Amazon Fire HD 10 (2017) – tech specs, comparisons, review round-up, more

Two smaller Fire tablets were announced by Amazon in May 2017. Many users were wondering whether the upgrade of the biggest Fire, featuring the 10.1-inch screen, is going to be released this year at all.

And there it is. Amazon Fire HD 10 was announced on September 19, and starts shipping on October 11, 2017.

In short, the 2017 Fire HD 10 is an affordable entertainment tablet that doubles as an Echo Show speaker. It combines two major benefits:

Widescreen Full HD display – the 10.1-inch display supports 1080p Full HD video playback. It’s fully laminated and has an advanced polarizing filter. With a resolution of 1920 x 1200 px and 224 ppi pixel density, Fire HD 10 offers vivid colors, increased brightness, and wide viewing angle.

Hands-free Alexa – the 2017 Fire HD 10 is Amazon’s first tablet ever to offer Alexa voice assistant that can be operated hands-free. You can activate Alexa by simply saying the wake word, followed by the command. Therefore, the tablet can be used the same way as Echo Show – smart speaker with a display – but costs $80 less.

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Fire HD 10 (2017) – launch details

The official release date of Amazon’s biggest tablet is October 11, 2017. However, you can pre-order it from September 19, when it was officially announced, together with a range of official accessories.

You can pick up either 32 or 64 GB of internal storage. As always, you can decide whether you want a cheaper version with special offers or pay $15 for an ad-free model.

Prices for all four available versions of Amazon Fire HD 10 (2017) are as follows:

• 32 GB, with special offers – $149.99,
• 32 GB, without special offers – $164.99,
• 64 GB, with special offers – $189.99,
• 64 GB, without special offers – $204.99.

Unlike the 7 and 8-inch tablets, no special offer accompanies the launch of the largest Fire. Well, there is a deal for Fire HD 10 Essentials Bundle. The tablet is bundled with original Amazon case cover and a screen protector. Instead of $204.97, you will pay $189.97, and keep $15 in your pocket. If you are going to buy these two accessories, getting the bundle is always a way to save extra money.

The smaller 2017 Fire tablets (Fire 7 and Fire HD 8) come in four colors. The 10.1-inch is offered in three variants: Black, Marine Blue, and Punch Red. You won’t find Canary Yellow on the list. Does Amazon think yellow is too fancy for the upper-level model? It’s quite possible.

What about official cases for Fire HD 10? They were available from the same day as the tablet. Again, no Canary Yellow in the range of colors. You can, however, pick up from four variants: Black, Cobalt Purple, Marine Blue, and Punch Red.

Amazon Fire HD 10 (2017) – comparisons

Comparing the device to its major competitors is always the best way to talk about its features.

In the table below, you’ll see four tablets released in 2017 – the ones with the display between 9.7 and 10.5 inches. We’ve compared Fire HD 10 with iPad 9.7 2018 and two top-shelf tablets: iPad Pro 10.5 and Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 9.7.

Obviously, such top-shelf features as a dedicated keyboard case or smart pen support are not what you can get from Fire HD 10. However, if you are most interested in watching videos, the display is good enough to enjoy it.

The display of the Fire HD 10 is worse than in the competing tablets. That’s what you could have expected from a tablet that costs only $149.99. The pixel density is 224 ppi compared to 264 ppi in three other devices. It still lets you watch full HD videos, in a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, offering a resolution of 2.1 megapixels.

If it’s all you need, think twice before exploring other features such as cameras (the ones in Fire HD 10 are really bad) or internal storage.

When it comes to storage, tablets from Apple don’t have the slot for microSD card. Fire HD 10 and Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 have – and they can get extra of 256 GB for videos, music, or photos. Just to compare, the Wi-Fi only version of iPad Pro 10.5 with 256 GB of built-in memory would cost you $749. It’s five times more expensive than the entry-level version of Amazon Fire HD 10 (2017).

Let’s now have a quick look at how the 2017 Amazon Fire HD 10 stack up against its predecessors.

Compared to the 10-inch Fire tablet launched two years ago, the 2017 Amazon Fire HD 10 is considerably cheaper ($149.99 vs. $229.99). It has a better screen (1920 × 1200 px vs. 1280 × 800 px) and twice as much internal memory (32/64 GB vs. 16/32GB). It’s also 30% faster because its RAM memory was doubled.

There are, however, features that are worse than in the 2015 Fire HD. First of all, the new 10-inch Fire is heavier. Its weight is 500 g, which is 68 g more than the 2015 model.

The other thing that may disappoint is cameras. The front one was never good enough to mention, but the main rear-facing camera is only 2 MP. The 2015 model had 5 MP.

Amazon Fire HD 10 (2017 release) – review round-up

Check out the review highlights of the 2017 Fire HD 10 from top tech bloggers. Follow the links placed under each passage to read the full review.

Amazon’s new Fire HD 10 won’t be for everyone, but it comes with a number of features you’d usually have to spend a lot more money on, and if you’re already embedded into the retailer’s ecosystem it may be the best slate for you.

The Fire HD 10 is a little more limited than your average Android or iOS slate as it’s running Amazon’s own software, but it does come with a few benefits, especially if you’re already an Amazon Prime subscriber.

–James Peckham, Tech Radar

At first glance it doesn’t appear to be the barn-burning deal that the Fire HD 8 is, but it still offers plenty of bang for your buck.

I wasn’t impressed with the screen, but the tablet is $149.99, after all. The Fire HD 10 has a 10.1-inch, 1,920-by-1,200-pixel screen, which is better than the 1,280-by-800 screens its low-cost competitors come with, and is good enough to show real 1080p video.

Hands-free Alexa is also new here. You can yell out “Alexa!” and have the tablet respond to any Alexa-compatible query. If you’re more interested in answers than music quality, a Fire HD 10 propped up in a stand is less expensive and more portable than an Echo Show speaker.

–Sascha Segan, PC Magazine

The sturdy construction should make this tablet perfect toddler fodder, too – it’ll survive a beating better than the ultra-delicate iPad Pro you had to take out a second mortgage to buy, anyway.

All that content is easier to find now, too, with a redesigned Recents screen that keeps track of all your content. Amazon has renamed it For You, and it will add shortcuts to your apps, games, videos, ebooks, and audiobooks, letting you pick up directly where you left off – even between reboots.

–Tom Morgan, Stuff

Amazon Fire HD 10 (2017) – pictures

Want to take a closer look at the newest and largest of the 2017 Fire tablets? We’ve collected the high-resolution pictures in the gallery below.

Fire HD 10 (2017 release) – full tech specs

Below, you’ll find the full tech specs of the 10-inch Amazon Kindle Fire HD 10 tablet released in 2017.

Screen	10.1-inch touchscreen, 1080p Full HD video playback, with IPS (in-plane switching) technology and advanced polarizing filter, fully laminated display
Screen resolution	1920 × 1200 px
Pixel density	224 ppi
Storage capacity	• 32 GB (25.4 GB available to user) • 64 GB (54.1 GB available to user)
microSD card	Yes, add up to 256 GB of additional storage
RAM memory	2 GB
Processor	Quad-Core: 2 @ 1.8 GHz + 2 @ 1.4 GHz
Body colors	• Black • Marine Blue • Punch Red
Battery life	Up to 10 hours of mixed usage: reading, surfing the web, watching video, and listening to music
Charge time	Fully charges in under 5 hours using the micro-USB power adapter included in the box
Weight	17.7 oz / 500 g
Dimensions	10.3 × 6.3 × 0.4 in / 262 × 159 × 9.8 mm
Cameras	• front: VGA camera • rear: 2.0 MP HD camera
Wi-Fi	Single-antenna dual-band Wi-Fi; 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n standard with support for WEP, WPA, and WPA2 security
4G	No
Ports	• USB 2.0 (micro-B connector) to connect to a PC/Macintosh computer, or to charge your device with the included power adapter • microSD slot for external storage
Audio	• 3.5 mm stereo jack • integrated dual stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos audio
Bluetooth	Yes; with support for A2DP compatible stereo headphones, speakers, microphone
Blue Shade blue light control	Yes; the feature automatically adjusts and optimizes the backlight for a more comfortable nighttime reading experience
Alexa	Yes; the personal assistant provides quick access to the entertainment you want, including music, games, audiobooks, and more
Alexa hands-free	Yes; simply say the wake word, “Alexa”
Sensors	Accelerometer, ambient light sensor
Accessibility features	VoiceView and Screen Magnifier enable access to the vast majority of Fire tablet features. VoiceView features IVONA’s award-winning natural language text-to-speech voice. Fire OS 5 also includes system wide closed caption settings, adjustable font sizes up to 50% larger, and a variety of book reading text adjustments such as adjustable colors and text spacing. Also includes adjustable font sizes/color, and built-in Oxford dictionary.
Supported formats	Kindle (AZW), KF8, TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively, Audible Enhanced format (AAX), DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, PCM/WAVE, OGG, WAV, M4V, MP4, AAC LC/LTP, HE-AACv1, HE-AACv2, MKV, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, HTML5, CSS3, 3GP, VP8 (WEBM)
Location services	Location-based services via Wi-Fi
Original case covers	Yes; sold separately. Four colors to choose from: Charcoal Black, Marine Blue, Cobalt Purple, Punch Red
Warranty	1-year Limited Warranty and service included. Optional 1-year, 2-year, and 3-year Extended Warranty available for U.S. customers sold separately
In the box	• Fire HD 10 tablet • USB 2.0 cable • 9W power adapter • Quick Start Guide
Launch dates	• announcement – September 19, 2017 • pre-orders – September 19, 2017 • release – October 11, 2017
Prices	• 32 GB, with special offers – $149.99 • 32 GB, without special offers – $164.99 • 64 GB, with special offers – $189.99 • 64 GB, without special offers – $204.99

Amazon Fire HD 10 (2017) – product info

Check out what Amazon wants to say about the newest Kindle Fire 10-inch tablet. The highlights from the product detail page are shown below. For more information, you can check out Fire HD Wiki page.

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