Are you looking for a tablet? Then, you must read this post from top to bottom as I am going to review one of the finest tablets in the market today.
Amazon had not a good reputation among tab users. But they rewrote the track record with Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 2014 edition. Though it had launched 2 years ago, I found the worth even today.
Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 Overview and Price
As in my all other reviews, I have divided this article into several categories for your convenience.
Design and Build
Kindle Fire HDX has a few predecessors. If you place it alongside the third generation Kindle Fire HDX 8.9, you can’t spot much of a difference in design.
The premium design will not disappoint you in anyway. On the back, you can find two volume rockers along with the power button and the camera on top. And, the front camera sits on top of the front screen. You can also find a micro USB port for charging and data syncing.
The tablet seems to have lightweight in hand that you will not find it heavy or bulk.
Display
The 8.9 inches 2560x 1600 resolution PS LCD screen is not a deal breaker with a decent pixel density of 339 PPI. Though this is not an AMOLED panel, the screen is enough to render the colors and necessary details without any glitches.
Dynamic light control allows you to adjust the display lighting according to the ambient situation.
Performance
The real difference between previous Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 and 2014’s version lies under the hood. Comparing with the former, the later has got a powerful Snapdragon 805 2.5 GHz quad core processor.
With 2 GB RAM and Adreno 430 GPU, you are not going to experience any problem with the performance of Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 2014. The game testing comparison with the previous version revealed the fact that the company has boosted the graphic rendering scenario on a slight margin.
Storage
You can grab two versions of the device both 16, 32 and 64 GB. Sadly, you cannot insert an SD card to expand the storage. I won’t think it will be a deal breaker for the 64 GB version.
Camera
Image quality of Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 is pretty decent for a tablet. The 8 MP rear camera supports full HD video recording with an LED flash whereas the front camera is capable of recording 720p clips as well.
Both the cameras incorporate a bit noise into the picture. You can’t blame Amazon for that because it is a tablet, not a well-equipped smartphone or DSLR camera.
Software
Amazon has a heavily customized skin on top of Android on Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 called Fire OS. As Google names different versions of Android using the names of deserts, Amazon uses the names of drinks for the same.
Fire OS 4, Sangria is built on top Android 4.4.3 KitKat. The Fire OS has improved a lot from its first version with the font changing capabilities and useful preloaded apps (not bloatware of course!).
Connectivity
You can grab different versions of Kindle Fire HDX 8.9. But the highest version includes all the major connectivity options including 4 G, Wi-Fi and voice calling.
Battery
The battery life is impressive. Amazon promises an 11 hours backup with the whopping 600 mAh battery and you can easily get at least 10 hours in any usage scenario.
Pricing and Availability
You can grab a piece from Amazon.com and it will cost you about $400 for the higher version.
Pros
- Good display
- Mammoth battery
- Decent performance
Cons
- No memory expansion
- Lack of HDMI port
Final Verdict
If you are looking for a tablet under $400, which is optimized for e-reading, you must consider buying Kindle Fire HDX 8.9. As coming from Amazon itself, you will not find it difficult to read kindle books on it.