Amazon’s Kindle Fire line of tablets is known for offering great specs at decent prices and its third-generation HDX 8.9 inch tablet follows in that fine tradition with top of the line hardware at almost budget price tag. With a premium design on board and hardware to rival Apple’s iPad tablets, the HDX 8.9 is certainly the best tablet Amazon has made till date.
Released in November 2013, the HDX 8.9 is now lighter, thinner, and faster than its predecessor, the HD 8.9. The device’s matte-black unibody superbly complements its beautiful screen to lend the tablet a premium feel. At just 0.3 inches thick and weighing a measly 374 grams, it is also one of the lightest in its class. The HDX 8.9’s display is currently unsurpassed in terms of pixel count, with a screen resolution of 2560x1600 pixels working out to an Apple Air/Mini beating 339 pixels per inch, resulting in a bright, crisp, and vivid screen, which allows for a display that makes viewing photos, videos, web pages, and games a real pleasure.
HDX 8.9’s great design and high-definition display are perfectly backed up by its 2.2 GHz quad-core and combined with the Adreno 330 graphics processor and 2GB of RAM, results in faster app launch times, smoother multi-tasking, graphics-intensive gaming, and better overall performance. The device runs on Amazon’s Fire OS 3.0, which is built using Android that is highly-customised by and for Amazon, with little to no trace of Android on the device at all. The result is simple and quick interface, which is extremely easy to get used to.
The newest Kindle is stocked with a decent eight megapixels rear camera capable of recording videos at full HD resolutions (1,080p) and a front-facing 720p camera. The HDX 8.9 is also one of the few tablets to use dual on-board speakers to produce truly stereo sound.
The gadget is slightly let down by limited non-expandable 16GB storage, although 32GB and 64GB models are also available, which are naturally more expensive. Amazon also does not offer the range of apps that are available in Google’s Play Store or Apple’s App Store.
However, these inadequacies can be forgiven when you consider the overall package that the HDX 8.9 offers, especially the 12 hour battery life. And at Rs 40,000, the device is light on your pocket and your wallet. For those on a tighter budget, a seven inch HDX model is also available for around Rs 25,000.
Yantrick’s verdict: Kindle’s HDX 8.9 is a truly masterful blend of design and performance and the perfect Christmas gift for the nerd within.