Amazon updates Fire 10 HD with 1080p screen, Alexa and cheaper price-tag

People have forgotten that Amazon make more devices than just the Alexa and its various components. One of the company’s least-admired product, the Fire series of tablets have just been given a small update, but a very important one.

According to a report from CNet, Amazon unveiled a new Fire HD 10 tablet, which would be Amazon’s first tablet to feature Alexa, with hands-free mode. Apart from adding Alexa, Amazon have also provided a larger battery and faster processor to be more appealing to consumers’ demands. Previous iterations of the product were known to be meagre in that department, offering just the basic tablet needs. The tablet will also be cheaper, now costing just $150.

The Fire HD 10 will now introduce consumers to a 1080p panel this time around. The new IPS display will be the best display on a Fire tablet till date with better viewing angles, brightness and sharpness compared to its predecessors. The glass is also laminated, making it easier to read eBooks and to surf the web. The guts of the device come in the form of the MediaTek processor that is clocked at 1.8GHz and is a quad-core unit, making it faster than the old Fire HD 10 by 30-percent. The optics remain the same as last time, with a front facing HD camera and a rear-facing 5MP camera. The battery can now give up to 10 hours of usage on a single charge. The base level is given 32GB of internal storage as standard, with a 64GB model also available and users will also be able to expand it via a microSD card slot.

Amazon has also added dual speakers to the system with support for Dolby Atmos. The Fire HD 10 runs on an Android based Fire OS that bundles a few Amazon only features such as “For You” which is a new kind of launcher that appears when the user swipes right from the home screen. Users will get to see icons of their most recently used apps and functions that they last used.

There is also a “Try this next” section when the screen is scrolled down, which suggests app books, movies, TV shows and other things to buy from Amazon. Then there is the Prime Photos app which shows recent photos taken, as well as Timehop-style timelines. This way, Amazon will be trying to lure customers into buying more items from the store without hampering the experience in any way.

Alexa is now hands-free on the Fire HD 10 and can also be switched off from the control panel. It will be like having a personal Alexa device at the user’s disposal which can activate functions such as controlling other devices. It will also be compatible with the Echo Show to act as a complementary screen that will show the timer and other details. Like last time, the Fire HD 10 will come with ads, which can be turned off with a special one-time fee of $15, which will still make the tablet an effective purchase with a low price tag. For just basic usage, the Fire HD 10 is a good option to consider.