Watching films on the screen is also a joy though at times the screen's brightness felt too low to get the full benefit of the high resolution panel. Text, whether on the web or in ebooks, is rendered pin-sharp and is a pleasure to read. Everything is also pin sharp thanks to the pixel density of 254 pixels per inch (ppi) which is only slightly below that of the Retina iPad (264ppi) and well above the 216ppi of the 7in Kindle Fire HD and Google's Nexus 7. The screen uses IPS (in-plane switching) LCD technology which means viewing angles are great, contrast is superb and colour reproduction is accurate. However with a 16:9 aspect ratio, it could be argued that the Kindle Fire HD 8.9's screen is much more suited to watching videos than the iPad's.
At 8.9in, the display is significantly larger than the 7in Kindle Fire HD though slightly smaller than 9.7in iPad screen.
Thankfully for Amazon the screen is a beauty. Overall the design is uninspiring, and the large black bezel around the screen does nothing to help it, but Amazon will point out that it's all about content and as such the quality of the screen is all important. It may sound like a small niggle but after a couple of weeks of use, it can get very irritating indeed. Running your finger over them doesn't help and the fact it is hard to tell the top of the tablet from the bottom a lot of the time, I found myself pawing all sides of the device before finally unlocking the screen. The biggest niggle I have with the design of the Fire HD 8.9 is way the screen-lock and volume buttons are almost seamlessly integrated on the right-hand edge of the tablet making them impossible to find. The black metal strip bearing the Kindle logo is also attractive and into which the stereo speakers are neatly integrated. The matte finish on the rear is great, and doesn't attract fingerprints as some plastic tablets do. It makes holding the tablet in one hand for extended periods of time almost impossible, and I found that I rarely used it for reading or gaming as a result. The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 follows the same design language as its smaller brother, with a combination of glass, soft-touch black plastic and a distinctive black metal strip.Īt 9mm (versus 10.3mm) the tablet is sleeker than the 7in version but at 567g (versus 395g) it is significantly heavier.
WHERE TO FIND DOCUMENTS ON KINDLE 8.9 ANDROID
While it certainly makes watching films more pleasurable, the downside is that using the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 to read ebooks for extended periods of time can become tough on your wrists.Īmazon is clearly looking to walk its own path with its forked version of Android and access only to its own content stores, meaning the 8.9in Kindle Fire HD is still very much a content consumption device despite its larger screen. The larger Kindle Fire HD is simply a scaled-up version of its smaller sibling, targeting those looking for more screen space for their money. We have had the 7in Kindle Fire HD in the UK since last November but it's taken five more months for the larger 8.9in version to make its way to these shores.