Amazon Fire HDX 8.9 Review
Introduction
Recovering after the lousy foray of its smartphone, the not-so-hot Fire Phone, online retail giant Amazon is again hinging on its tablets to drive sales for the upcoming holiday season. Last year, they introduced the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 to all of us, which impressively enough was a stellar package for its price point – easily being a formidable contender in the tablet space. This year, however, they’re differentiating its tablet line by dropping the “Kindle” name entirely, opting instead to name its successor as the Amazon Fire HDX 8.9 – while giving it the usual hardware and software upgrades in the process. In light of the other notable tablets to launch recently, can Amazon’s premier tablet get its cut of the pie?
The package contains:
- microUSB cable
- Wall charger
- Getting to know guide
Design
No changes here whatsoever, it’s still the same thin and light package from before.
Recycling designs is something we’re quite familiar with, so we’re not taken by surprise to find that nothing has changed with the design of the Amazon Fire HDX 8.9. Indeed, it employs the same design language as its predecessor, but its dimensions have slightly been enlarged (9.1 x 6.2 x 0.3-inches) – though, for the most part, it’s hardly noticeable.
What we have here, however, is one thin and light package that’s easy to hold with one hand, thanks in part to the soft touch matte finish of its casing and tapered edges. In comparing it to its rivals, the Fire HDX 8.9 is marginally more aggressive looking than the Nexus 9, but it’s still by and large a long way from matching the premium construction of the iPad Air 2.
Just as before, its power button and volume controls are placed along the tapered edges around the back of the tablet – offering us comfort and quick access to them. It’s accompanied with the same ports from before, so they include the 3.5mm headphone jack, microphones, microUSB port, and dual speakers. Interestingly, they’ve upgraded the audio experience by adding in the Dolby Atmos sound engine, which casts a 5.1 multi-channel sound field to create multidimensional sound when using the headphone jack.
Display
The screen is perfect for nearly everything, as it’s one of the most detailed and brightest out there.
Utilizing the same screen as its predecessor, the tablet’s 8.9-inch 2560 x 1600 LCD display is a remarkable thing to behold because of its sharp details (339 ppi pixel density), potent brightness output of 533 nits, and vivid color reproduction. Whether it’s reading a magazine, or watching some high-def movie, our eyes are constantly affixed to its iridescent glow – so the display is perfect for a handful of experiences. This observation is further established by the wonderful readings that we got: color temperature is nicely gravitating around the 6800 K mark (reference is 6500 K), while Delta E grayscale is the more than decent 3.5. All of this is pointing towards a really well calibrated display.
Overall, it’s identical to the specs of its predecessor, but Amazon has made some subtle improvements with the screen to make it even better than before. For the price point, the screen is unquestionably sharp on so many levels.
Interface and Functionality
In tradition, the Fire OS 4 “Sangria” experience has deep ties to all of Amazon’s services.
Love it or hate it, the biggest argument from critics and consumers regarding Amazon’s tablets is the software they’re running. Here with the Amazon Fire HDX 8.9, it’s powered by the company’s new Fire OS 4 “Sangria,” which is based on Android 4.4 KitKat. Now, if you’re the kind of person who’s in love with Amazon’s services, like Amazon Prime Instant Video, there’s no doubt that the experience is surely going to be a good one – more so when it has deep ties to all of Amazon’s services.
Superficially, there’s not much of a difference in the look and operation of the platform, as the homescreen is still comprised of the same recent apps carousel, and that “multi-tasking” is still accomplished by swiping in appropriately from its sides. Although the experience is simple and straight to the point, it lacks the modern appeal and expansive features we get from real Android – and even iOS 8 over on the iPad.
Despite that, the updated experience brings forth some useful features – like profiles for separate users, a family library that allows you to share you Amazon account with another “adult”, the same ASAP (Advanced Streaming and Prediction) feature introduced by the Amazon Fire TV, and the same Firefly all-in-one capture tool we first saw with the Amazon Fire Phone. In the greater scheme, however, they don’t greatly enhance the experience to match the same level of typical Android, but nevertheless, it’s no doubt made plainly obvious that they adhere closely to Amazon’s ecosystem.
Processor and Memory
Don’t worry, this is powered by the latest chip from Qualcomm.
It’s rather tough to imagine that people would choose to go with the Amazon Fire HDX 8.9 for their gaming needs, but don’t think for a moment it’s an underpowered thing – that’s because it’s packing a quad-core 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 chip under the hood, accompanied with 2GB of RAM and the Adreno 420 GPU. The hardware, not surprisingly, gives the tablet a fair amount of snappiness with all sorts of operations – plus, it’s mighty enough to handle some extreme gaming as well.
Available in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities, there’s enough variety to choose what fits you the best – albeit, you’ll want to be conscious as to which one to stick with if you’re heavy into multimedia content.
Internet and Connectivity
The Silk web browser has never been as versatile as the all-encompassing experience of something like Google’s Chrome, but it’s nonetheless still effective for surfing the web. With this year’s updated version, Silk receives support for printing and a private browsing mode. Throw in its super sharp screen and buttery smooth performance, we can’t complain about the experience whatsoever.
For those who require it, Amazon has an LTE-enabled model for those who need more connectivity reach on the road. Its Wi-Fi radio has been improved, which now boasts 802.11 ac and can achieve theoretical speeds of up to 600Mbps. Beyond that, it has the same set of secondary connectivity features – such as aGPS and Bluetooth 4.1.
Camera
It’s not perfect, but its 8-megapixel camera dishes up some surprising results with its still shots.
Aside from the introduction of Firefly, which is a handy all-in-one shopping/informative tool, one that can search for prices on a product or populate information from a business card, the camera shooting experience remains unchanged from the previous model. To say the least, the camera app itself is pretty bare bones with its arsenal – though, it features panoramic and HDR modes. Beyond that, there isn’t much else to fiddle around with, as we’re left to simply touch the screen to adjust the focus.
Like so many of the other things we’re realizing with the Amazon Fire HDX 8.9, it’s packaged with a very similar camera to what we had before – an 8-megapixel snapper that features an f/2.2 aperture lens, digital image stabilization, LED flash, and 1080p video recording. We can’t be too judgmental about its choice of employing the same camera system, seeing that it works for a majority of situations. The best shots, of course, are achieved under good lighting – where it compiles good details, proper exposure, and warmer color tones. Meanwhile, it’s still pretty versatile under low light, despite the noisier production and softer details.
Most people will be satisfied by the tablet’s 1080p video recording quality, even though it exhibits some unpleasant characteristics. First and foremost, details are surprisingly softer-looking than its still shot quality, but adding to that, is the distracting motion blur effect when panning. Like we said, it’s not one of its greatest assets, but people are more likely to find it forgivable – especially when it’s able to maintain a steady composition thanks to its image stabilization feature.
Multimedia
From Amazon Prime Instant to Amazon Prime Music, the tablet has you covered with a rich multimedia experience.
Switching over to the music tab in the apps panel, it’s certainly flaunting a cold and dreary looking music player – it just looks boring and lacks and robust qualities. Regardless of that, it closely integrates with Amazon’s Prime Music service for instant music streaming. In listening to the audio quality produced by its dual rear-firing speakers, it’s somewhat underpowered and mute in tone – only achieving a mark of 76 dB.
Moving over to the video watching experience of the tablet, users are sure going to be pleased by the selection that Amazon offers with its Amazon Prime Instant Video Service. Best of all, videos just look stunning thanks to the high qualities of the display. Adding to that cinematic experience, we can attest that the Dolby Atmos sound engine delivers outstanding clarity and a surround sound experience that’s enjoyable on so many levels.
Battery
Battery life has been improved incrementally with this year’s model, easily outlasting its predecessor.
Conclusion
Where Amazon failed miserably in making a dent in the smartphone market, they’re able to continue having a strong presence in the tablet space – thanks in part to the well-rounded performance of this year’s high-end model, the Amazon Fire HDX 8.9. No doubt, it’s vying for notoriety over other impressive rivals of late, such as the iPad Air 2 and the Google Nexus 9, but Amazon’s model certainly poses a threat.
Honestly, it’s a great performing tablet, one that has a stunning screen, snappy overall response, and long-lasting battery life. At the end of the day, however, it all boils down to whether or not you can tolerate the Fire OS 4 platform. For hardcore fans of Amazon, it’s a knock out hit for its rich ties to all of Amazon’s services, which has been enhanced thanks to new features like Firefly, but for everyone else, it still proves to be an experience that’s lacking in functionality.
For the causal fun stuff, like watching movies and reading books, the Amazon Fire HDX 8.9 bear all the hallmarks in making it a perfect tablet for the experience, but when it comes to pure productivity and trying to bridge that gap between tablets and laptops, it just doesn’t have enough of the goods to make it an exorbitantly superior product. Luckily, it’s pretty affordable at $379, undercutting many of its main rivals, but we wouldn’t necessarily say it’s enough to separate it from the wholesome goodness from the $399 priced Google Nexus 9.
Software version of the review unit: Fire OS 4.5.1
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