When Amazon introduced the 10th-gen Fire HD 8 tablet series last week, the company revealed that the new tablets would have a faster processor, more RAM, faster WiFi, USB Type-C, and a new Fire HD 8 Plus model with 50-percent more RAM and support for wireless charging.
But there were a few key specs that the company didn’t reveal at the time: we didn’t know the exact processor or operating system version that the tablets will ship with.
Now we do, thanks to a new listing on the Amazon Developers website.
The 10th-gen Fire HD 8 features a 2 GHz MediaTek MT8168 ARM Cortex-A53 64-bit processor with ARM Mali-G52 3EE MC1 graphics.
It’s a step up from the 1.3 GHz MediaTek MT8163V/B ARM Cortex-A53 quad-core chip with Mali-T720 MP2 graphics that powers the previous-gen Fire HD 8. But it’s not as powerful as the 2 GHz MT8183 processor in the Fire HD 10 (2019).
That’s an octa-core chip with four 2 GHz ARM Cortex-A73 CPU cores, four 2 GHz ARM Cortex-A53 cores, and Mali-G72 MP3 graphics.
Other details revealed in the developer documentation include the fact that the new Fire HD 8 will ship with Fire OS 7, which is based on Android 9 Pie. And it really looks like the only real differences between the Fire HD and Fire HD 8 Plus are the price, RAM, and wireless charging support.
The Fire HD 8 is up for pre-order for $90 and up, while the Fire HD 8 Plus is priced at $110 and up. Both models are set to begin shipping June 3, 2020 and both are currently on sale for $20 off if you buy two tablets.
| Amazon Fire HD 8 (2020) | Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus (2020) | Amazon Fire HD 8 (2018) | Amazon Fire HD 10 (2019) | |
| Display | 8 inch, 1280 x 800 | 8 inch, 1280 x 800 | 8 inch, 1280 x 800 | 10 inch, 1920 x 1200 |
| Storage | 32GB or 64GB + microSD (up to 1TB) | 32GB or 64GB + microSD (up to 1TB) | 16GB or 32GB + microSD (up to 400GB) | 32GB or 64GB + microSD (up to 512GB) |
| RAM | 2GB | 3GB | 1.5GB | 2GB |
| CPU | 2 GHz MT8168 quad-core | 2 GHz MT8168 quad-core | 1.3 GHz MT8163V/B quad-core | 2 GHz MT8183 |
| GPU | ARM Mali-G52 3EE MC1 | ARM Mali-G52 3EE MC1 | Mali-T720 MP2 | Mali-G72 MP3 GPU |
| Battery | Up to 12 hours | Up to 12 hours | Up to 10 hours | Up to 12 hours |
| Ports | USB 2.0 Type-C | USB 2.0 Type-C | micro USB 2.0 | USB 2.0 Type-C |
| Charging time | 5 hours (5W wired) | 4 hours (9W wired), 3 hours (wireless) | 6 hours (5W wired) | 4 hours (9W wired) |
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo | Stereo | Stereo |
| WiFi | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac | 802.11a/b/g/n | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac |
| Bluetooth | 5.0 | 5.0 | 4.1 LE | 4.2 |
| Cameras | 2MP front & rear | 2MP front & rear | 2MP front & rear | 2MP front & rear |
| OS | Fire OS 7 | Fire OS 7 | Fire OS 6 | Fire OS 7 |
| Dimensions | 202mm x 137mm x 9.7mm | 202mm x 137mm x 9.7mm | 214mm x 128mm x 9.7mm | 262mm x 159mm x 9.8mm |
| Weight | 355 grams | 355 grams | 363 grams | 504 grams |
| Starting price | $90 | $110 | $80 (discontinued) | $150 |
Very unfortunate that they’re sticking with that 1280×800 screen. I briefly owned a Fire HD 8, and the low screen resolution was my reason for selling it.
It’s too low of a resolution. Lots of websites are terrible to use at that resolution and size
I was hoping that Amazon used the same SOC as the Fire HD 10 (2019) for the Fire HD 8 Plus… but they didn’t. This makes it a non-starter for me. I don’t mind less battery life if I can get the performance when I need it… that is what big.LITTLE is all about.