Kindle Fire HD 8.9''

Slowly, but surely, Amazon continues its location on the tablet market, offering this time a version "large format" of the Kindle Fire HD. Does it do in a single pass through the XL box or a real new product?

There are a few months, it was discussed all the good that we thought of the Kindle Fire HD, a 7-inch tablet thought by Amazon and excellent for everything related to reading content. Sold $229, it certainly suffered from a less than ideal interface and oriented primarily to the content of website, but offered very good performance and attractive design.

A few months later, Amazon decides to decline again its Kindle line with the enlarged view of the Fire HD version now equipped with a screen of 8.9'' to the definition of 1920x1200.

Look and design side, we are on familiar ground: unsurprisingly Fire HD 8.9'' takes every feature the appearance of original Fire HD, with its edges still a little too wide, but its grip very pleasant, thanks to the rubber coating on the back. Suddenly, the sensations are good, it does not slip and touch it is very soft. 

Compared to the Kindle 7'', this new format is also more pleasing to the eye and gives an impression of 16/9 more pronounced. Suddenly, the feeling of being faced with a digital photo frame, as it could be the case in the previous model, disappears.

As for size and weight, they are in line with what is on the market, in this price range, it is correct to say, nothing more. With 560 grams on the scale and 8.8 mm thick (it is slightly thinner than the Fire HD), 8,9'' is certainly not the most sleek and lightweight tablet on the market, but remains quite convincing on this point.

Screen: the main argument?

In terms of connectivity, again nothing new: we find the classic micro USB port for charging, mini HDMI port for connection to a TV, and a 3.5 mm jack taking. Note that like on the Kindle Fire HD 7'', the tablet recharges via USB to a PC, only when it is in standby. Another flaw, again this is here: the strange position of ignition button and volume, still little evident to use. Even if, suddenly, they blend well in the device design, their discretion serves the use  everyday.

This new version of the Kindle Fire HD stands out most of the former, of course it is on the screen, both larger and with better definition. Thus passes from 1280x800 at 216 ppi to 1920x1200 at 254 ppi, all on an IPS panel of almost 9 inches. And we must admit that the result of this expansion is very convincing, since end up with a significant visual comfort, while avoiding too large slab, which could reduce the grip comfort.

This format 8.9'' seems in any case ideal for viewing content and in particular videos, especially the display quality is generally very good, the colors - so slightly saturated Super AMOLED - are beautiful despite sometimes a lack of uniformity, and the maximum brightness makes optimum use in all circumstances, as its very wide viewing angles there still a fairly high persistence, which is particularly noticeable when the carousel (the equivalent of multitasking on the tablet) is used, while icons leaving enough visible drag. Same for fast scrolling of images on a video, which is not perfectly clear. Anyway, in this price range and in this format, the screen of Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is very satisfactory.

3D limit, extra autonomy

During the test of Kindle Fire HD 7'', we noted a very satisfactory autonomy, guaranteeing a dozen hours of use without flinching. The situation is the same here, see best. Playing a 720p video (max brightness, WiFi on) runs for almost 8 hours, a good hour longer and can ultimately approach 11h of autonomy. Attention to 3D games, however, that seem to consume much more and are dropping quickly the charge nivel.

Moreover, the 3D performance of Kindle Fire HD 8.9'' seem to be one of its weaknesses. If the score in Epic Citadel is correct (45 fps), it is only 1249 in Antutu Benchmark. This is far less than the vast majority of other tablets on the market and it shows some recent games like Real Racing 3. Apart from this problem, the performances of Fire HD 8.9 are quite irreproachable. Web browsing is fluid and precise, and the original browser (for one moment) proves pleasant to use.

The Amazon OS (based on Android) remains meanwhile completely identical to that found on previous models of Kindle Fire, with the same qualities and the same defects. If the media content is always highlighted and fun to browse, some essential features in Android are lacking. A good point, however, on the Amazon App store increasingly rich and furnished and offers many common applications with the Google Play Store.

Thus kindle Fire HD 8,9 proves very successful iteration of Fire HD, and provides undeniable  reading comfort, because of its ideal screen size and good ergonomics. And if it does not clearly revolutionize the Kindle range, it offers a very interesting quality/size/price ratio.