Tablet Talk: Amazon’s Fire HD 8 tablet

AMAZON has another new tablet to add to its expansive range with the launch of  Amazon’s Fire HD 8 tablet and this device includes a new feature that should make it a whole lot more useful. Here’s full details about the Amazon’s Fire HD 8 tablet including price, release and specs.

The Great

• Up to 10 hours of battery life, A
• Vibrant 8″ HD display
• 1.3 GHz quad-core processor
• 1.5 GB of RAM
• Dolby Audio
• 2x as durable as the iPad Mini 4.
• Alexa Voice enabled

The Not

• Basic
• Entry level tablet
• The battery life drops from last year’s 12 hours to 10 hours

The Conclusion

From a quick glance, there’s not much to differentiate this latest tablet from its predecessors but the HD 8 has a very neat trick up its sleeve with something called ‘Show Mode’.

We have an update here.  Amazon has offered truly hands-free Alexa on the Fire HD 10 tablet, but never on its 8-inch model. Which means you have had to wake it up firs. Not an issue but mildly annoying. Those days are a thing of the past with an updated Fire HD 8. The new model blasts its always-on Alexa feature. a Feature that lets you voice directions even when the device is asleep. Yes this in fact is almost like turning it into an impromptu Echo speaker. This does in fact reduce your battery life, but you can turn off the always-available feature if that extra running time is valuable.

Perhaps one of the greatest other features of the new HD 8 is its price which starts at just $79.99. This rises to $109.88 for those that want the Show Mode Charging Dock bundled with the device. The all-new Amazon’s Fire HD 8 tablet comes in four colour options: Black, Marine Blue, Punch Red, and Canary Yellow, and is available for pre-order beginning today with it shipping on October 4.

Introducing Show Mode

Show Mode is a new, immersive hands-free Alexa experience for your Fire HD 8 that provides full-screen landscape visuals that complement voice responses from Alexa. Show Mode lets you ask Alexa to see trending news, make calls, check the weather, view camera feeds, and more—all glanceable whether you’re up close or across the room. Show Mode is available with free software update.

The Final Thought

That’s all there really is to this update to the Amazon’s Fire HD 8 tablet. Just some Alexa support and functionality and this Show mode that  basically transforms the tablet into a smart home device with the screen instantly being switched to show useful data such as local weather, news and your upcoming events. Still no Paul Bettany voiced alarm clock reading me the news, weather, traffic and a run down of my schedule. I mean would that be so hard Amazon?