Amazon Fire HD 8 (2018)

Very cheap Sturdy build Decent speakers

Weak screen Average battery life Amazon ecosystem is poor

The Amazon Fire HD 8 (2018) bets big on its Alexa skills and low price, and mostly succeeds in making a positive first impression. But with laggy performance, poor software and a mediocre screen, it isn’t an easy recommendation even when this cheap.

Lots of features ; Alexa Voice Control ; Decent picture

Limited audio and video playback ; Runs quite slow

The fact the Amazon Fire HD does everything it says it will is reason enough to be impressed. You’ll have to pay a lot more to do better

Wallet-friendly price ; Show Mode is excellent ; Hands-free Alexa

Lack of hardware upgrades

However, in most other respects, the Venturer lags behind the Fire HD 8. It's slower, less attractive to look at and has a dimmer display to name but a few of its disadvantages. It also has pretty poor battery life. So yes, you could buy it but it...

Bargainous price ; Dock is a very useful accessory ; Expandable storage

OS is heavily skewed in favour of Amazon ; Iffy cameras ; Silk browser isn’t the smoothest

You get a lot of tablet for £80 – bargain hunters will lap it up this Christmas

Very affordable at $79.99 with special offers ; Display is good enough for 'consumption ; ' with great color accuracy ; Sound is surprisingly balanced ; Front facing camera is good for video calls ; Hands-free Alexa

Processor is average but slow for heavy tasks and games ; No access to the Google Play Store for apps ; YouTube is not supported

The Fire HD 8 isn’t the slickest tablet around. Its camera is a bit naff, it isn’t particularly quick and it feels a touch on the cheap side, but for £80 the rest of it isn’t half bad. For media streaming and web browsing, it’s great, the battery life...

Great speakers, smart and durable design, Show Mode dock

So-so screen, bulky case for dock

With or without the new Show Mode dock, the Amazon Fire HD 8 is a great little tablet. It’s cheap enough to forgive a slightly so-so screen and does everything else well. The speakers are a particular highlight, and while the Show Mode dock is more...

Simple user interface. Durable body. Works as an Echo Show.

Amazon's app store falls short of Google Play. UI is very oriented toward showing Amazon content.

Other sub-$100 Android tablets exist, but they're just not very good. For a few years now, Amazon has delivered the best inexpensive media consumption tablets, and the addition of Show Mode makes you more likely not to stick your HD 8 in a drawer when...