Best Kindle Fire Tablet

When the original Kindle Fire was released way back in 2011, many thought Amazon was onto something with a low-cost, easy-to-use tablet experience. You know what? They were right! Today there are no fewer than six Fire tablet devices on offer from Amazon if you count the Kids Editions. Out of them all, we think the Fire HD 10 is the best overall value thanks to its size, better screen and speakers, and its ability to still hit an affordable price point.

If you want the most immersive video and gaming experience on a Fire tablet, then you want a Fire HD 10. We know it's the most expensive Fire, but you know what? It's still darn affordable! Try finding another Android tablet or iPad of this size at anywhere close to this price.

The newly-updated Fire HD 10 is the only Amazon tablet with a full HD 1080p display, coming in at 1920x1200 resolution. It offers up to 12 hours of battery life, including video watching, web browsing, and music listening, and it comes with Dolby Atmos, dual stereo speakers, and a headphone jack. It features a VGA front-facing camera with 720p HD video recording and has the same 2-megapixel cameras as on the HD 8. 

As its size would suggest, the Fire HD 10 comes with more storage (up to 64GB) that is expandable up to 512GB, and it has the best processor of the Fire tablet line. You can use that storage and processing speed to watch hours of Prime Video, Netflix, or Showtime, and playing mobile games on that full HD screen is a delight.

Even though it may seem a bit heavy for some at just over a pound (17.8 oz), we find it to be a fantastic device for reading books, newspapers, magazines, or even websites — particularly if you need or want to enable a larger font. There is just so much more screen space to view your content on!

Every excellent product line has its entry point, and for the Fire tablets, that's the Fire 7. Newly updated in late 2019, this newest version is the perfect portable companion for anyone who just wants a low-cost tablet to watch their favorite shows on, play games, read their favorite new Kindle book, or maybe occasionally surf the web or check Facebook. As with the other Fire tablets, this device comes with 2-megapixel front and rear cameras and a 720p HD video camera, so you can still snap some decent shots and video chat to your heart's content.

If you wanted to get an affordable family tablet to share with your kids, this is a great option. With the savings you'll get on this device, you can easily afford to pick up a protective case (maybe one that isn't neon pink or yellow!). You can also add FreeTime Unlimited to this or any other Fire tablet whenever you want.

You can still access all of your favorite content from Amazon and other services through this device, and even though it's not HD resolution, the screen looks good enough for most use cases. The battery life is decent, and you can add to its internal storage with a microSD card. The Fire 7 is already cheap, but you can often find it on special for even less, making this practically an impulse buy. 

Some may take objection to this pick based on the price alone. You see, the Fire HD 8 Kids Edition is significantly more expensive than the Fire HD 8 tablet even though they are essentially the same device. So why is this so? It's really about all of the extras, which adds up to a good value.

Amazon's Kids Edition Fire tablets all come with a kid-proof case to protect the devices from inevitable accidents, and in the case (pun intended) of the Fire HD 8 Kids Edition, you can get them in blue, pink, or yellow. In addition to the case, Amazon throws in a two-year worry-free guarantee, so you can send the device back at any time if it gets damaged, and Amazon will send you a new one.

Just as important as physical device security is digital peace of mind. The Fire HD 8 Kids Edition comes with parental controls that allow you as the parent to decide what your child can and cannot do on-device. For example, it is easy to set screen time limits, curfews, or limit content. Alexa and in-app purchasing are disabled by default. The device also comes with one year of FreeTime Unlimited, which gives you access to 20,000 apps, books, videos, games, audiobooks, as well as educational content from PBS Kids, Nickelodeon, Disney, and more.

Back to the specs, this tablet features 32GB of storage, with the option to expand up to 512GB via the microSD card slot. Of course, you also get unlimited cloud storage for any content purchased through Amazon. The device can get up to 10 hours of battery life depending on usage, and it features dual stereo speakers and, blissfully, a headphone jack. There are also 2-megapixel front and rear-facing cameras and a 720p video camera for those times when you want to have the kids chat with the grandparents.

Bottom line

The lineup of Amazon Fire tablets has never been so complete, and we can understand why these devices are so popular. They offer a great entertainment experience with industry-leading parental controls and child content options, as well as and access to Alexa and Amazon's connected home ecosystem, at a fantastic value. Aside from the iPad, no other tablet series can compete!

When looking at the Fire tablets, we feel that the Fire HD 10 is the best choice for most people. It has an impressive HD screen, expandable storage, and hands-free Alexa. For the price, you can feel comfortable picking up two or three of these for less than the cost of an iPad, and you can easily share it with your family members if you choose.