From the Fire 7 datasheet, the most relevant in this renewal is on the side of the internal memory capacity, which now starts from 16 GB in the most affordable model, just double that of the previous generation. It was more necessary than expected.
Characteristics
| DIMENSIONS | 192 x 115 x 9.6 millimeters |
|---|---|
| WEIGHT | 286 grams |
| SCREEN | 7 inches |
| RESOLUTION | 1,024 x 600 pixels (about 171 dpi) |
| PROCESSOR | Quad core a 1,3 GHz |
| GRAPHIC CARD | Mali-450 MP |
| RAM | 1 GB |
| MEMORY | 16GB / 32GB (expandable up to 512GB) |
| SOFTWARE | Fire OS |
| CAMERAS | 2 megapixel rear with 720p HD video recording, front VGA |
| BATTERY | Approximate maximum autonomy: 7 hours (according to manufacturer) |
Advantages
- Light and compact to handle it with one hand and take it everywhere
- robust and resistant
- Value for money if you are not looking for anything more complete
The processor has also been improved but the amount of RAM has not been touched, which is still only 1 GB, something that makes less and less sense.
Basic design with a predominance of frames
The renovation of Fire 7 has not been completed in the first half of 2019. The interior has been improved but the exterior practically remains intact from the previous generation. There we find, for example, some tremendous frames for a product of this type in 2019, which makes Amazon’s cheapest and most basic tablet not as compact as its diagonal would allow.
Those anachronistic frames should not cloud the good performance at the finish level that Amazon has done. We are not referring to fine details or even to the materials used, plastic everywhere, but to the fact that this construction is robust and reliable. So much so that with the prices of the official Amazon covers, of the order of 25 euros, completing this tablet with protective accessories seems like a difficult decision.
The visual appeal comes from the colors of the polycarbonate back…when available. The purple, green or blue still cannot be purchased on Amazon Spain, so you have to settle for the sober and basic black.
On the hand, the Fire 7 is still quite comfortable. The grip is adequate, allowing you to hold it with one hand thanks to its reduced width. The weight, less than 300 grams, makes it hard to tire of using it with one hand, but if we add a thickness of almost 1 cm, it is somewhat rough for its appearance. Of course, it fits almost anywhere. It is a good option as a tablet to read content on the move if we do not want to do it on a smartphone with a large diagonal.
The physical connections are as basic as the design of the tablet and there is no uniform distribution. The physical controls are all on the top frame. There we find the power and volume buttons, as well as the headphone port and the micro-USB for charging. Already in the right frame, at the top, is the microSD card slot, which does not need a tool to open it.
Fair screen for everything
Taking again the price of 69 euros as a starting point, the screen of the Amazon Fire 7 does not allow excessive joy. We are facing a 7-inch IPS panel with good viewing angles but a resolution of 1024×600 pixels, which leaves a density far from 200 dpi. There are no excessive problems reading content, something that the dedicated polarization for it that Amazon has introduced helps, but do not expect the sharpness of a higher-level smartphone or tablet.
The color reproduction is not its strong point either, so it is not convenient that you trust too much the representation in the panel, which suffers from somewhat dull tones in general.
The brightness, less than 400 nits, allows a fair display outdoors but even indoors it must be kept almost always at a fairly high level to have a satisfactory experience, which as we will see negatively affects autonomy.
Of the options of the screen, it is necessary to stop something in the blue light filter, which is tremendously exaggerated in the warmth despite the regulation that it admits. We have not been able to keep it active to read as much as we have tried, but that it exists is a good detail.
The basic experience with the screen is accompanied by another elementary experience at the level of sound. As we have indicated, there is a single speaker that offers us a somewhat flat sound but with enough power for this price. But don’t expect sharp bass or treble. To hang out and little else.
That speaker is placed in the frame on the left side, in the lower part, an area that, if we hold the tablet with one hand, it is common for us to end up covering it. At least it’s not in the rear anymore, where we were much more likely to muffle that sound. Better is the experience with the headphones since luckily the Amazon Fire 7 keeps the headphone port.
Fair performance, little autonomy
The most important renewal of the new Amazon Fire 7 is in its entrails. To begin with, we have an improved processor that maintains the four cores at 1.3 GHz, which has offered us the expected performance for a fair processor and a limited amount of RAM, only 1 GB at this point.
In the GeekBench synthetic test, we have obtained a score of 643 points in the Single-Core test and 1919 in the multi-Core.
Those discreet figures in the benchmarks are corroborated in the daily experience with the Amazon tablet. All actions seem to be slower compared to the experience with mid-range models or even very discreet smartphones. Auto-rotating the screen, opening or closing apps, multitasking, or even moving around the interface all come with some lag.
Even writing on the on-screen keyboard is somewhat confusing because, despite the fact that it has a good tactile response and we did not fail, the screen replica of what we are writing is not immediate. It also suffers from early heating as soon as we start to demand the tablet.
The base internal memory is now 16 GB, an important step but still low for a team that has high content consumption claims. If you do it via streaming and you are not going to have many games, it may be acceptable. If your goal is to fill it with videos or download from streaming services to watch offline, you will encounter difficulties. One option is to have microSD cards, but it is already an extra expense and not very comfortable.
If there is not much room for maneuver with performance, the same goes for autonomy. The battery, without specifying capacity, is quite limited. Amazon promises us 7 hours for mixed-use where multimedia playback predominates, but our experience lowers those figures quite a bit.
If we stick to the playback of content and some web browsing, a very common use for this type of tablet, we have obtained an average of fewer than 5 hours. When we have resorted to basic games, that autonomy has been lower. Here you have to keep in mind that with this screen you have to keep the brightness at a high level to have a satisfactory experience.
The low autonomy has not been able to counteract with a fast charge. Here the micro USB port and 5W charger remain, which gives us more than three and a half hours per full charge of the tablet.
Software designed for content consumption
The Amazon Fire 7 hits the market with the base of version 7 of Android. In reality, we can hardly appreciate it because Amazon places its own version based on the operating system. The interface is divided into sections associated with content mainly from Amazon stores. If you are in their ecosystem you will find yourself very integrated.
In Fire OS we find our own browser, as well as applications for mail, file management, or content playback. And the basic settings of the operating system.
What one does not find in this Amazon tablet is usual in the Android ecosystem. There are no default Google applications, not even Gmail or YouTube, nor the Play store to download them. This means that either you settle for the ones that Amazon proposes in its own store to replace them, or you get involved in installing APKs that don’t always work. Because managing mail or watching YouTube videos in the browser is not an experience that we recommend more than for an emergency.
An interesting extra of the new 2019 model of the Fire 7 is that, despite its affordable price, it comes with Alexa integrated so it can be used just by calling it. Currently, the Amazon assistant is one of the most competitive on the market and this tablet is a good start for later, if we like the experience, to make the leap to an Echo. In terms of making money, Amazon does not leave stitches without thread.
However, the Alexa functionality on this Fire tablet is not yet available in Spain, we will see if they end up activating it because it would be an excellent value to add.
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