The Fire 7 is Amazon’s ultra-low-cost portable tablet Metro.co.uk
The tech giant has revamped the 2019 version of its portable 7-inch tablet to improve things like speed, battery life and software.
There is also an extra tenner added to the price. But at £59.99 you’ll struggle to find a more affordable, better-supported option – anywhere.
The premise is simple: good design, decent performance and a reasonable screen for a rock bottom price. The ace-in-the-hole is how it works with an accompanying Prime subscription.
If you’re already a Prime subscriber, the Fire 7 is an inexpensive and portable way to watch movies and TV shows, read Kindle books, and listen to Amazon Music.
It’s not nearly as good as an iPad mini, but then again, it costs a fraction of the price.
Amazon refined the design to bring it closer to the HD8 and HD10 tablets; slimming and reducing the edges. There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack so you don’t have to use wireless headphones and a USB-C charging port.
The USB-C charging port and 3.5mm headphone jack along the side of the Fire 7. Metro.co.uk
A 2GHz processor is backed by 2GB of RAM, meaning this tablet is capable – but you’ll definitely notice a slight lag when you tap and run the app or screen and wait for it to catch up.
Other things to keep in mind are that there is no automatic brightness, so you have to adjust it manually every time. And the mono speaker, while capable, won’t be heard in a really noisy room.
The basic tier storage is 16GB (only 9.5GB is available), though you can add more with a microSD card.
Fortunately, battery life is very good on the Fire 7. It lasts about 10 hours between charges, meaning you can take it for a long flight or take it for a weekend. Considering how portable it is, this is a huge plus.
There are three different colors to choose from: Black, Denim and Rose. (Credit: Metro.co.uk)
When it comes to software, the Fire 7 runs Amazon’s own Fire OS 8.3, which is built on top of Android 11. However, there are no Google services here. You have to rely on Amazon’s app store and Amazon’s updates.
The app store is much more limited than Google Play, but most major entertainment apps (Netflix, TikTok, Disney+) can be found here. There is simply no YouTube, Chrome or Google Maps.
Of course, this tablet really exists as a pipeline for Amazon-based shopping. You’ll get a home screen packed with recommendations for audiobooks, TV shows, or magazines, all of which can be purchased from Amazon. If that doesn’t sound like your style, you can opt for an iPad instead.
But if all you want is a cheap tablet for content consumption and you’re already a Prime member, the Fire 7 is a no-brainer.
Amazon Fire 7: The Details
Of course, the Fire 7 works best if you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber Amazon
Name: Amazon Fire 7
Price: £59.99 (16GB)
What is good:
Low Price Headphone Jack Battery Life
What’s bad:
No Google Play Services Lean Storage Without SD Card Aggressive Amazon Recommendations
Where can I buy one? Where else? To be available on Amazon here.
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