Gadgetory

Amazon's new fire HD a lot like last year's Fire HD 8 but there are a few key differences the biggest of which is the new lower price tag much lower in fact $90 compared to the previous version which started at 150 dollars that model came with only 8 gigabytes of storage while this new one includes 16 gigabytes with an expansion slot for adding microSD memory cards up to 200 gigabytes in capacity while the quad-core processor is a new chip Amazon says the real performance boost comes from a bump in ram from one gigabyte to 1.5 gigabytes and battery life now goes up to 12 hours the other noteworthy feature Edition isn't available yet but will be in the next few months Alexa the cloud-based voice service makes her debut on fire tablets including last year's hg8 the $50 entry-level Fire and Fire HD 10 available in four color options the new HD 8 does feel a little zippier than the previous model and thanks to the stereo speakers tuned with Dolby audio it outputs a decent amount of sound and works well for movie watching the front and rear cameras are nothing special but at least they're there and available for such apps as Skype while this is an 8 inch widescreen HD display with 1280 by 800 resolution it's not as sharp or vibrant as the iPad Mini 2 screen the other downside is that even though fire OS is built on an android foundation you're locked into amazon's operating system in its App Store and can't access the Google Play Store without tweaking your device in ways that Amazon would rather you not do however if you are an Amazon Prime member that $100 Prime membership gives you access to a lot of free content including music movies games books and apps I recommend getting a cover for it none is included and Amazon hopes you'll by it's cover shown here but others are available from third-party resellers the bottom line is that if you are a prime user the ht8 2016 Edition is a great value and an excellent option for kids who really don't need an expensive iPad despite its so-so display you just won't find a tablet with these features and performance at this price point I'm David karna for cnet.com thanks for watching you