#KINDLE FIRE HD 8.9 TEARDOWN SOFTWARE#

The soft-touch plastic has an inviting, smooth texture not unlike the Nexus 5. While it doesn't feel as solid as the Air (there is noticeable movement and sound when you twist is at the ends), the HDX 8.9 still feels very luxurious and premium. If you were to ask me how a full-sized tablet should feel when it's in my hand, the HDX 8.9 would be the only adequate answer I could provide. It's so incredibly light (and thin), at just 13.5 oz, that it almost has me thinking my iPad Air is a tad ungainly. The Appstore's selection has gotten better, but some key apps (Dropbox, anything by Google) and many newer games are noticeably absent.Parts of Fire OS, like the Appstore, still feel slow at times.And you can't replace it, because Amazon has banned 3rd-party browsers from the Appstore. The web browser, Silk, has managed to get precisely 0% better since the last Fires.

#KINDLE FIRE HD 8.9 TEARDOWN SOFTWARE#

Fire OS is maddeningly limited - no customization (wallpaper, keyboard, launcher, browser - you're stuck with all of 'em), few if any innovative software features, and a take-it-or-leave-it interface layout.

Once you get used to the way things are done in Amazon's world, some of it even starts to make a lot of sense. It's not the most beautiful interface ever designed, but it feels bespoke to the Fire in a way that even the heavier UI layers from the likes of Samsung and LG can't approach. Quite the contrary - Fire OS is easy to navigate, runs very smoothly on that Snapdragon 800 processor, and I personally find the layout to be a welcome departure from Android, iOS, or Windows. It does not want users to get lost in a seemingly endless array of menus and settings, rather, Fire OS is all about putting content front and center, and guiding you into Amazon's various content-distributing properties.That's not to say Fire OS is a complete failure in the functional sense, though. Amazon wants a tablet that's easy for almost anyone to pick up and use, regardless of age or technical experience. User customization options remain stripped down to the bare essentials - you can't even change the wallpaper in Fire OS. Amazon's home-brewed browser, Silk, is still painfully bad. Unfortunately, the story is largely the same this year, except Amazon's Fire OS feels all the more limited, I think, because the Fire HDX 8.9 really is such a great device.Multitasking is archaic even by iOS standards.

And, for a certain class of buyer, it may very well be that 'perfect' full-sized tablet.When I reviewed the Fire HD (7') last year, I came to a similar conclusion - I was wowed by the hardware (perhaps excepting the processor, which was a laggardly dual-core TI OMAP), but the software made it difficult to recommend for enthusiasts like you and me. From a hardware and engineering standpoint, it is truly a marvel. The Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 is all these things and more. It's light, thin, has a gorgeous high-resolution display, multiple-day battery life, powerful speakers, and a cutting-edge processor.

Kindle fire hd 8.9 teardown