The HD 8 Plus has the same battery and thus the same
battery life as the HD 8. In our tests, that’s 9 hours and
25 minutes of video playback time—plenty of power for
a full day. The Plus comes with a 9-watt charger instead
of the 8’s 5-watt charger, but it still takes several hours
to charge.
A BETTER KITCHEN COMPANION
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of our reviews, but it does here. The Fire HD 8 Plus’s
charging dock makes this tablet a much better bedside
or kitchen companion than its lower-cost sibling—not
only does it keep the tablet from sliding around, but you
can pretty much pick up the device at any time and
assume it will be charged. That’s really convenient.
The Fire HD 8 Plus’s major downside is the same as
with the other Fire tablets: The software is devoted to
making you consume Amazon content, and Amazon’s
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Google’s store. While you can hack Google’s store onto
the tablet, it’s unsupported and may fail at any time, so
I can’t recommend doing that.
This tablet’s $109.99 price is really $139.99 once you
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for a lot of people. The HD 8 Plus makes a great little
Echo Show-alike to display recipes or act as a fancy
alarm clock, plus play videos for the kids, for instance.
But if you need an inexpensive tablet with full Google
Play app compatibility, check out Walmart’s Onn.
8-inch tablet instead.
SASCHA SEGAN
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The Fire HD 8
Plus’s charging
dock makes it
a much better
bedside or
kitchen
companion
than its lower-
cost sibling.