Did Amazon just release one of the best Android tablets you can buy? Perhaps, based on my colleague Axel Metz' hands-on with the new Alexa Tablet, which he reckons could even give some of the best iPads a run for their money.
It's been two years since Amazon last released a Fire tablet, and 15 years since the first model was released — and I thought 2011 would be the first and last time I'd ever purchase one of Amazon's touchscreen tablets.
That might be about to change with the release of this new product range, which ditches FireOS for Android, packs Alexa+ intelligence, and boasts some pretty impressive specs at an approachable price point across its three sizes.
A Kindle, yes, but not Fire
Now, to its credit, the original Kindle Fire was designed to toe the line between Amazon's successful Kindle product range and general-use tablets, but it didn't succeed tremendously at the latter. While many Amazon devices do lean heavily into the world's biggest retailer's... well, retailing, it erred at times on the side of being a dedicated Amazon shopfront, which, for 15-year-old me, wasn't incredibly useful.
Media playback was fine across platforms, e-reading was decent, but the meager app support, clunky FireOS, and painful Silk web browser experience quickly relegated the slate into the pits of my personal e-waste landfill. With little meaningful change to address these woes in the 13 years of Kindle Fires (later rebranded as Fire Tablets) that followed, I never quite forgave Amazon for its misstep into mobile computing.
Times have changed, however, and now I've got my sights set on the new range of Amazon Alexa Tablets.
We discussed the Amazon Alexa Tablet in our latest episode of the TechRadar Podcast, which you can watch below.
For one thing, I use Alexa+ services every day, and while I find the system far from perfect, it is the most user-friendly in terms of smart home device compatibility and accessibility. Plus, on these tablets you can enable Alexa+ to see your screen and offer in-context services, offering seamless interaction with the rest of Amazon's devices; if you find a recipe on your tablet, you can ask Alexa+ to save it, send it to your Echo Show device, and prepare the steps for you to follow while you're cooking.
There's a looming question over how much functionality you lose if you don't have an Alexa+ subscription ($19.99 / £19.99 / AU$29.99 per month, but free for Prime members); however, as I noted in the latest episode of the TechRadar Podcast (which you can watch above), I imagine a lot of the target audience for the product are, like me, pretty bedded in with Amazon's services already.
Regardless, the devices are all the more compelling when you see their prices. The largest and most performant Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro starts at just $499.99 / £449.99 with a 120Hz display, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. There's also an optional Nanomatte display model (much like the internal screen on Apple's new iPhone Duo), starting at $549.99 / £599.99, which is where I'm setting my sights for a more comfortable reading experience.
That's before we get to the optional keyboard attachment and Pro Pen, which open doors for productivity use cases, especially now that software like G Suite will run far better natively. Plus, the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8400 chipset; Amazon says "with up to 16GB of RAM, Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro delivers nearly three times faster processing and nine times faster graphics than any tablet we’ve ever shipped."
You can read the full range of prices and more insights in Axel's aforementioned hands-on with the slates, but suffice it to say, they're coming in hot, and as an Apple device user with an Alexa smart home, I find myself at a real crossroads when it comes to choosing my next device.
The Alexa Tablet 12 Pro, Alexa Tablet 11, and Alexa Tablet 8 — plus the new Amazon Kids Tablets — are available to pre-order now and will begin shipping October 19.
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