Last autumn, I recommended the 2017 Fire HD 8[1] and named it the best of Amazon’s bundle of affordable tablets. Its sequel—the 8th generation of Fire tablets, for those keeping count—is still dirt cheap and completely functional, just a little less fun to use. Unless you're using Alexa.
The new Fire HD 8 is pretty much the same, inside and out, as last year’s model, and the 2016 model before that. It’s a travel-sized 8-inch (1,280 x 800 pixel) glass screen cradled by a cheap-feeling though somewhat durable plastic that you can buy in all three basic colors, and black. Amazon even placed a tiny lip around the edge of the screen to help prevent cracking or scratching if you drop it. Like previous 8-inch Fires, the screen still tends to attract fingerprint gunk more than other tablets, though you get used to it fairly quick.
Most of the buttons and connectors are on the top, if you hold it vertically, like a book. There’s a volume, power, an audio jack, and a microUSB for charging—typical stuff that you'd find on a phone. No matter how familiar I get with the Fire tablets, I still have to feel around for the volume keys sometimes, and get them confused with the similarly-shaped power button. It’s not a deal-breaking annoyance, but it becomes a quirk of the ownership experience.
Amazon has also included a MicroSD slot again, which will come in handy for long vacations or trips. You can now save movies and other media to cards up to 400GB. A 64GB card[2] should be more than enough space to download what you want.
The selfie camera also technically got an upgrade this year. It’s a 2-megapixel unit now, up...