American online retail major Amazon raised quite a few eyebrows after it launched the first generation Kindle Fire tablet in the US in two years ago. The $200 tablet was praised by reviewers,but many wondered how the price was that low,considering that the cost of its parts added up to around $150-$200. They asked the obvious questionwas Amazon making any money off this product? Amazons answer was apparent as soon as the Kindle Fire was powered onthis tablet was all digital content. Amazon does not view the Kindle Fire as a profit-making product. Instead,it relies on the tablet to promote the companys vast array of products,both physical and digital. And on users to buy products from Amazon. The move has worked for Amazon as the Kindle Fire was a good product. A year later,Amazon launched Kindle Fire HD,with improved hardware,in the US. Fast forward to June 2013,following the launch of Amazon.in,the company launched Kindle Fire HD in India. The Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch is a well-built tablet. When you look at its screen,there is nothing remarkable and the thick black band between the screen and the edges is ugly. The tablet feels great to hold,thanks to the matte finish at the back. The speakers are near the bottom half of the back panel and the power and volume buttons are well-placed on the side. While the overall build quality is good,there were a couple of minor issues. The Kindle Fire HD was tested without the leather cover (available for R2,699) and hence,picked up a couple of scratches on the back panel when it was in a bag that contained an umbrella and a few books. The 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD weighs 567 grams,which is a little heavier than competing tablets of the same size. However,it is lighter than the (9.7-inch) iPad. If weight is your primary concern,then the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD is a good choice (395 g). The display is the primary factor if you want to buy the 8.9-inch device,and it is very good. The display performed very well in almost all lighting conditions,but one problem is that it is reflective. When it was used in bright light,reflections hindered the otherwise great experience. So,it is best to ensure that the tablet is not facing a bright source of light. The speakers have Dolby audio and sounded very good when tested on music and videos. Although the tablet runs Android,the user interface has been tailored to suit Amazons retail strategy,so much so that users will not be able to tell that it runs Googles operating system. This is a rare example of modified Android versions working well. The home screen has a carousel,which displays large icons of frequently used apps. This looks great and users can see related content in a panel below the icon. For instance,if a book is on the carousel,you will see related books based on what people bought from Amazon. If the browser is on the carousel,you will see popular news articles on the bottom panel. This is a good feature and works well. The top panel has links to books,music,apps etc. You can access all your content in those tabs. The Kindle app is excellent for reading ebooks,even though Apple iBooks users will be a little disappointed with the lack of effects (such as Apples patented page curl). If reading ebooks is your primary requirement,then it is better to consider the Amazon Kindle ebook reader. One major limitation at the moment is the lack of Indian content on the newsstand app,which lets you buy various magazines and newspapers. One restriction on this tablet is that users cannot access Google Play Store,but that is a blessing in disguise. Till date,there has been one persistent complaint with all the Android tablets that we have reviewedshortage of tablet-optimised apps. The Amazon app store solves that problem. To make apps available for Kindle Fire HD, developers must optimise them for the tablet before they appear on the store. This means that most apps work very well on the tablet. Temple Run 2 was choppy when tested on maximum graphics quality,but no other apps froze or lagged. The battery life is excellent,the tablet lasted over a day when it was used continually for browsing,reading,listening to music and playing a few games. On continuous usage,a large part of which was gaming,the battery ran out in about nine hours. Amazon has brought an excellent tablet to the Indian market,one that should do well given its reasonable pricing. The 8.9-inch device costs R21,999 for 16 GB (R25,999 for 32 GB). This tablet is almost as good as the iPad and would have been on par with the Apple tablet if not for the inferior app store and lack of a 3G model.
