Two minute review
For years now, the Amazon Fire devices have been the go-to tablets for cheap, easy media consumption – the iPads are nice but expensive, very few decent Android tablets exist (the Galaxy Tab S series being the main exception), and that's left Amazon to pick up a large part of the market with its affordable, inoffensive, low-spec slates.
But what have we here? 4GB of RAM? Up to 64GB of storage? An extra 'Plus' on the end of the name? Wireless charging? A bundle option including Microsoft Office and a Bluetooth keyboard? Yes, the Amazon Fire series is apparently growing up and getting serious – the newly introduced 10.1-inch Plus model wants to do more than let you just browse the web and watch movies on Amazon Prime.
Those extras are welcome of course, but they don't actually move the needle all that much. Even though the Amazon Fire HD 10 Plus is the best of the series yet, it's still going to appeal mostly to the same audience as before – those who want a cheap, reliable tablet for doing some social media checking, some online reading, and some music and video streaming.
If you're the kind of person who slaps a keyboard on your tablet and fires up Microsoft Excel, the improvements that the Fire HD 10 Plus brings with it aren't really going to tempt you away from the alternatives.
On the positive side, this is a well-built tablet, with a good display and perfectly adequate battery life. Alexa can't be faulted, and you get easy access to all of Amazon's apps and services – photos, music, movies, ebooks, audiobooks, and everything else (the software also does a capable job of remembering where you are up to in your various bits of content). It's not all that fast, but it doesn't need to be.
As for the negatives: well, it looks like a cheap tablet, on the whole. The Fire OS software is based on Android, but lacks a few key apps, including all of the Google ones (and YouTube, unless you want to visit YouTube in a web browser) – if you're heavily invested in the Google ecosystem, you might well be better off looking elsewhere.
It's still super-cheap though, starting at just $179.99 in the US and £179.99 in the UK. And really that's what every gadget review comes down to: value for money. The Amazon Fire HD 10 Plus offers plenty of it, and assuming you're aware of and can live with its limitations, we're happy to recommend it.
Amazon Fire HD 10 Plus price and availability
- Out now in the US and UK
- Starts at $179.99 / £179.99 (around AU$330)
The Amazon Fire tablets remain very affordable. For the 32GB of storage model, this slate will set you back $179.99 / £179.99 (around AU$330), and that goes up to $219.99 / £219.99 (roughly AU$400) for the 64GB model. Those prices include lock screen adverts – if you don't want those, add another $10 / £10 on. You can of course buy these tablets direct from Amazon.
At the time of writing if you want the official Wireless Charging Dock with your purchase, that's another $40 / £40, while the Bluetooth keyboard and a year of Microsoft 365 is another $60 / £60. The slate isn't currently available in Australia.
Design
- Plastic back and big bezels
- Feels light enough for extended use
- Only comes in one color
There are no real surprises in the design of the Amazon Fire HD 10 Plus, with the familiar cheap and cheerful aesthetics of this tablet series in evidence again.
In terms of design, there's no difference between the Plus model and the standard Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021) tablet – both are lighter and thinner than the Amazon Fire HD 10 (2019), but with reductions of 0.6 millimeters (0.02 inches) and 36 grams (1.3 ounces) respectively, you'll hardly notice.
Despite display bezels that are very chunky for a device launching in 2021, the tablet isn't a bad-looking bit of hardware, with nicely curved edges and corners that add to the visual appeal of the slate as well as giving it an air of toughness (it's the sort of gadget you don't feel like you have to treat with particular care).
There's a nice smooth plastic backing to the tablet, with a subtly embossed Amazon logo, and a gray-ish shade that Amazon calls Slate is your only color option. It's actually exclusive to the Plus model – the standard Amazon Fire HD 10 comes in Black, Denim, Olive and Lavender – so if you like the look of it, you'll need to pay the extra for the more expensive model.
If you hold the tablet in landscape orientation (so it's wider rather than taller), with the embedded webcam above the screen, all the action is on the right-hand side: you've got the volume controls at the top, then the power button, then the USB-C port, and then the headphone jack.
It does feel a bit crowded on that side of the device, and it's not great positioning for when the Fire HD 10 Plus is in portrait mode, but we can live with it.
The tablet feels light enough for extended use with one hand, though it's tempting to wonder how much more compact it would be without those thick bezels.
Still, on a device this cheap the money has to be saved somewhere, and overall the Amazon Fire HD 10 Plus looks more elegant and premium than you might expect given its price. It's no iPad in the design department of course, but then it does cost significantly less.
