This product was featured in our Holiday Gift Guide! Check it out to find gift inspiration for everyone in your life.
Amazon has taken the wraps off of its next generation of Fire tablets, which represent an incremental update to the Fire 7 and Fire HD 8 tablets. The company on Tuesday announced both the “all-new” Fire 7 and Fire HD 8, as well as kids versions of those two tablets — the Fire 7 Kids Edition and the Fire HD 8 Kids Edition.
The Kids Edition versions of the tablets are built to last. According to the company, Because “kids break things,” as the company says, the tablets feature a “kid-proof” case, as well as a two-year warranty that allows parents to send back a broken tablet and get a replacement.
So what sets the new tablets apart from their predecessors? According to Amazon, the new Fire 7 is thinner and lighter, and comes with an “improved 7-inch IPS display.” It also has a better battery life of 8 hours. Very little has changed with the Fire HD 8, but it is available in a few new colors, and Amazon says it’ll offer “faster performance.” If you already have a Fire 7 or Fire HD 8 tablet, you probably won’t need to upgrade to the new one.
Apart from Alexa, Amazon’s digital assistant, the Fire 7 features a 7-inch display along with 8GB or 16GB of storage and a microSD card slot to expand upon that storage. The Fire HD 8 sports an 8-inch widescreen display, along with 16GB or 32GB of storage, and a microSD card slot. The tablets also feature unnamed quad-core 1.3GHz processors.
Perhaps the best thing about the tablets is their price. Amazon has never offered overly expensive tablets, and the Fire 7 starts at $50, while the Fire HD 8 comes in at $80 — matching the price of the previous Fire 7 and Fire HD 8 tablets respectively. Of course, Amazon isn’t aiming to make its money from the hardware — it’s banking on users having Amazon Prime subscriptions and getting their content through Amazon’s services.
To get the stronger and bulkier kids versions of the tablets, you will need to pay a little extra. The Amazon Fire 7 Kids Edition comes in at $100, while the Fire HD 8 Kids Edition will cost $130. Of course, you’re also paying for the extra content — the Kids Edition tablets offer things like educational apps and games. As a parent, you won’t have to worry about your kids doing anything inappropriate on their tablet — the tablets feature FreeTime, Amazon’s parental controls service that helps ensure kids are only browsing through age-appropriate content.
You can get the Amazon Fire 7 for yourself here, or the Fire HD 8 here. If you’re looking for a device for your kids, you can get the Fire 7 Kids Edition here, or the Fire HD 8 Kids Edition here.
