I purchased two of the Amazon Fire Tablets this year, one for me and one for my almost 4 year old daughter. My expectations were low due to the low price point, but I decided to give it a try and see what happens. We have had our tablets for about a month now and I can happily say they are amazing, especially for the price point. While they are not top speed, top dollar tablets, they are perfect for all of our needs.
Amazon Fire Price Point
The Fire Tablet regularly retails for $49.99 on Amazon, but I purchased it on sale for $33.00. I took advantage of the Cyber Monday sale, but even at full retail price this tablet is rather inexpensive.
Amazon Fire Features
For an inexpensive tablet, this little guy is pretty packed with features. One of the things that initially caught my eye is the fact that you can choose from a few different colors. I got both of mine in magenta, but you can get black, orange or blue if you prefer for no extra cost.
It is a 7 inch tablet, a pretty standard size. The Fire isn’t going to be your giant Ipad or Surface, but I rather like the size as it easily fits into my purse or diaper bag when I want to take it with me.
It connects WiFi but it only has 8 GB of memory. While the internal memory of the device is low and will not be able to store very much at all, one of my favorite features of this tablet is that it has expandable memory. I was able to put a memory card into mine and my daughter’s and we haven’t had a storage issue since! Many of the other inexpensive tablet options I looked at did not offer expandable memory, and for me that is a deal breaker.
It has a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor. I am not totally sure exactly what that means, it might make sense to you but not to me. My techie husband tried to explain it, but it went over my head. What I do know is that the tablet is responsive, even if it does take a second or two to respond. It is not the fastest tablet on the market, but it isn’t running at a turtle’s pace either.
This little guy has a pretty good battery life too. Amazon advertises it as having a 7 hour battery life, and that seems about right give or take. My daughter played with it all day one day and it did not die until about 6:00 pm. Granted she has a habit of letting it keep playing when she walks away from it. I don’t tend to watch videos much on mine, as I primarily use it as an E-reader but my battery has lasted days between charges so far.
The only strange part about this tablet is that the lock screen runs advertisements. There is a way to get rid of them, but it involves paying and I am not about that life. They really aren’t that annoying, you just swipe them away to unlock the device, I hardly even notice them anymore.
As I mentioned earlier, I primarily use mine for reading. The Kindle store is will let you download a sample of a book to read prior to purchasing it. I ended up with a bunch of samples to see what book I wanted to delve into next. Everything is connected to your Amazon account, so any purchases will go directly through the card you have set up . You can download almost all of the Apps that you can on Android based tablets. I put Hulu and Netflix on mine as well.
Amazon Fire For the Kids
While Amazon does offer a Fire Tablet Kids, I found it a little less expensive to purchase this one and get a kids safe case separately. I purchased this case with handle and it has been great! My daughter has already dropped hers numerous times and there has been absolutely no damage to the tablet. The handle is great because it allows her to easily carry it with her and keep a good grip on it. The handle also pivots, allowing it to be used as a kick stand for the tablet as well if your child wants to stand it up and not hold it!
Amazon Free Time
One of my favorite features for kids is the Amazon Free Time App. It is $2.99 a month but it is completely worth it! I really like that it gives me the option to create a kid profile that I can fully control. I set it up based on the age of my child, and I can customize it any way I want. Under my profile I am able to set time limits and turn internet browsing on and off. I have Willow’s set up with content that is age appropriate, and educational. There are kids games, videos, and books to keep any kid occupied for hours. Not that I would recommend letting them play for hours, except maybe during a road trip.
All in all I am very pleased with this little Amazon Fire. It is definitely one of the best I have seen at this low of a price point. It is great for someone who doesn’t really do too much on their tablet (like me). Great for reading and browsing Amazon and playing around on Facebook. It is also wonderful for kids too with the Free Time App. I would recommend this to anyone in the market for a kids tablet or a simple tablet for self use.
I purchased the kids kindle fire back in June. I needed something for my son that was kid friendly. Even though people would say to buy him a regular tablet I chose this one. I love the free time and content Amazon has based on the age of your child. He loves it. Aside from only buying an 8g it was a great purchase.
the Fire tablet is great for kids! I love the free time app as well. Age appropriate content and I can limit my daughter’s time on it.
Very nice review! I also bought one for my almost 4 years old. She loves it, and I got a tablet to use too lol. I made her a kid profile on it and we are good to go! I almost fell for the “kids fire tablet” but after reading reviews decided to just buy the case separately as well. I ended up getting the tablet, case and a pair of kids matching headphones for less than just the kids’ tablet alone. Great mind think alike 🙂
Haha a right. I almost got the kids one too but they really are basically the same
yeah, the only real difference that I could find was the kids version came the the full year of free time, which wasn’t a huge selling point for me lol
Yea same here. We did the one month free and really the 2.99 a month isn’t that terrible of a price for what you get 🙂
exactly what I was thinking. I still haven’t done the free trial yet…she actually prefers to play with the play kitchen we go her over her tablet for now, so I’m gonna wait until she shows more intrest in it lol
my daughter plays with hers usually in the morning or in the later afternoon… other than that she has been outside on her powerwheels lol which i prefer anyways haha
We have these for the kids , they love them! I would recommend them to anyone… fab tablet for the price! xx
And for the price you really don’t feel terrible if a kid drops it
Exactly … bonus! xx
My hubb6 bought a job lot of them. In the Cyber Monday sale last year so both our kids have them. Though they can’t download load everything that want as uts not compatible, it keeps them busy! And Hubby kept one for hi self too before selling the others at a profit!
Worth it for kids definitely!
Nice review. I have been a fan of the Amazon tablets since they first came out. There are ways to get a wider range of Android apps on them, if you need to. And it’s not that hard. Google side load.
I’ve a Kindle Fire and I’m using it for more than a year. Pretty good thing it is…
Nice review… 🙂
Thank you. It’s nice to see other people who have and love it too!
🙂 …
That’s great the battery lasts 7 hours. It’s nice that you can limit the time your child is on it too. My regular Kindle has advertisements like that too.
The advertisements don’t bother me at all. And I love that I can limit her time 🙂
Both of my kids have Amazon Fires and they both really seem to like them. I liked that they were super inexpensive 🙂
Right, I love how inexpensive they are. The Amazon free time app is great too. So worth the $3 a month
Such a great price point and it totally gets the job done. Plus you can hand it over to the kiddos without fearing they might destroy your very expensive IPAD. Good find!
Right! My daughter had already destroyed a cheap tablet, she wasn’t getting an expensive one lol but this guy is really sturdy..
I would totally look into this except I feel like it’s hard for me to invest in it when my Kindle Paperwhite works so well!
My friend has these for all her kids and loves how easy it is to customize them and limit usage. My family is an apple family so I can’t really speak on it personally. My hubby did receive a kindle for a gift and it was ok but it just seems to run slow for us in comparison to apple what we are used to.
I use an iPad to read on and anytime my stepdaughter asks to use it I cringe (she has her own iPad LOL), but this seems like a MUCH better option for her age. Thanks for the thorough review.
A table for $33? I say you hit the jackpot. I get annoyed with my iPad and it was considerably more!
I think at this price point, they are great for children. I would never spent a fortune on a tablet for a child. Kids are simply too hard on these types of items.
I have an iPad, which I love. But I have to say I LOVE my kindle paperwhite for reading books. Lightweight and easy to use.
Seems like a great product for an even better price. I am biased and love my iPad but this is a great alternative!
This is a perfect gift idea for younger kids. I know my boys love their iPads.
My daughter loves it!
My hubby has one of these! He loves it, I like how small it is so it’s easy to take places. It does so many different things!
I love mine. I can toss it in my bag and go. And its great for my daughter.
This looks great, it might be fun to have a kiddo one around the house. Maybe they would leave mine alone! Tee hee
I have yet to try this tablet, but it looks like it would be great for the family, kids stuff and I could read on it too. I will definitely check it out. Thanks!
This tablet looks so cool! I really want it but I don’t know if I can justify buying it at the moment
Wait until it goes on sale for $33 🙂
We have a Kids edition for our toddler and love it! The Kindle Freetime for Kids is awesome because of all of the apps included. Definitely worth every penny.
Yes. My daughter loves the freetime.. And I love that it is educational and age appropriate
I’ve been thinking about getting an iPad for quite some time, this might be a better and cheaper option! I many for kids who have the fire kid version and they’ve already cracked the screen 🤷🏻♀️
My daughter is rough on hers and it’s still perfect. She has a case,with a handle and has,dropped it so many times lol
This Kindle looks really good! I’ve never found my way to Kindle because I thought they were too expensive when they came out and started using Kobo instead. Now I’ve gotten so used to it that I’m just sticking with the brand. It’s got nowhere as many features as your Kindle but I do have an iPad which I use for just about everything else! x
My kids both have the kids’ Fire and they just love it. We’ve taken them on countless trips and they’ve really held up!
I didn’t know about the app and the features that enable you to monitor your child’s screen time. It might be a good idea to get this since my girls are sharing.
I know, right? I also got a Fire tablet, also because of the low price point. I am blown away by the Kindle Fire. So happy I got it!!
My daughter and I love our Fire tablets. I’ve been considering on getting one for my son for his upcoming birthday!
This was a great review. I have family members that own one of these and they love them. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I love using the tablet for our son in the car. We try to keep him off it most other times, but for road trips up to NJ, it’s been a lifesaver!