Amazon Fire 7 Tablet Quick Review

It is no secret that Amazon is known for its Fire tablet lines, and they are one of the cheapest Android tablets you can buy right now. However, when the price is this cheap ($50 for the 7-inch model), there should be some concern over performance. Well, during this past BlackFriday, I bought myself a Fire 7-inch tablet and discovered what fifty bucks can get me.

What you get with $50+

Okay, Here is what you get for $50 plus shipping and tax.

Let’s start with the display. It is a 7-inch IPS display, with the resolution of 1024 x 600, giving you a pixel count of 171 ppi. In simple term, the display is mediocre at best. The quality is comparable (after all, it is a $50 tablet). Coming from any high-end smartphones, you will notice the dullness of the color and the added digital bezels while watching videos.

The mono speaker is surprisingly “okay.” Now, unlike other models of the Fire line-up, this is no Dolby Audio. Additionally, the position of the speaker (on the back) makes it impossible not to cover it with your hand. However leaving all of those factors, the audio is passable. The sound is a bit tinny, but the loudness makes up the shortcoming.

The 1.3Ghz quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM perform well under normal condition. However, if there are more than three apps running un the background, the tablet starts to struggle a bit. Essentially, this is a content-consumption-only tablet, if you keep it that way, it will do just fine.

On the software side, Amazon uses the Android Open-Source Project to create Fire OS 5 “Bellini.” The OS revolves around Amazon store and its content. The home screen acts as a gate to all of your Amazon contents, from Prime Video to Prime Music, Audible, and Kindle Books. If you are invested in the Amazon ecosystem, this would be an excellent fit. If not, there are tons of videos online, showing you how to port Android Lollipop to your tablet. Just keep in mind that the Google Play apps suit won’t be available here. However, there are still 200,000+ apps for you to choose from. And yes, you can port Google Play service onto the tablet with a little workaround.

Optically speaking, you should not be taking pictures or video with a tablet, period. However, on the off-chance that you do, photos from the 2MP rear-facing camera are middle-of-the-road. And once again, you really “should not be taking pictures or video with a tablet, period.”

Bottom line

For all intents and purposes, all of the Fire Tablets are for content consumption, and the Fire 7 is no different. For those who are on a budget, this might just be the device for you. However, anything heavier than that, and the tablet goes under-the-water. With that being said, it on;y costs $50, and if you have some spare change under the sofa, there is no reason not to get one for yourself.