"Amazon software integrity" means Amazon keeps malware and viruses out of the operating system and its "BIOS" or "firmware." Offshore Android tablet manufacturers aren't nefarious, but Chinese programmers take shortcuts using unofficial software repositories to save download time, and hackers have taken advantage of this in the past by inserting rogue code to be recycled by unsuspecting manufacturers. Since Amazon has top-notch, security conscious programmers, this isn't a problem with Amazon tablets.]
[*"Amazon service"* is LIMITED this time around to 90 days, not their usual 1 year. I don't think this is because the tablet is lower quality or has more manufacturing defect returns - it's my suspicion that a segment of customers typically abuse the warranty coverage for damage they themselves caused. 90 days limits customer "abuse." You can buy a 1 year or even longer warranty if you like, but I don't think you'll need it, and going "self-insured" after 90 days is probably the better decision on a $49 tablet.]
I didn't "asterisk and comment" on Amazon "quality" because this thing is not just superbly made, in terms of modern industrial standards, it is also beautiful, in a minimalist way, if you like matte black with just two silver accents (on-off and volume switches). The screen is high quality in terms of brightness, colors, and contrast, only limited by its 600p resolution, which straddles the mid-ground between now-dismal 480p DVD quality and entry-level 720p HD quality - most 32" flat panels are 720p, most desktop computer monitors are 1080p, and 40" and up tv monitors are slowly moving from 1080p to 4K.
In terms of Kindle or other reading, you get 172ppi which compares favorable to the 167ppi of all Kindles until the Paperwhite. Blue light sleep-interruption is no longer a problem with the 5.1.1 update to the "Bellini" operating system version (comparable to Android Lollipop). There is now a reading feature called "Blue Shade" which dims the blue-component of the backlight, preventing melatonin interference due to reading in the late evening by blue light, which is the type most tablets are full of. Your normal videos aren't affected, there is a switch in the Notifications drop-down menu for turning Blue Shade on or off (you can use it on websites and in other apps thanks to including it as a global setting and not a setting limited to Kindle only).
You can complain that storage is limited to 8gb, and you'd be right to complain - prior Fire tablet owners had no micro-SD expansion options. That changes with the Fire 7, the first Amazon Fire tablet that takes a micro-SD care. (I recommend the 32gb, Class 10 SanDisk for about $12). You might not need one, if you mostly use the cloud for storage. You have about 3.5 gb of available storage (the operating system and pre-installed apps eat up the rest).
THIS $49 TABLET IS A TREAT FOR FREQUENT FLYERS/TRAVELERS/CAFE DENIZENS. Put a good 8 digit PIN on it and don't worry about theft or loss. It's just $49 - not $499! Erase it remotely, and go on about your business. $49 makes this a no-brainer for constant, casual, almost careless (carefree?) carry.
GMail isn't a problem, you can use the Amazon email app. If you are a big user of Google specific apps other than YouTube - say, Google Maps or Hangouts or Plus - you will run into the Google App Problem. You see, official Android HAS to include ALL (almost all) Google Apps AND put them on the front page (the key ones, anyway - Google first and foremost). That essentially turns Android tablets into a Google pipeline. While Amazon doesn't directly compete with Google (they sell stuff, Google advertises stuff), they were understandably miffed about selling an Amazon-branded tablet that would become a Google-centric tablet by default. So they did the perfectly acceptable Android open source community thing - they took the "open source, non-Google-fied" version of Android - which Android and Google make freely available to the open source community as part of public relations - and built their own "front door" on top of it.
That, non-tech readers, is why the Amazon tablet runs Fire OS and not Android - even though, under the hood, it IS Android, which is a good thing due to all the apps and software developer support for Android.
What it means for you, the consumer, is a Amazon-centric tablet instead of a Google-centric tablet. Amazon apps are front and center. You use the Amazon App Store for almost all the same apps available to Android users. Apps are easy to "port" to FireOS - remember, under the hood, FireOS IS Android - just Android without the Google bloat.
Me, I have both Fire tablets (the HD 6 and his Fire 7), but mostly use Android not Fire OS since I'm a big user of Google apps.
BUT I have friends who swear by Amazon as a shopping and almost "life-style destination" website, and are happy as clams to have the value of a Fire 7 tablet and just ignore the Google limitations. I mean, you don't see Google selling $49 Android tablets, do you? When they did the Nexus 9 tablet last year, the most recent Android tablet branded by Google, it was a heart-breaking $399 - even though the Nexus 9 is essentially a Google store front.
So back to that lack of Google apps thing. Some people will tell you tricks to get Google apps to load, but if you are buying an Amazon tablet in the first place, you probably don't want to deal with that. THE SIMPLE FIX IS USE THE WEB BROWSER BUILT-INTO YOUR FIRE 7 TABLET. Yup, the old web-browser trick - gives you access to Google Maps (but not for turn-by-turn mobile voice directions, of course!), official Google Mail site, Google Plus - well, just about everything except voice calls via Hang Outs.
WHERE THE FIRE 7 STANDS OUT FOR NON-FREQUENT FLYERS ETC., IS SECURE EMAIL AND SECURE ACCESS TO BANK AND CREDIT CARD SITES FOR GRANDMA AND GRANDPA. Remember, Amazon and Fire OS are good for security (please don't use a 4 digit PIN, or repeat numbers!). For $49, you can't beat this for internet for the less-technically demanding user. Plus, they can easily shop on Amazon, and easily read their Kindle purchases. Which, let's face it, is a big part of modern American life, now.
Who is this not good for? Well, first, it's probably "good" for almost everyone...at $49. Most people have multiple devices these days. But, Android users who are technically-oriented are probably going to "hate" on Amazon tablets for being so ... Amazonian. And Apple owners will probably consider Amazon tablets (and Android too, for good measure) below their dignity. In the past, customers objecting to paying $300 or so for an Amazon-centric shopping kiosk-on-a-tablet had a good point. I had to argue myself into buying the HD6 on grounds it filled a niche - 6" - that no one else filled, and had superb video quality for my Netflix subscription. BUT WITH THE $49 PRICE POINT, just buy it! See if you like it!
At $49 you should avoid the internecine tablet wars. Just get this tablet and know its probably safer than a cheap, no-name Android tablet, and a heck of a lot cheaper than anything Apple (you knew that already, right?). Amazon might be "giving this away" like old-time shavers - so you buy the blades - or like inkjet printers, so you buy the inkjet cartridges. But everyone has to shave, right? And (almost) everyone has to print, right? Just enjoy the absolute craziness of a GOOD $49 tablet.
Cheapskates can wait until next Black Friday/Cyber Monday for another $34.95 sale. And tech perfectionists can wait for the 720p version in what - say - 2-3 years? Because that tech armageddon (for the competition) will come one day, I assure you.