Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsAfter Three Years of Use:
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2022
Performance in DEC of 2022 rivals that of today's (2022) 64/4 GB Galaxy Tab 7 lite - with the 64/2 GB 9th gen Fire 10HD coming out slightly better despite having half the system ram and more screen area to manage (I owe this to the fact that Fire OS 7.x.x is actually a version of Android 9 Amazon currently maintains in-house while the Samsung Galaxy is trying to push the added baggage that comes with Android 12 - more overhead.) WIFI reception is superior to all tablets I've worked with equalled only by an iPad. So in terms of security patches to the OS, battery life, and WIFI reception - the iPad or the Amazon fire tablets are in my opinion the only way to go.
A word about security patches: in my opinion of all Android devices Samsung is the best, but they use a tiered approach - top line models get fairly timely security updates (I'm not talking about Google APP store updates, I'm talking about OS system updates which only the tablet maker can provide). Entry and mid level Samsung devices get these as little as twice a year (which technically honors their pledge to support their devices for four years but in reality ... sucks!). I have a $600 Galaxy S5E I bought the same time I bought this $200 9th generation Kindle Fire 10HD. I'm still waiting for Samsung to patch a bluetooth issue the Android Open Source Project announced publically as "severe" four months ago. Amazon patched it the moment the security issue was announced ... Four months later Samsung is still dragging their feet and I can't use Bluetooth head phones because of it or any headphone for that matter because the $600 Samsung Galaxy didn't come with a headphone jack which is kinda surprising since not only did Amazon include a headphone jack on the $200 2019 model, but Amazon includes a headphone jack on the latest 2021 11th generation model.
Its performance is rivals the latest 11th generation Kindle Fire 10 Plus - I am comparing the 64GB versions of both, the first having 2GB of system RAM vs 4GB of the enhanced Plus version. I recently setup 2 of the 11th generation Fire 10 HD Plus models I got for family as gifts. I have one of those next to this one (I have a 9th gen and an 11th gen Plus side by side) actual viewing area is the same. There is more non-touch-sensitive safety area on the sides of the 9th gen in landscape orientation and the 11th gen has more finger safe area in portrait. But, both have adequate finger safe areas on all sides so you can safely pick this thing up without triggering half a dozen apps. I like the 9th gen better than the 11th by only marginal differences in ergonomics. Performance gains of the 11th gen Plus (with its additional 2GB of system ram) were huge at first, but then I did a factory reset of the 9th gen and noticed not only did it set up just as fast as (maybe even faster than) the 11th gen, but reinstalling the apps was a breeze and performance differences between them all but vanished (just don't "long press" the back space button on either one).
EDIT =============================
This part of the review is being written on the latest 11th gen 2021 release Fire 10HD Plus with 4GB system ram and 64GB of internal storage. The 9th generation of this model currently being reviewed is sitting next to it linked to the same account, same router (home network), with the same apps installed. Both having been wiped and set up from scratch recently:
GET THIS: The 9th generation is one quarter of a second faster than the 11th generation in app loads, and menu selections. Just to test cache loads I closed and reopened the same app with no other apps in memory four times each. The difference is only noticable by side. The 11th gen handles this text box much better; but even with the newest model you still have to be careful with the backspace/delete button or you'll loose more than you intended to delete because both register deletes faster than the OS can perform them, and they store up.
The 11th gen handles the screen better: When I drag the map in the MyRadar app around with my finger the 2d scrolling is smooth and responsive with the 11 gen Plus model - the 9th begins to stutter as you zoom (but this is so minor).
Now, if I tried to edit a 1000 page spread sheet while listening to Spotify running in the background during a unique collision with an untimely app store update the added 2 GB system ram would make a huge difference. I can tell you that 3 years later due to Amazon's diligence in keeping up with their version of the OS, Going with Amazon's Fire tablet proved to be a better decision than my purchase of a $600 Samsung Galaxy Tab S5E at the same time.
END OF EDIT WITH 11th generation Fire 10HD Plus 64GB 2021 version.========================
If I were looking to spend less than $300 on a tablet I would prefer a Fire 10 HD mainly because I would feel more secure that the OS itself is not leaking camera, microphone, and data information due to outright negligence on Amazon's part. A word about Fire OS, and why I'm sold on it. Unlike Android tablets, Amazon historically runs a modified and well maintained older version of Android than competing Android devices for performance reasons. Does anyone remember running Windows XP on a desktop designed for Vista? That same machine ran XP four times faster than Windows Vista. So HP and Dell had to stop shipping desktops with XP when Microsoft stopped patching security issues and were forced to ship the much slower Vista (the performance gains of the latest hardware were lost to the added baggage of the latest OS making the newer machines slower than the older). BUT ... What if Dell had acquired the rights to XP and maintained the security patches themselves calling it Dell OS. Well, that's exactly what Amazon does with Android. So, Fire OS 8.x.x.x is actually Android 11 and Fire OS 7.x.x.x is actually Android 9 as I have learned. Running older but well maintained versions of Android just makes sense. Which one of us would use Windows 10 or 11 if we could get a still maintained version of Windows XP? The performance is just going to be better. People talk about converting Fire Tablets into Android tablets by hacking them. I have a $600 Samsung Galaxy I wish I could hack and convert into a Fire OS tablet because I percieve that Samsung is sloppy if not purposely negligent.
As a side bar item: If you hack a Kindle with Fire OS 7.x.x.x to side load Google Play store, you will only be able to get Android 9 versions of apps which are no longer maintained. Once Fire OS 8.x.x.x is out, hacking it at best will give you apps maintained up to Android 11 compatible source code - which will fall out of maintenance as Android moves on to later generations.
The most significant point I want to make in this review is that Amazon has demonstrated consistently over time that their tablets hold up well, and that they continue to commit to your Fire tablet's system firmware with timely updates long after the purchase.
