Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Tablet Specifications
Key features
Solid and shock-resistant case with all that reinforcement and lining, you don't need a two-year warranty without equivocation
The 8-inch HD screen gives you the larger size and resolution of 1280 × 800 images clearer and brighter than the cheaper Fire 7.
Amazon Kids Program and Kids Subscription+ The program and subscription keep kids busy with the content, while giving parents control.
Introduction
Amazon's Fire tablets have always been our starting point for anyone who wants a cheap tablet to be used by younger children.
This is because the tablets themselves are inexpensive but incredibly good and powerful, in part because the Amazon ecosystem is especially good when it comes to providing a safe experience for children with effective parental controls.
All of the above doubles for the select Kids versions, which offer an Amazon's Kids subscription and a chunky shock-absorbing bag, and Amazon has now updated the 8-inch versions to the same specs as the late 2022 Fire HD 8.
These come in two flavors: Fire HD 8 Kids with the same type of thick shock absorber case as previous baby tablets, aimed at children ages 3 to 7, and Fire HD 8 Kids Pro designed for older children, ages 6 to 12, with a thinner and older bumper case. The tablets themselves are basically identical, but the software and experience differ to cater to the two very different age groups.
At £150, £50 more than you'd pay for the standard Fire HD 8, while you can purchase a Kids subscription separately. However, consider the monthly cost of £3.99 and the price of a similar case against children, and Fire HD 8 Kids seems to be better valued.
design
Thick protective case
Useful handle that can be used as a stand
One USB Type-C port for plug and charge
The most distinctive feature of the Fire HD 8 Kids should be the thick case. It adds about 2 cm to the height of the tablet in the vertical position and about 4 cm for width, while the thickness of the case is more than an inch (or 2.7 cm) around the edges and corners.
Fire HD 8 is already one of the most difficult tablets out there, but with this case, damaging it is a challenge. A good, direct shock to a small area of the screen is likely to cause this, but it is unlikely to leave a trace on hard kitchen floors, down stairs and on concrete. Basically, your average child will have to put some serious effort into really breaking it down, even though it has no water or dust resistance, you may want to keep an eye on it if it's taken in the bathroom or used outdoors.
Even if your offspring executes adequate punishment, Amazon provides a worry-free guarantee of two years. If Fire HD 8 Kids already crashes, you can return the tablet and Amazon will replace it for free.
One of the longest sides of the tablet has a thick plastic handle on a very rigid hinge, which can be folded for carrying purposes or to serve as a stand. It is very solid and will hold the tablet from only two angles, but that means you can place the Fire HD 8 Kids on a flat surface if its user wants to relax and watch CBeebies.
The only downside to the case is that the port openings and buttons on the tablet can be difficult for adult fingers. I can only press the power button and volume buttons at the top of the tablet, but they are very tight, while the USB Type-C port and headphone jack have similar issues. However, all but the most rebleaked plugs went in and out without any difficulties, and unless you plan to let kids stay away from your Grado or Beyerdynamic Hi-Fi headphones, you're probably going to be fine.
screen
Resolution 1280 × 800
Decent brightness levels but faded flat colors
Very reflective for use in bright sunlight
By the standards of an iPad or Samsung Galaxy Tab S tablet, the screen on the Fire HD 8 Kids is not great. Resolution is limited to HD (not Full HD) 1280 × 800, which means that the video and images will not look clear and you can see the pixel structure at close range.
Moreover, while the screen gets somewhat bright (I measured the maximum brightness at 472 nits), there isn't much contrast and the colors look flat and a little dull.
But, hey, do your kids criticize this kind of thing? Will they complain about inaccurate colors or do they just want something that makes their apps, games, animations, YouTube videos, and movies look good enough to watch?
If it is the latter, the display on the Fire HD 8 Kids will be good provided that they do not try to watch outdoors in bright sunlight or sit with their back in front of a sunlit window, at which point there will not be enough brightness to penetrate the reflections on a screen. To be honest, I watched some Netflix shows during the audition, and it didn't bother me much either. It's a darn sight better than the dull low-resolution screen on the cheaper Fire 7 as well.
The only thing you may find more aggravated is the sound. It's okay with smaller volumes, if they're a bit small, but they get thinner and tougher when you turn the volume up. Some child-safe headphones may be a good idea, both for their enjoyment and for your safety.
Software & Performance
Easy to use, kid-friendly interface
Parental control panel with excellent controls
Modest performance from a six-core CPU
Fire HD 8 Kids runs the same Fire OS software as the standard Fire HD 8 tablet, but with a superimposed software experience designed specifically for younger children. Instead of the regular home screen with apps, they see a top bar with large square buttons for some basic apps and content categories, and then several rows of super-sized icons covering recent and premium apps as well as content that Amazon thinks it might enjoy. It is a method that gives access to a wide range of applications, games and videos, while creating a kind of walled gardens under parental control.
A lot of these come for free with an Amazon Kids+ subscription, which is free for the first year and £3.99 per month thereafter, and includes a wide range of movies, TV shows, music, games, and family-friendly apps. Parents will love apps and educational content, while kids will be happy to see familiar faces like Hello Kitty, Horrid Henry, and CBeebies as well as big names from Disney and Cartoon Network. In fact, Amazon Kids+ is arguably worth it only for a bunch of apps, games, and books.
You can add any content you own from Amazon to your child's profile – videos, Kindle books, audiobooks, or music – but you can't add content from your Amazon Prime Video or Music subscription, which is a bit annoying if something you think works for you that the child would like but is not on Amazon's current listings. However, you can search for specific content for Kids+ and add it through the parental dashboard, so you can add things this way, if available through Kids+.
You are also free to install any streaming apps that you already subscribe to. As far as the original stuff in Amazon Kids is concerned, they're all age-related, but you'll have to set up parental profiles and controls on other apps like iPlayer, Netflix, or Disney+.
No browser as such works within the children's experience; there are web links that open within a restricted browser instance and make it nearly impossible to move elsewhere.
As a parent, you get a powerful set of parental controls for apps and games, so you can set age restrictions and decide if you want kids to be able to download apps or additional content without your consent.
Perhaps the answer to this question is "no", in which case your children do not have the possibility to add apps, games, books, and DLC, or they have to ask you first. The same applies to any paid content that is not listed on Amazon Kids. Select the desired consent option, and you will receive an email prompt to request your feedback through the browser-based parental control panel. It is fast, hassle-free and safe.
As far as performance goes, the Amazon Fire 8 Kids isn't what you call the speed demon. Fire HD 8 now has a six-core MediaTek MT8169A ARM CPU and 2GB of RAM, but you won't want Call of Duty: Mobile or Genshin Impact running on this thing. Fortunately, most kid-friendly games aren't as demanding, and the likes of Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom and Cut the Rope work perfectly well. There's even enough to run the more intense Asphalt 8, although you'll spot weird jerks in frame rate here and there.
Strangely, I couldn't convince Geekbench 5 to run a full cycle of any of the Fire HD 8 Kids tablets, although I managed it on a standard Fire HD 8 tablet, scoring 178 (single-core) and 851 (multiple). Given that even basic 8-inch tablets like the Nokia T10 can reach 305 and 1243 respectively, this only confirms that you are getting the specs you paid for; not less and no more.
Battery life
10-13 hours of battery life
About five hours to reach a full charge
Amazon Fire HD 8 is one of the best tablets with small screens for battery life, and Fire HD 8 Kids is no different.
Left to stream video for an hour at maximum brightness, the battery decreased by 10%, and you can reduce that to 7% by reducing the brightness to almost two-thirds. In other words, you are definitely looking for a useful battery life of 10-13 hours, maybe more.
Games will hit the CPU and GPU harder, but you won't have to charge your tablet every day if you stick to reasonable levels of usage..