Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9 Review of Reviews by Wireless and Mobile News
- Most Liked Features: price, ease of use, Amazon Prime Deals, parental controls, great for families on a budget, excellent battery life and good video streaming.
- Least-Liked Features: lack of its own charger, web performance slower than other tablets and smudging.
- Overall Average Ranking : 4 out of 5.
- Networks: Wi-Fi or AT&T 4G LTE
The Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is a good tablet for book readers, video streamers, parents and the budget minded. Although it is not the fastest or the coolest it has enough features to keep family members happy. Reviewers all agreed that it is a good deal and gives buyers plenty of bang for your buck. We distilled several top reviews to give the consensus from all sides.
The HD screen is good and most viewers won't notice a difference from other tablets but the 19200x1200 pixel IPS LCD is not as robust as the Nexus 10 or iPad 4. Battery life has been tested to be longer than the iPad 4 and Nexus 10 at over 7 hours
Power users who are running three or four apps at the same time while designing a new car won't find it the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 fast enough but those who use it an entertainment device will probably be satisfied.
Buyers of the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 at Amazon appear to be very happy with the product with 5 stars given by 1,976, 4 stars given by 774, 3 stars given by 456, 2 stars given by 268 and 1 star given by 287 buyers. The highest rated review was written by someone who is "new" to the tablet world who gave it high ratings for "picture," sound, book reading, web browsing, apps and styling. It does lack a wall charger. Owners don't notice the ads which can be turned off for an additional $15.
Free Time is loved by parents to corral the kids content and usage times. We saw a demonstration when it was announced and give parents decent control. Each kid in Amazon Free Time has his/her own profile and content area. Kindle Free Time Unlimited is an optional extension for kids 3-8 with unlimited books, games, apps, movies and TV shows. New Kindle Fire owners get one month of Kindle Free Time Unlimited Free as well as a free month of Amazon Prime that includes a lending library and instant video streaming.
The front facing camera is mainly for video chat. Amazon cloud allows for storage. The HDMI connection worked well with a TV.
Features of the Kindle Fire HD 8.9" include dual band Wi-Fi, Dolby audio. 1.5GHz dual-core processor, dual-band Wi-Fi, front-facing HD camera, free unlimited cloud storage and Free Super Saver shipping.
For those who want a tablet that does almost everything well the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 should suffice for now.
Kindle Fire HD 8.9
The Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G LTE with special offers costs $499.99 and $49.99 a year includes 250MB of data per month for a year, averaging $4.16 per month. However it's not enough data to watch movies, it would be enough for email and very light browsing. Or you can buy from AT&T, 3GB for $30/month plus $10 for each additional gigabyte of 3G data.
Amazon made the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 affordable by cutting the initial profit margin. However ABI Research reported on average, an incremental profit of about $3 in each month of a Kindle Fire's lifespan to achieve an overall profit margin of 20%.
We're working on a comparison of the iPad 2, 3, 4, Nexus 10 and Kindle Fire HD 8.9 that will be out soon We wanted to have all the reviews ready first. The comparison will include benchmarks and pricing.
Love my Kindle Fire, I used the extra two hundred dollar to buy other stuff instead of the iPad.
There is nothing better than an iPad. however as a parent I would not give my child an iPad to take on the trainer to go to school with. Apple pickers steal iPads and sometimes hurt people. I think the Kindle Fire is a good choice for families, especially because of the Free Time
I love the Amazon tech support and all the media features.