Amazon Kindle Fire HDX Review

The Amazon Kindle Fire HDX is Amazons latest Kindle, boasting a powerful 2.2 GHZ Quad Core processor, a  screen that has better resolution than your HD LCD TV at a price that is deemed affordable. It is an 8.9″ Tablet with the latest Fire OS software.

Out of the box the Kindle is a light slate with beveled edges, it feels robust, comfortable to hold and ultimately its easy to set up. Switching on the device is slightly strange at first as the power switch is in a recess on the rear of the device, as is the toggle button for the volume. At first it was confusing as it was quite hard to tell which were which but after some use it became natural.

Once you’ve figured the rear buttons out, everything else is left to the touch screen. The screen itself is noticeably crisp, colors are vivid and overall it looked simply fantastic. The screen is large enough to read with ease too, text is large and clear, but take note that if you are looking for something to take outdoors to read, you may still wish to stick with the Kindle Paperback version as it is specifically designed for that purpose.

As with all lit screens, they become difficult to see when using outside, even with the brightness cranked up!

The responsiveness of the device certainly exceeded my expectations as the previous Kindle Fire tablets were rather slow but this one is super quick ensuring a much smoother and fuller experience, I even hit up the Amazon app store and downloaded some of the most demanding mobile games out there which the HDX ran with ease.

This is the main selling point for me and us as gamers, the device is excellent at running games and with its crisp, large screen, they become much more of an experience compared with playing them on your phone. Movies also look fantastic and I certainly recommend using services such as Amazon prime, although if you have some Blu Ray movies hanging around, get them on the device as they look so damn sharp.

The HDX does have its limitations, it is strictly tied mainly to Amazons services which for me isn’t a problem as their services have come a long way over the past year or so and offer a ton of great content at reasonable prices.

Sadly, if you are into the Googles play store among the other Google services, you may be slightly deterred. Don’t be, the device at its core still runs on Googles Android platform so with a bit of tinkering you can easily customize the OS to your preferences. I found that the Fire OS runs somewhat smoother due to its simplicity and it is easy to navigate once you get used to it.

The HDX 8.9″ even has 2 cameras, a front and rear 8 mega pixel camera that is great for taking pictures, videos and video calls also if you find yourself stuck with the device you can touch the mayday button and talk to a member of support within minutes. They can show you from their end what to do as they can see your device’s screen, they can even take control of your device while you watch them but they can’t see you. The support is 24/7 which is great, especially if you use your HDX Kindle for business purposes or at all times of the day.

Sound is clearly key t0o, this time round they have added slightly larger speakers with Dolby sound capability. These pump out great quality sound, but they are positioned on the rear which I found slightly strange. They are encased along the beveled edge which works as when you put the device on the table you aren’t blocking the sound, but personally I felt the speakers would have been better front facing.

The Amazon Kindle HDX 8.9″ is a fantastic piece of kit that shines in almost every area. It is a tablet I would definitely recommend purchasing for all your mobile gaming needs as well as anything else you may need a tablet for. Included with the system is its charger, charging cable and 400 Amazon coins which you can spend on anything you like. Add that to the unbeatable support, great services and an ever improving OS, it’s a device that you will clearly see changes in for years to come!