Amazon Fire HD 10 vs. Amazon Fire HD 8: Which should you buy?

Amazon hardware for the Amazon ecosystem, but which Fire tablet makes more sense?

Amazon Fire tablets sure aren’t winning any awards for their power. Instead, they’re known to be among the most affordable offerings on the market that are good for basic stuff like catching up with your favorite shows or answering emails. In the last couple of years, Amazon has updated its popular Fire HD 10 and the Fire HD 8 tablets with a fresh design and a USB Type-C charging port, bringing them up to speed with many budget Android tablets. Besides their obvious difference in screen size, there’s a lot more that you must consider before deciding between the Fire HD 10 and the Fire HD 8.

Bigger display or compact size?

Their names already give away what screen sizes they come with. While the display size is an important factor to consider, other attributes, such as resolution, should be given additional weight in your buying decision.

With the 8-inch panel on the Fire HD 8, you get a 1280 x 800-pixel resolution. It does sound paltry on paper, but it doesn’t look that bad in our experience. If you plan on using the tablet as an Alexa screen or for your kids to spend some time playing games, the resolution wouldn’t be an issue. The higher pixel density of the 10-inch Fire tablet’s FHD resolution will come in handy if you read a lot of news or emails on it or for the extra crispness when watching something on Netflix.

It also helps that both tablets use IPS panels, which are known for better viewing angles and color reproduction than the TFT screens you usually find on devices of this class. For the affordable price of these tablets, the displays are as good as they get.

Both tablets also get a pair of speakers located on the top edge (when held in landscape mode) to offer mild stereo separation. The smaller 8-inch Fire HD naturally has a smaller footprint, allowing it to fit inside tight handbags and be carried around easily. Meanwhile, the bigger Fire HD 10 will be perfect for keeping in your bedroom or living room.

The performance headroom

Amazon’s Fire tablets are primarily entertainment devices. Throw in some light productivity tasks, like going through your messages on the breakfast table, and your Fire tablet will handle it without a sweat. The quad-core processor paired with 2GB of RAM on the Fire HD 8 is perfectly capable of handling that load. For entertainment and communication apps and even your kids’ story apps, the hardware won’t disappoint, granted you aren’t looking to frequently switch between apps.

The larger Fire HD 10 gets 3GB of standard memory and an octa-core chipset. These additional gigs and processor cores make handling slightly more demanding apps easier. Another long-term benefit of this hardware combination is the performance headroom, which should help the tablet’s longevity.

With this extra horsepower, Amazon got the confidence to tout the Fire HD 10 as a productivity tablet, offering a pricier bundle with a keyboard and a Microsoft 365 subscription. However, in our testing, the tablet failed to manage even basic tasks as it ran out of memory rather quickly.

Both Fire tablets are a tough sell as productivity machines, but they’re suitable for what they’re meant to do: entertain you. And if you think you might max out your tablet’s memory, you can go for the Plus upgrade of these tablets, which gets you an extra gig of RAM and wireless charging.

Android, but not Android

Amazon Fire OS has quite a few nuances, but the gist is that it’s a forked version of Android sans any of the Google services you’re used to on Android tablets. That means most Google apps won’t work on the Fire tablet out of the box, nor do you get access to the Play Store and its vast app catalog, though that can be pretty easily remedied.

The Fire HD 10 and the Fire HD 8 come preloaded with the same Fire OS 7 version based on Android 9 and rely on the Amazon Appstore for their app needs. Since the hardware is basically a venue for Amazon to promote its various digital services, you get everything the company offers—Alexa, Audible, Kindle, Prime Video, Prime Music, you name it.

Since the OS is based on Android, you can technically install .apk files. But not all apps will work as expected without Google Play Services. There’s a way to get Google Play Services and the Google Play Store up and running on Fire tablets, making them more well-rounded devices. A more recent Fire OS 8 (based on Android 11) is already out with the newly launched Fire 7 tablet, adding things like system-wide dark mode and better permission management. But we still don’t know how soon this version will land on the Fire HD 8 and HD 10.

They’ve got cameras!

Tablets aren’t usually known for their stellar cameras, even the pricey ones; these Fire tablets are no exception. The Fire HD 8 and HD 10 come with two cameras, each on the front and back. The smaller device has a 2MP sensor on each side, while the larger one has an upgraded 5MP rear-facing sensor.

While these cameras aren’t completely potato-quality, they aren’t meant to show off your camera skills either. The front-facing sensors are fine for some video calls on Zoom or with your family. And the only thing worth saying about the rear camera is that it exists in case you need it in a pinch.

Battery life and snail-like charging

Amazon doesn’t advertise the battery capacities of its tablets, much like Apple, but they’re nonetheless easy to find out. The Fire HD 10 naturally gets a larger 6500mAh cell, while the Fire HD 8 uses a 4850mAh one. With a strong hold on the software, Amazon is able to squeeze out an excellent standby time on both devices, which would be helpful if your tablet use is infrequent. And in real-world use, both tablets lasted for about 4-5 days between charges with one to two hours of mixed-use per day in our testing.

Even though the tablets can last for days before needing a top-up, the bundled slow chargers can get annoying when you need to use them. The 10-inch model comes with a 9W adapter, while the 8-inch tablet gets only a 5W adapter, offering a charge time of 4 and 5 hours, respectively. Both devices do support 15W charging, but that requires a separate purchase.

But hey, Amazon is at least including chargers in the box!

The best part: Price

One doesn’t buy Amazon Fire tablets for their standout features or exceptional capabilities. It’s their affordability that draws most buyers.

You can pick up the Fire HD 8 for just $89 for the base 32GB storage variant. The Fire HD 10, on the other hand, starts at $149. And if the lock screen ads get to your nerves, you can remove them by paying an additional $15 on both models. At these prices, the two Fire HD models are indeed among the best value-for-money tablets out there.

These deals get even sweeter during sales, like the upcoming Prime Day 2022 extravaganza, when Amazon heavily discounts them. At sale prices, you can either further subsidize the base variant or go for a higher storage capacity or the Plus upgrade for a discounted price.

Do bear in mind that the cheaper 8-inch Fire HD only comes with 90 days of warranty, while the Fire HD 10 gets you a year of coverage.

Amazon Fire HD 10 vs. Fire HD 8: Which one should you buy?

Considering the Fire HD 10 and the Fire HD 8 run the same software and have hardware that is good enough for everyday apps, the decision to pick one of the two boils down to the device and display sizes. For kids and their tiny hands, the Fire HD 8 clearly makes more sense. It’s compact but still offers ample display estate for playing games or going through interactive stories. It won’t take a lot of space in your backpack and is perfect for repurposing as an Alexa screen whenever you aren’t using the tablet. It’s a pretty inexpensive way to do all that.

The larger Fire HD 10 with its full HD screen is purely an entertainment device. Its screen size is ideal for watching shows or reading a book while in your bed or keeping it as a shareable tablet in the living room, say for controlling your smart home. Just don’t look at it as a productivity tablet; there are better Android tablets out there for that kind of use.

Either device won’t disappoint you, especially at those prices. You’re going to have fun using them, albeit only if you keep your expectations in check. And adding Google Play Store to these tablets will further enhance their usability with access to billions of apps, including some great ones from Google.

Buy the Amazon Fire HD 10

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Buy the Amazon Fire HD 8

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