Review the All-new Fire 7 Tablet for Skype
The Amazon Fire 7 tablet is the perfect instance of what makes Amazon such a tough company to compete with. As a product, it's zilch special but information technology's so keenly priced that no other manufacturer can come shut to matching its combination of features for the coin. Whatever competitive product they could theoretically make would be produced at a loss.
The new model, which Amazon is simply calling the Fire vii (9th generation) continues this trend. It'southward ultra-cheap and conservatively designed, just it does the job well.
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Amazon Burn seven (9th generation) review: What you demand to know
Every bit nosotros've seen previously, this new model doesn't add much to Amazon's tried and tested design. The plastic chassis has identical measurements to 2017'southward Fire 7 tablet and it has the same size and resolution screen at 7in and 1,024 x 600.
Like the last model, this new Fire vii has two stock-still-focus cameras – 1 at the front end and one at the rear – plus a microSD bill of fare slot, a single speaker and a 3.5mm headphone jack. As with all of Amazon'due south homebrew tablets, it runs Amazon's own software (based on Android) and app store, gives users direct access to Amazon's music, video, ebook and shopping services simply restricts admission to Google Play.
What'south different nearly this model, withal, is that it has full, easily-costless Alexa compatibility, extra storage and comes in new colours.
Amazon Fire 7 (2019) review: Price and competition
The Amazon Fire 7's most alluring aspect remains that £50 asking price. While the tablet itself is basic, there is still nothing else in the tablet marketplace that comes shut to Amazon'due south value proposition.
The £50 tablet isn't the only model bachelor, though. There are ii variants of the hardware, one with 16GB of storage, the other with 32GB of storage (£60) and, as e'er, you can get rid of the intrusive lockscreen adverts by paying an actress tenner on top of that.
It'due south telling that the Amazon Burn down seven'due south closest rival is the Amazon Fire HD 8, which has a sharper brandish, more RAM and better speakers but costs considerably more at £eighty.
Amazon Fire vii (ninth generation): Features and design
This is a cheap tablet, so you shouldn't be expecting luxurious finishes and materials, but the Fire 7 remains a well-made, robust-feeling production. The matte-plastic casing and display feel nicely made and the whole affair is robust enough to have quite a chip of corruption.
I know this is true. I of my kids has been chucking an Amazon Burn down 7 around (quite literally) for a couple of years at present and it'southward nevertheless going stiff. Certain, there are a few cracks running across the screen – thanks to a rather precipitous encounter with a metallic bed frame – but it still works information technology still looks pretty tidy. The three new colours – plum, sage and twilight blue – are a bit of an odd choice, though. They're more muted than the usual vivid hues Amazon favours and won't entreatment quite as much to children.
As far equally core features go, nothing has inverse and, as the years pass, the Burn down seven is looking increasingly dated. The 1,024 10 600 resolution IPS screen looks fuzzy and pixelated by mod standards, the broad black bezels are ugly and the 2MP stock-still-focus cameras are functional at best. It'southward also high time that Amazon moved on from the micro USB charging port, which severely limits charging speeds.
All the same, the tablet does, at the very least, have twice every bit much storage now than it used to, which is not an upgrade to be sniffed at. The onetime tablet'south 8GB of infinite was also modest to concur anything more a small handful of apps and my daughter is constantly having to uninstall apps to make room for new ones. The 16GB is far more generous and, don't forget, there's also a 32GB model for a mere £ten more than, plus you lot can upgrade via microSD up to a farther 512GB.
Amazon Fire 7 (2019) review: Alexa back up
The Alexa support is the big new feature with this model but, only to exist clear, it'south aught new when information technology comes to Amazon's Fire tablets. With the previous update to the Fire 7, Amazon was also boasting about its Alexa functions and the Fire HD eight and Fire HD ten both have Alexa baked in likewise.
So what on Earth is Amazon going on almost here? The divergence is in how the 2019 model supports Amazon'southward digital butler: Alexa is now completely easily-gratuitous, which means you no longer take to hold downwards a button on the screen to talk to your smart assistant. This tablet is, effectively, a slimline smart speaker.
As with Amazon's 8in and 10in Burn down HD tablets, it's a function that works rather well. You get added visuals with certain requests (like "what's the conditions?") and tips that assist users acquire how to utilize Alexa. It's a great introduction to the engineering.
Don't wait it to perform exactly like a full-blown Repeat speaker, however. The microphones aren't as sensitive, for a starting time. Step away from the tablet a bit also far, add a bit of background noise into the equation and your pleas for Alexa'south attention will fall on deaf ears.
Aside from this, Alexa on the Fire 7 is only every bit fully featured as information technology is on the Echo speakers, with no restrictions on features such as calling, messaging or drop-in. And one bonus is that, when the tablet is used in the same room as some other Echo speaker with the aforementioned wake word (unremarkably, "Alexa"), simply one device volition reply.
Clunkily-dubbed "Tablet ESP Behaviour", this characteristic has to exist enabled in the tablet's settings but it worked well when I tested it, handing off playback duties automatically to my Repeat Prove 2 in the kitchen when the two devices were in the same room.
Amazon Fire 7 (9th generation) review: Functioning and bombardment life
Despite the newly improved Alexa back up, core performance hasn't moved on too significantly. Below its chunky, plastic skin, the Amazon Burn 7 is endowed (although that's probably besides strong a word) with a 1.32GHz quad-core MediaTek MT8163 processor, backed by a meagre 1GB of RAM.
This is the same chip Amazon uses in its Fire HD 8 tablet but with half a gigabyte less retention. Suffice it to say, this is not a particularly responsive or quick combination of components. Merely, hey, it does the chore for watching YouTube and Netflix and browsing the spider web. You can play casual games on information technology, as well, without feeling overly frustrated, and reading ebooks is, clearly, well within the Burn down 7'southward capabilities.
Here are a few benchmark figures, though, just to set things in context. Oh, and only a quick note: the reason for the superior performance in the onscreen GFXBench examination is that the Fire 7 has a much lower resolution display than the Fire Hd eight. Otherwise, the scores would be pretty much the same.
In other words, the performance is okay – it'due south a bit faster than the previous model and offers around the same performance every bit the larger, Hard disk 8 and HD x models. The disappointment is that with fifty-fifty inexpensive smartphones now proving slicker and more than responsive experiences, information technology feels as if this is something we shouldn't have to put upwards with at any price. Apps frequently take an age to load on the Burn 7 and tapping on-screen switches and buttons can experience disappointingly sluggish.
Also, battery life is underwhelming. I've had some trouble running our battery benchmark, which means I tin can't report an verbal figure right now only I practise know it will be brusk of eight-and-a-one-half hours, which is much less than the double figures both the Fire HD viii and HD 10 achieved.
And it's also worth noting that the brandish is exactly the same as it was on the previous model: in a discussion, mediocre. First, the positives. Information technology uses an IPS console, then viewing angles are reasonable. Alas, this is far from the best example of the breed that nosotros've seen. It can only reproduce effectually threescore% of the sRGB colour gamut, which means colours look a touch the flat side. It isn't very brilliant, either, peaking at a maximum 374cd/m2 and although contrast is decent at ane,205:1 colour accuracy isn't great.
Having said all that, it's no worse than the Amazon Fire HD 8, which is sharper but delivers like results in these tests.
Amazon Fire 7 (2019) review: Verdict
If I'm honest, I'm a tiny bit disappointed with the Amazon Fire 7 with Alexa (9th generation, 2019). I'm disappointed that it isn't just a little more than powerful and I'm not particularly happy with the bombardment life, either.
But, hey, it's not as if Amazon is request a lot of money for this tablet. Let me reiterate: this is a product that costs, in its cheapest grade, a mere £50 – and that cost hasn't changed for years. Despite this, Amazon has still found room in the manufacturing budget to improve it slightly, with double the storage, a slightly faster processor, new Alexa features and the same tight integration with Amazon'due south services.
With all that taken into account, it'due south hard to be too negative. Temper your expectations and yous'll exist perfectly happy with the Amazon Burn down 7 – information technology'south the very definition of cheap and cheerful.
Amazon Fire 7 (2019) specifications | |
|---|---|
| Processor | Quad-cadre 1.3GHz ARM MT8163 |
| RAM | 1GB |
| Screen size | 7in |
| Screen resolution | 1,024 10 600 (171ppi) |
| Screen type | IPS |
| Front camera | 2MP |
| Rear camera | 2MP |
| Flash | No |
| GPS | No |
| Compass | No |
| Storage (free) | 16/32GB |
| Retention card slot (supplied) | microSD (512GB) |
| Wi-Fi | Dual Band 802.11bgn |
| Bluetooth | Yes |
| NFC | No |
| Dimensions (WDH) | 115 x 192 10 9.6mm |
| Weight | 286g |
| Operating organization | FireOS 6.3.1.2 |
Source: https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/amazon/amazon-fire
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