Amazon Fire HD 8 reviews: tablet is a good all rounder for less than $100 USD

A promotional photo for Amazon Fire HD 8Amazon

Amazon's Fire HD 8 is one of the most affordable mid-sized tablets in the market today, and despite having a price tag less than $100USD, the device still makes for a practical personal tablet for day-to-day use.

Tablets under $100 USD usually get a bad rap because of their subpar specs, but the same cannot be said for Amazon's Fire HD 8. Though it still has a long way to go if it would like to challenge higher-end tablets, the device holds its own against same-priced rivals.

The Amazon Fire HD 8 comes in a plastic design of four colors: black, magenta, blue, and tangerine. The Amazon tablet is equipped with an 8-inch IPS screen with a 1280x800 resolution that allows it to have a 189 ppi pixel density.

The Amazon Fire HD 8 is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core processor backed up by only 1.5 GB of RAM. The tablet also runs on modified versions of Android 5.x Lollipop called the Fire OS 5.3 Bellini. Despite its low RAM, the device still makes for a good video player and an e-book reader. However, it is clearly not a device for multitasking.

The Amazon tablet also comes in both 16 GB and 32 GB storage versions with an expandable storage capacity of up to 200 GB via microSD. What's more is that the Fire HD 8 supports USB OTG devices and it provides its users with unlimited storage for books, movies, etc. purchased from Amazon.

Other celebrated features of the Amazon tablet includes its long lasting battery that can power up the device for 12 hours of reading or surfing the internet, and playing videos and music. Another great thing about the Fire HD 8 are its Dolby Audio speakers that provide its users with the right amount of volume to enjoy watching videos.

Unfortunately, the devices packs a poor quality 2-megapixel rear camera and a VGA front shooter, both providing its users with low quality photos.

The Amazon Fire HD 8 can be bought for prices ranging from $89.99 up to $134.99 on the Amazon store today.