Amazon has announced a refresh of the Fire HD 8, with a vastly cheaper price and new innards, and it may be the first tablet in a while from the retail giant that's worth picking up.
The Fire HD 8 features an 8-inch display with a pixel resolution of 1280 x 800, equalling 189 pixels per inch. The slate is powered by a quad-core 1.3GHz processor and 1.5GB of RAM.
Amazon has doubled the storage from the last Fire HD 8 range to 16GB or 32GB – how much is available to use is unclear, but we'd expect around 11GB on the smallest option.
There's also microSD support for cards up to 200GB, and a 4,750mAh battery. The tablet features front and rear cameras – we don't yet have info on the specs for those – and Dolby Audio stereo speakers.
Going Underground
The new Fire HD 8 runs the latest Fire OS 5 software, and you also get access to Amazon Underground, a separate store which only offers free apps and games that don't include in-app payments.
Design-wise the tablet is the same as the previous Fire HD 8, with a rugged yet sleek feeling design; the plastic back doesn't scream premium though. Color-wise you've got the choice of black, magenta, blue or tangerine.
Pre-orders for the new Fire HD 8 are open now, with the 16GB version starting at $89.99 / £89.99. That's more than half the price of an iPad Mini 2, the cheapest iOS tablet you can buy right now, and a similar price to the EE Harrier tab, which you can only buy in the UK. Shipping will begin on September 21.
- Looking for something cheaper? How about an Amazon Fire tablet?
