Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021) review: Best cheap tablet with amazing battery life

Our Verdict

The Amazon Fire Hard disk x (2021) offers a good screen and epic battery life.

For

Stellar bombardment life
Sharp and vivid screen
USB-C charging

Against

Speakers aren't that strong
Still lacks Google apps

Tom's Guide Verdict

The Amazon Fire Hd 10 (2021) offers a good screen and epic battery life.

Pros

+
Stellar battery life
+
Sharp and brilliant screen
+
USB-C charging

Cons

-
Speakers aren't that stiff
-
Still lacks Google apps

Amazon Fire Hard disk drive ten (2021): Specs

CPU: 2.0GHz octa-core CPU
RAM: 3GB
Display: ten.ane-inch, 1920 ten 1200-pixel
Storage: 32GB, 64GB
Ports: 1x USB-C, headphone jack, microSD
Bombardment life: xiii:14 (13:46 with power saving way enabled)
Dimensions: nine.7 x half-dozen.5 ten 0.four inches
Weight: 17.8 ounces/i.1 pounds

The Amazon Fire Hard disk 10 (2021) takes an already-adept tablet and applies incremental upgrades, such equally a slightly brighter screen, 1GB more RAM and a smaller, lighter pattern. While information technology probably isn't a must-accept for anyone who bought the 2019 model, it'south certainly showing Amazon's power to put out a value-driven slate that's skilful enough for many.

This keeps the Fire Hd 10'due south spot among the all-time Android tablets out there, and i of the best tablets yous can buy — especially if you're on a upkeep. Its biggest flaws, though, are nothing new. Amazon's Fire Os is still app-challenged, missing the Google Play app shop. This means y'all can't get the total YouTube feel, among others.

MacBook Air vs iPad Pro: What's right for yous?

And then, this Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021) review will pit Amazon'south latest confronting two interesting competitors of similar size. Those are the ten.1-inch Amazon Burn down Hd 10 Plus ($179) and Apple'due south 10.2-inch iPad ($329). How much of a crash-land do you lot get for spending more?

Amazon Fire Hard disk 10 (2021) review: Price and availability

The Fire Hard disk 10 (2021) has a starting price of $149.99, in a configuration that includes 32GB of storage. It's bachelor on Amazon.com now, having released on May 26, 2021.

At that place's a $40 upgrade to double internal storage, bringing the tablet to $189. You could also spend $15 to remove ads from your lock screen. I'd pick the latter.

Amazon's also got a $225 bundle that takes the entry-level Fire Hd ten and adds a folding comprehend example you'd utilize when watching video, 2 screen protectors and a 15W charger for faster refueling.

Every bit ever, Amazon as well sells a $199 Fire HD 10 Kids Edition, and that extra $50 gets you a ii-yr no-questions-asked warranty, a protective example with kickstand and a yr of Amazon Kids+ (aka FreeTime Unlimited).

This twelvemonth, Amazon'due south got some new optional upgrades: the $179 Fire Hard disk drive 10 (2021) Plus which has wireless charging and 4GB of RAM (upgraded from the 3GB in the entry level model), and the $299 (currently $249 on sale) Burn HD 10 Plus Productivity Packet, which includes a detachable Bluetooth keyboard instance and a 12-month subscription to Microsoft 365 Personal.

Can't decide between Fire tablets? Then cheque out our rundown of the Fire vii vs Burn HD 8 vs Fire Hd 10.

Amazon Burn Hd 10 (2021) review: Design

The Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021) is as simple equally tablets get, with a matte plastic beat out on 1 side and a glossy screen on the other. Information technology's sold in black, denim (the dark blue seen here), lavander and olive.

Testing the Burn down Hard disk drive 10 at abode, I can say it feels sturdy unless yous grip it super-tight. Then, yous'll detect a bit of flex in its crush — mostly in the center-back part.

Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021) review — (Image credit: Tom'due south Guide)

I pocket-sized modify from last yr'southward model is found in the overall dimensions, which you lot might not observe at commencement. The Fire Hard disk 10 (2021) measures ix.vii ten 6.5 x 0.four inches, which differs from the 2019 model's 10.iii ten 6.3 x 0.4 inch frame. What does that mean, aside from being not equally long and a little wider? Well, its footprint is a little a little under 2 foursquare inches less than information technology used to be. This year'due south model is also a pilus lighter, at sixteen.4 ounces to last twelvemonth'south 17.viii-ounce Burn Hd ten.

The Fire HD 10 Plus (9.seven x 6.5 ten 0.4 inches, 16.5 ounces) is a hair heavier, while the Apple iPad (2020) (9.8 x 6.viii x 0.three inches, 17.six ounces) is both a tad thinner and heavier.

The Fire Hard disk 10 (2021) tin can lord its USB-C port over the iPad, which is still using the Lightning port. While both are reversible, Apple's port is far from universal, while USB-C is only growing in popularity.

Amazon Burn down HD ten (2021) review: Display

For a $150 tablet, the Burn down Hd 10's display is colorful and brilliant. Plus, this is the only Amazon tablet with a Full HD (1920 ten 1200-pixel) screen, so if screen quality matters to yous, don't expect at the Burn Hard disk drive eight or Fire 7.

Watching the Prime Video motion picture The Tomorrow War, the dangerous ruddy smoke behind Chris Pratt rendered accurately, while the sickly dark-green and grey 'Spike' aliens also appeared correctly. Best of all. the behemothic explosions from supporting fire taking out these monsters looked bright and strong. Rippling h2o below the soldiers looked crisp and clear, and reminded me how much I could use a trip to the embankment.

The Fire Hd x's display appears to be slightly meliorate than that of the 2019, producing 106.5% of the sRGB spectrum on our Klein K10-A colorimeter, and emitting up to 420 nits of brightness.

That's a bit brighter than the 2019 Burn down HD ten (106%, 403 nits) and the Fire Hard disk 10 Plus (107.9%, 403.half-dozen nits). The 2020 iPad 8th Gen (97%, 484 nits) is a hair less colorful just fifty-fifty brighter.

The display on the Fire HD 10 may be a scrap reflective (most tablets take this outcome), but that doesn't interfere with viewing angles. As I watched an air raid drop even more bombs in The Tomorrow War, the explosions merely darkened slightly when viewed from 45 degrees to the left and correct.

The Amazon Fire HD x's touchscreen has gotten a bit speedier since I tested the 2019 model. Not only is navigating the Fire Bone home screens equally snappy as usual, but I didn't see any lag when I pinched and pulled to zoom in and out of photos.

I'd also like it if the Fire Hard disk x's console would wake upon tapping it. Alas, you need to tap the power push button to plow on the panel.

Amazon Burn HD 10 (2021) review: Audio

The 2021 Fire HD 10's screen may print at this price, but its speakers don't always friction match. As I turned on Frank Ocean's "Swim Good," I was immediately greeted by percussion instruments that had likewise much rattle, as the tablet's speakers produced them a flake too sharply.

Listening to LCD Soundsystem'due south "All My Friends," though, I did respect the plinking piano keys. Looking for bass in De La Soul'south "Rock Co.Kane Catamenia," I came up mostly empty, though MF Doom's vocals did sound correct and sturdy.

Amazon Fire Hd 10 (2021) review: Performance

Armed with an octa-core 2.0 GHz processor and 3GB of RAM, the 2021 Fire Hard disk drive 10's faster than the smaller Fire tablets, but is notwithstanding non exactly speedy. For example, the unproblematic pause when moving from an application to the home screen is slightly longer than information technology should be, and I saw a similar delay when opening the app-switching view. Moving through tabs in the Silk browser was a bit smoother than earlier, something to credit to the additional 1GB of RAM (the 2019 model only had 2GB).

Tapping through the many layers of Amazon-distributed content, I noticed that the Fire HD ten 2021 was speedy enough when doing well-nigh everyday tasks. The Fire HD 10 loaded tunes in Spotify and movies in Prime Video promptly.

That said, the Fire Hard disk 10's 969 score on the Geekbench five multicore performance benchmark is not impressive. The A12 Bionic fleck in the iPad earned it a much higher 2,685 score, while the 4GB of RAM in the Fire Hd ten Plus (octa-core 2.0 GHz CPU, again) makes all the divergence for its 1,399 score.

In terms of gaming, the Asphalt nine racing game only looked great in the opening moments, when cars weren't actually moving. When I sped a blue Mitsubishi effectually the streets, I noticed minor, but visible, stutters through the collisions with other cars and when you do stunts off of ramps.

Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021) review: Battery Life

Reliable is an important word for battery life, and then I'm impressed when I say the Amazon Fire Hard disk x (2021) lasts a while on a single charge.

The Tom'due south Guide battery test (web surfing on Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness) drained the Fire HD x in 13 hours and xiv minutes on the default settings, and at thirteen hours and 46 minutes using Amazon's Automatic Low Power Style that can boot in later on your bombardment hits 20%. The latter time is a minute longer than the 2019 model'due south thirteen:45 time.

Both times longer than the iPad 2020 (12:57), simply the Amazon Fire Hard disk drive ten Plus lasts longer: xiv:02 by default and 14:35 with Automated Low Power Mode enabled.

Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021) review: Cameras

The cameras in the Burn Hard disk drive 10 (2021) volition prove useful for commonsensical purposes, but not for any fine photography.

The new Burn HD x upgraded its rear camera to a 5.0-megapixel sensor from the two.0-megapixel sensor in the previous model. That said, no matter how much I tried to apply tap-to-focus, shots of my houseplants and toys still came out a bit soft. Hues looked OK, with green cacti and the blues of a tiny acid wash denim jacket looking correct.

A similar situation greeted me when I snapped a selfie. While my skin had the correct slightly-bronzed wait (the luxury of getting some dominicus on the quaternary of July weekend), my hair appears as a matted dark brown dodder, and my facial hair didn't take much particular either.

Amazon Fire Hard disk 10 (2021) review: Software

Fire OS, the version of Android at the root of the Fire Hard disk 10 (2021), is the kind of thing you will either hate, tolerate or possibly appreciate. Count me in the first of those iii camps, every bit the lack of a real web browser (Amazon's Silk browser doesn't count, and DuckDuckGo is non a worthy substitute either) or the real YouTube app are however sizable dealbreakers.

You might not mind the loss if you already have access to those apps on your phone, merely every bit we learned when comparing Amazon's app store against Google Play, the Amazon app ecosystem is clumsily barren.

If y'all live in the world of Kindle e-books, Prime Video and all the other Amazon-distributed content, y'all'll probable enjoy it. Much similar Amazon's Burn TV platform, the Fire OS is practically made for maximizing the value of a Prime membership.

That said, the Burn down Os charges $15 to remove ads from its lock screen. That's the hole-and-corner price of a $150 tablet, I judge.

Amazon Burn down Hard disk 10 (2021) review: Verdict

The Burn down HD x is still a quite competent tablet. As this Fire HD 10 (2021) review has shown, information technology has a brilliant and crisp display and first-class battery life (plus the ability to recharge with the same cable you may utilise for your laptop or phone).

If you're willing to spend more than than twice as much on the $329 iPad, yous get a much faster and snappier experience, a slightly brighter screen and all the apps y'all could ask for. But y'all're getting slightly less battery life, and with that kind of money yous could buy two Fire Hd x (2021) slates, i for you and one a relative (so yous don't have to share).

The better call, if you think y'all'll be irritated by slight lags in functioning, is to spend an extra $xxx to become the $179 Amazon Burn down HD ten Plus, arguably the best Amazon tablet e'er. That said, the Burn down HD 10 (2021) is still going to be cracking for the folks who are looking for a device to casually peruse the internet and read e-books and sentinel video. It's only a matter of how far you lot're going to push information technology.

Henry is a senior editor at Tom's Guide covering streaming media, laptops and all things Apple, reviewing devices and services for the by six-plus years. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He'south also covered the wild earth of professional wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.