The Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet has small upgrades for such a low price

A brand new Fire HD 8 ($ 150 on Amazon Marketplace) The tablet is on the way, but it's much more of a refresh than a major upgrade. Shipping on October 4 and available in the same colors and chassis as the previous model, the latest Fire HD 8 adds a 2 mega-pixel front camera with a 720p video, supports up to 400GB of additional storage via its microSD slot and Alexa hands-free support even when your screen is in sleep mode. It will cost the same price as the last HD 8: $ 80 (£ 80).

A few months ago, Amazon introduced Show mode for his Fire HD 10 and Fire HD 8 tablets with a Loading station in Show mode accessory that essentially allows you to turn your Fire tablet into a Echo Show. The Alexa feature, always ready, built into Amazon's Echo devices, is available for the previous generation of Fire HD 8 via a software upgrade (after upgrading the software, you no longer need it to touch the screen to activate the voice commands). However, it did not work when your screen went into sleep mode, unless the device is plugged in.

Like the HD 10, the new HD 8 has access to the Alexa function, always ready, and to the Show mode, without being connected. You must be connected to Wi-Fi to use the Alexa function always ready.

The only downgrade I've found in the specifications is that the battery life has decreased by 2 hours. It was evaluated at 12 hours for "mixed use" in the previous model. Now it is evaluated at 10 o'clock.

"[The] An Amazon spokesperson told CNET that "Fire HD 8 includes an Alexa function, always ready and hands-free, which has an impact on battery usage. If you choose to turn it off, you can gain about 2 hours of battery life. You can still access Alexa by pressing the Home button. "

Amazon also announced that new updates will be available in the "all new" 32GB Fire HD 8 Kids Edition for $ 130 or £ 130, which includes a protective case, a free two-year and one-year FreeTime Unlimited replacement policy. It also introduces a new Spanish language experience into Amazon FreeTime and FreeTime Unlimited.

"Kids now have access to more than 1,000 age-appropriate books, videos, educational apps, and games, as well as thousands of Web sites and Web videos designed in Spanish, all included in a FreeTime Unlimited subscription. "Parents can choose to enable Spanish content, English-only content, or a combination of both, and the settings can be customized for each individual child's profile."

FreeTime and FreeTime Unlimited in Spanish will be available on Fire Kids Edition tablets, in the FreeTime app on compatible Fire tablets and on compatible iOS devices, via a free software update that will begin on October 4th. Android devices.

I will post a full review as soon as we get an example of a review, which should be just before it is sent out on October 4th. But much of what we said about the previous HD 8 and the latest HD 10 will apply model. At $ 80 – and sometimes less at Amazon sales – this remains an excellent value for tablets. That said, I hope that Amazon will switch to USB-C charging in the next generation.

Here is a summary of the key features and features of the "all new" Fire HD 8:

• 8.4 x 5 x 0.4 inches (214 x 128 x 9.2 mm)
• 12 ounces (341 grams)
• Wide 8-inch (1280 x 800-pixel) HD display with over one million pixels (189 dpi).
• 1.3 GHz quad-core processor and 1.5 GB of RAM
• 16GB or 32GB options with support for 256GB expandable storage via microSD
• Battery of 4 750 mAh for a 10-hour battery life of mixed use for a full day (up to 12 hours with the Alexa hands-free system off)
• Always ready for free hands-free use Alexa: even when your screen is idle, Alexa is activated (you do not need to touch the home button to activate voice commands).
• Show mode: Essentially turns your Fire tablet into an echo, with full-screen images that complement Alexa's voice responses.
• New front camera with 2 megapixel camera with 720p HD video + 2 megapixel rear camera with 720p HD video recording (free and unlimited cloud storage for all photos taken with fire devices)
• Fire HD 8 dual stereo speakers are optimized for Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby Atmos "for improved realism and dynamic range"
• Dual-band Wi-Fi support
• Screen Sharing: Let an Amazon expert guide you remotely via any feature of your screen, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year – for free
• Exclusive Amazon features: Alexa, ASAP, X-Ray, Second Screen, Amazon FreeTime, Family Library, Blue Shade, On Deck, Prime Video Downloads and more
• Access to millions of movies, TV shows, songs, books, magazines, apps and games with free and unlimited cloud storage for all Amazon content
• Color options: black, punch red, navy blue and canary yellow
• Available in 16GB ($ 80, £ 80) and 16GB ($ 100; 100) configurations, as well as the 32GB Kids Edition for $ 130 or £ 130, with protective case, policy two-year free replacement, one year of FreeTime Unlimited