Kindle Fire HD 8.9 Review

Amazon's Kindle Fire HD 8.9 offers a 1920x1200 HD display, a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, free unlimited cloud storage and more for only $300. Matt Mira and Candace Bailey weigh the pros and cons of the tablet device for Gadget Pr0n.

What You Need To Know

• The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is basically the Kindle Fire HD 7 with a larger screen.
• The design features a large black border, which we found to be a good place to keep your thumb while reading.
• The beveled back resulted in a more comfortable feel and the rubber layer helped a lot with the grip.
• Our biggest problem with the design is the buttons, which are very difficult to find with just your finger.
• The 8.9" IPS screen display is just like the original Kindle Fire, so the viewing angles are great.
• The resolution is boosted up to 1920x1200, which isn't as high res as the iPad but much better than the iPad Mini.
• The color is excellent and video looks great on the screen.
• We did find the display to be even brighter than the last one, so this was an added bonus.
• The 8.9 features the same hardware as the HD 7 wit a dual-core processor and 1 GB of RAM, which is perfectly fine for Amazon's light software.
• Media played perfectly and games ran smoothly.
• The speakers are probably the best we've heard on a tablet.
• Amazon has gone in and completely changed the interface and there's an Android OS buried under their new UI.
• There is still a carousel effect to the apps and overall, it felt very snappy and not at all sluggish.

Price

• $299

Rating

• 4.5 Seals of Approval out of 5.  (How do we rate gadgets?)
• Amazon's media selection is truly exceptional.
• This is a tablet that's more focused on entertainment than productivity.
• It's $200 less than the Retina iPad.