Design Display While reading an issue of G.I. Joe: The Crown Jewel of the Hasbro Universe in the Comics app, I found the screen just as ideal for reading graphic novels. Not only does it provide high resolution for clear text, but the slate is also similar in size to a physical trade paperback. The HD 10’s panel is significantly more colorful than its competitors’, producing 104 percent of the sRGB spectrum. That’s similar to the 99-percent tablet average and above the 87-percent Tab 4 10, the 78-percent Fire 7 and the 79-percent Fire HD 8. This slate is also brighter than the rest, emitting up to 405 nits. That’s higher than the 307-nit Tab 4 10, the 335-nit Fire 7, the 380-nit Fire HD 8 and the 391-nit category average. While this amount of brightness keeps image color strong at up to 75 degrees to the left and right, the reflective coating of the screen will obscure your view in well-lit rooms. The Fire HD 10’s display accurately tracked my touch input as I navigated its home screens, snappily moving between sections. Alexa After I asked it to play music – which it did – I asked it to raise the volume, which was rather low. Instead, Alexa responded, “I’m sorry, but I can’t change the volume.” And so I squinted my eyes at the tablet and shook a balled fist. For the most part, Alexa heard me well, even from across the room in one of our conference rooms. That was, until sirens of a passing ambulance stopped it from hearing my voice. Audio The Fire HD 10’s stereo speakers barely filled our smallest conference room with audio that I’d describe as “meh.” Listening to Future’s “Mask Off” on it, I heard clear vocals, too-sharp treble and nearly no bass. So, while that sound is good enough for TV shows and movies, you’ll need a Bluetooth speaker to turn the Fire HD 10 into the life of the party. Performance The Fire HD 10 earned a respectable score of 2,916 on the Geekbench 4 benchmark test, which is close to the 3,022 category average. It’s also higher than the 1,891 from the Tab 4 10, and the 1,785 from the Fire HD 8. The Fire 7 couldn’t even run the benchmark. The Fire HD 10 doesn’t have any kind of graphics chip, but still submitted an acceptable 13,435 on the Ice Storm Unlimited graphics test, which is nearly tied with the 13,599 category average. We saw lower scores when testing the Tab 4 10 (6,112), the Fire 7 (4,640) and the Fire HD 8 (6,015). Battery Life The Fire HD 10’s battery life is decent, but we’re still slightly disappointed. Making it 9 hours and 4 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test (web surfing at 150 nits), the HD 10 lasts longer than the Fire 7 (6:53), but its time is shorter than those from the Tab 4 10 (11:17), the less-expensive Fire HD 8 (10:58) and the 9:28 tablet average. Guess it takes a lot of power to keep that big display glowing. Cameras The Fire HD 10’s cameras are passable for video conferencing, but not for photography or video. Its 2.0-megapixel rear camera, in particular, is its worst offender: Shots I took of the enamel pins on my backpack ended up blurry and looking like they were moving (they weren’t). Its 0.3-MP selfie shooter did a little better, enabling selfies that accurately captured my tired eyelids, distinct strands of my hair and the correct hue of my cardinal-red shirt. Software While Fire OS is built on a framework provided by Google’s Android, Fire tablets still don’t support any Google apps. Sure, you can side-load them, but changing your settings to allow apps installed from any source lowers your security and puts you at risk. And while you can access Gmail and Google Docs from the tablet’s Silk web browser, its version of YouTube is crippled, and doesn’t allow for HD streaming, wasting that pretty screen. While the Fire OS app store packs standards that you should expect – Spotify, Netflix, Pandora, Candy Crush, Minecraft – it also is stuffed with junk that doesn’t belong. Scrolling through the Games section, I was excited to see what appeared to be a version of Cuphead, a popular Xbox and PC game that I’ve been dying to play. I quickly realized, however, that it was a fake game with 1-star ratings. Configuration Options For $40 extra, you can get a folding case (available in black, purple, blue and red) for the Fire HD 10 to snap into. You’ll fold its origami-like flap to set it in portrait or landscape display modes, though we found the latter slightly confusing to arrange. Bottom Line Of all the affordable tablets we’ve tested, the Fire HD 10 packs both the best screen and the fastest performance. Unfortunately, we were hoping its larger size could enable more battery life, and we’re not exactly giddy to spend so much on a slate that can’t use Google apps. Credit: Shaun Lucas/Laptop Mag
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