Today, Amazon announced a refresh for its Fire HD 8 tablets, offering almost no changes over the model from two years ago, except that it now supports hands-free Alexa even when the screen is off.
Priced at $79.99, the Fire HD 8 includes a 1.3GHz quad-core ARM processor, along with 1.5GB RAM and either 16GB or 32GB of onboard storage. It also has Dolby Atmos for a premium audio experience, and a 1280x800 display.
There"s also a feature called Show Mode, which pretty much turns the tablet into an Echo Show. It will show you news, weather, camera feeds, and so on. The big difference now is that you previously either had to have the screen on or have the device plugged in to access Alexa features like that, and now you don"t.
Amazon also announced a new Fire HD 8 Kids Edition, which of course comes with a year of FreeTime Unlimited, a kid-proof case, and a two-year worry-free guarantee, all for $129.99. It"s also worth noting that the firm announced today that FreeTime Unlimited is available in Spanish.
You can pre-order the new Fire HD 8 now, but it will be available on October 4.