Amazon Fire HD 7 review

Is Amazon's budget tablet still the brightest spark in the fire?

Amazon Fire HD 7 review
Lighting a fire under the tablet market?

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Early incarnations of Amazon's Fire tablet dispensed with the rear-facing camera but times are a changin' and the company has added one here.

It's not going to displace the likes of the iPad Air 2 or Samsung Tab S when it comes to photography as the results are sub-par.

Amazon Fire HD 7 2014 review

The camera lens is tucked into the corner

The rear-facing 2MP camera has the bare bones when it comes to features; namely an HDR mode and a Panorama mode.

You can alter the exposure settings by tapping on different parts of your subject but the results are negligible. There's no flash and the HD 7 doesn't cope well with low-light situations.

Amazon Fire HD 7 2014 review

You won't be using this as your main camera

Most of the time, the photos are grainy and lack detail. There's also a strong chance your finger will obscure the lens if you're holding the device in landscape mode. As Amazon points out, you can shoot 1080p video with the rear-facing camera but it's hardly going to replace the shooter on your smartphone.

Switch to the VGA front-facing camera and the results are pretty similar. It's acceptable for video chatting and does offer face recognition but the overall detail level is still way below what I'm used to seeing.

Amazon Fire HD 7 2014 review

The front facing VGA camera

It's a plus point that Amazon has even decided to add cameras to the tablet, but it certainly isn't the Fire HD 7 strongest feature.

Scroll down for some examples of the Amazon Fire HD 7's photographical prowess.

Amazon Fire HD 7 review

Taken outside in bright light on auto returns a grainy, slightly washed out image

Click here for the full res image

Amazon Fire HD 7 review

The same image, now with HDR mode enabled, is now darker with a slightly better contrast

Click here for the full res image

Amazon Fire HD 7 review

Close-up shots are possible and although in focus, the detail and colours aren't impressive

Click here for the full res image

Amazon Fire HD 7 review

One of the Fire HD 7's few modes is a Panorama mode

Click here for the full res image

Amazon Fire HD 7 review

Selfies or video calling on the HD 7's front-facing camera aren't striking

Click here for the full res image