Amazon detailed a bunch of new Fire tablets this morning, and while I’m sure they’re fine for those totally committed to Amazon’s ecosystem, they serve little purpose to us who have given our lives and data over to Google. While these tablets run a forked version of Android, Amazon is quite clear that Google Play is not supported on these tablets, meaning you’ll need to get all of your apps and content from the company’s own app store. And while there are plenty of sweet apps and games over there, it’s not the same.
The interesting tablets in the new lineup are the Fire HD 10 and Fire HD 10 Plus. We were just talking about the idea of a Pixel 7 tablet device, and honestly, these Amazon Fire tablets are some of the closest things someone can get to that. They’re very barebones in terms of being designed purely for content consumption, but most importantly, they’re super cheap.
Fire HD 10 starts at only $149 in the ad-supported configuration, offering a 10.1″ FHD display, 32GB storage (64GB model available), microSD support, “octa-core” processor, 3GB RAM, and 12-hour battery life. For no ads, the price is $165. Then there’s the Fire HD 10 Plus, coming in at $180 with ads ($195 without ads). It features a 10.1″ FHD display that is brighter than the last gen’s, comes with 4GB RAM, offers 32GB or 64GB of storage (with microSD support), and the same 12-hour battery life as the regular HD 10.
If these puppies had access to Google Play, I’d already have one on the coffee table. These are exactly what I’m talking about when I say I want a Pixel 7 or Pixel 10-type tablet device from Google.
Both are up for pre-order right now, shipping next month.
Amazon Links: Fire HD 10 | Fire HD 10 Plus