Amazon’s 8-inch Fire HD tablet is $90 now, its best price of the year

Tablets with a compact 8-inch display are especially appealing if all you want to do is read ebooks, watch videos, browse the web, and use simple apps while on the go. Compared to larger models, 8-inchers are easier to carry around and fit into tight bags and backpacks.

The Amazon Fire HD 8 (2024) is one of the best value picks in the 8-inch tablet category, and right now it’s on sale for $90, a smooth 31% off its original $130 price tag. It has only gone on sale once earlier this year, and this deal matches that price. Yet even at its all-time lowest, the Fire HD 8 sold for $85—at just a few bucks more, this is still a great buy.

What the Amazon Fire HD 8 offers

The Amazon Fire HD 8 features an 8-inch 1280×800 screen. It weighs just 0.74 pounds, making it one of the lighter tablets in its class. It fits easily into most bags, making it ideal for travel or commuting.

Under the hood, a 6-core processor works alongside 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage for good day-to-day performance. With this hardware, the 2024 version of the Fire HD 8 loads apps and web pages more smoothly than past models. You’ll notice some lag under heavy loads, but it’s good enough to handle typical everyday tasks. Need more storage? You can expand it by up to 1TB with a microSD card.

At this price, don’t expect the display to blow you away. It’s fine for casual viewing of Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube, or whatever else, but it won’t hold a candle in terms of color depth or contrast when compared to modern monitors or TVs. If you’re a cinephile and demand utmost picture quality, you’ll need to pay up a lot more for a tablet with a better screen.

The 2024 Fire HD 8 promises a battery life of up to 13 hours of real-world, everyday use. Other features include Bluetooth 5.2, dual-band Wi-Fi, a USB-C port, and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. Alexa is also built-in, so you can set reminders, control smart home devices, or retrieve information via voice commands.

Note: The Fire HD 8 runs on Amazon’s own Fire OS. Apps are installed via the Amazon Appstore, and the Google Play Store is not officially supported. If you intend to run specific Android apps, you should make sure they’re available on the Appstore (or learn how to sideload the Play Store on the Fire HD 8) before buying this tablet.

Also note: This deal is for the ad-supported version of the Fire HD 8, meaning you’ll see ads on the lock screen and in sleep mode.

Why this deal is worth it

The lowest-all-year price is what makes this Fire HD 8 deal worthwhile. For $90, you get a 2024-generation tablet with great battery life and good daily performance. With a 4.5-star rating across 10,000+ reviews, it’s hard to deny that users generally like what they’re getting.

However, there are some criticisms regarding the tablet’s speed—it’s good enough, but lags behind what you’ll find in Samsung or Apple tablets. The display is also lackluster. But the biggest weakness? The camera. You probably shouldn’t get the Fire HD 8 if you’ll be taking lots of photos.

Ultimately, the 2024 Fire HD 8 is for users who just want an affordable tablet with good value. Anyone with high expectations regarding performance, display quality, or app selection would be better off with something from, say, Samsung or Apple.