Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

At the end of the day, you would not be dissatisfied if you bought one to replace an aging 9th generation because the wireless docking option (get the wireless dock) just takes things to the next level, and the gain of two additional GB of system ram does give you a better overall experience. I'm setting this thing up for someone else, and I've been working with it side by side with my 9th generation having similar specs less 2GB of system ram (2GB vs 4GB) having no wireless charging option. Both are linked to the same Amazon account, same router (home network), with the same apps installed. Both are running Amazon's latest version of FireOS which to me is the most impressive thing about Kindle Fire tablets because old or new both are maintained as equals - meaning you don't lose your investment over time. Outside FireOS, you would have to spend $600 or more on an iPad to get this cause I don't see any of the Android device makers doing this, and I've owned several Samsung Galaxy S'x' models, Lenovo, ONN, LG, and many others. One year and six months out and you're abandoned. Performance of Kindle's $200 (2019 version) 9th generation tablet in DEC of 2022 rivals today's $200 (2022 version) 64/4 GB Galaxy Tab 7 lite - with the 64/2 GB 9th gen Fire 10HD coming out slightly better despite having half the system ram and more screen area to manage (I owe this to the fact that Fire OS 7.x.x is actually a version of Android 9 Amazon currently maintains in-house while the Samsung Galaxy is trying to push the added baggage that comes with Android 12 - much more overhead.) The 11th gen Fire Plus tablet handles the screen better: When I drag the map in the MyRadar app around with my finger the 2d scrolling is smooth and responsive with the 11 gen Plus model - the older 9th gen begins to stutter as you zoom in and then pan about (but this is minor). Now, if I tried to edit a 1000 page spread sheet while listening to Spotify running in the background during a unique collision with an untimely app store update the added 2 GB system ram would make a huge difference. I can tell you that 3 years later due to Amazon's diligence in keeping up with their version of the OS, Going with Amazon's $200 Fire tablet proved to be a better decision than my purchase of a $600 Samsung Galaxy Tab S5E at the same time. WIFI reception of both generations of Fire tablets is superior to all competing Android tablets I've worked with equalled only by an iPad. So in terms of security patches to the OS, battery life, and WIFI reception - the iPad or the Amazon fire tablets are in my opinion the only way to go. A word about security patches: in my opinion of all Android devices Samsung is the best, but they use a tiered approach - top line models get fairly timely security updates (doing an app update in Google Play Store only updates the apps and Play Store, it doesn't update security issues in the OS itself. ) I'm talking about OS system updates you can only get by going into your tablet's system settings menu - which only the tablet makers provide. Entry and mid level Samsung devices get these as little as twice a year (which technically honors their pledge to support their devices for four years but in reality ... sucks!). ONN ditches their devices so fast they obsolete stock still sitting on the shelves at Walmart. But check on the policies of LG and Motorola - you need to ask the right questions. I have a $600 Galaxy S5E I bought the same time I bought this $200 9th generation Kindle Fire 10HD. I'm still waiting for Samsung to patch a bluetooth issue the Android Open Source Project announced publically as "severe" five months ago. Amazon patched it the moment the security issue was announced ... Five months later Samsung is still dragging their feet and I can't use Bluetooth head phones because of it or any headphone for that matter because the $600 Samsung Galaxy didn't come with a headphone jack which is kinda surprising since not only did Amazon include a headphone jack on the $200 2019 model, but Amazon includes a headphone jack on the latest 2021 11th generation model. A word about FireOS, and why I'm sold on it. Unlike Android tablets and their thirst to ad more and more functions and features to newer versions of Android in a frenzied race for the latest "greatest", Amazon historically runs a modified and well maintained older version of Android for much longer than competing Android devices for performance reasons. Does anyone remember running Windows XP on a desktop designed for Vista? That same machine ran XP four times faster than Windows Vista. So HP and Dell had to stop shipping desktops with XP when Microsoft stopped patching security issues and were forced to ship the newer, but much slower and feature bloated Vista (the performance gains of the latest hardware were lost to the added baggage of the latest OS making the newer machines slower than the older). BUT ... What if Dell had acquired the rights to XP and maintained the security patches themselves calling it Dell OS. Well, that's exactly what Amazon does with Android. So, the eventual Fire OS 8.x.x.x soon to be released is actually Android 11 and Fire OS 7.x.x.x is actually Android 9 as I have learned. Running older but well maintained versions of Android just makes sense. The performance is just going to be better. People talk about converting Fire Tablets into Android tablets by hacking them. I have a $600 Samsung Galaxy I wish I could hack and convert into a Fire OS tablet because I percieve that Samsung is sloppy if not purposely negligent. As a side bar item: If you hack a Kindle with Fire OS 7.x.x.x to side load Google Play store, you will only be able to get Android 9 versions of apps which are likely no longer maintained by the Android community at that version level. Once Fire OS 8.x.x.x is out, adding Google Play Store at best will give you apps maintained up to Android 11 compatible source code - which will fall out of maintenance at the Android 11 package level as Android moves on to later generations. The most significant point I want to make in this review is that Amazon has demonstrated consistently over time that their tablets hold up well, and that they continue to commit to your Fire tablet's system firmware with timely updates long after the purchase. Amazon runs an older version of Android they continue to maintain themselves. This gives newer hardware performance gains without making something you bought years ago obsolete. Why would I buy a 11th gen for myself, being otherwise satisfied with the 9th gen??? the wireless docking charging station. It would be nice to be able to just drop this thing in a cradle once I'm done with it and not have to worry about a cable everytime. With the docking station, you can afford to install the "what weather" app and leave it on as a weather station when not otherwise in use.