Amazon launches new Fire tablets with some built for Work and others for play

Amazon announced a large number of new Fire tablets today with the introduction of a productivity bundle, new Fire Kids Pro tablets and updated Fire HD 10 models. This marks the largest single expansion of Fire tablets ever for Amazon, so let’s dive into the details of each model.

Fire HD 10 Productivity

Amazon’s new Fire HD 10 now comes bundled in what Amazon calls “Fire HD 10 Productivity Bundles.” Interestingly enough, Amazon’s new “most powerful Fire tablet”, the Fire HD 10 Plus is not available in the bundle. Don’t worry, you can still buy the Fire HD 10 Plus and Fintie-designed keyboard separately. The bundle includes the aforementioned keyboard and a 1-year subscription to Microsoft 365. The bundles start at $219.99, with the keyboard retailing for $49.99 as a standalone purchase. Amazon also announced that a new split-screen multitasking feature is coming to a future Fire OS update. Along with the productivity bundle news, Microsoft published their Office and OneNote in the Amazon App Store. Microsoft already had their Outlook and OneDrive apps in Amazon’s App Store, so Office and OneNote joining those apps, brings more productivity to Amazon’s Fire Tablets.

Fire HD 10 and Fire HD 10 Plus

Amazon’s updated Fire HD 10 models are now updated while retaining its $149.99 starting price. The chassis is thinner and the bezels have been slimmed down. The Fire HD 10 now comes with 3GB of RAM and the Fire HD 10 Plus comes with 4GB of RAM. The CPU is a faster octa-core processor and comes with a brighter Full HD display and costs $30 more. Other differentiators for the Fire HD Plus, is a soft touch finish and wireless charging. There is an optional made-for-Amazon (by Anker) wireless charging dock.

Fire Kids Pro

Amazon also introduced a new line of kid’s tablets called ‘Fire Kids Pro’ which includes all three size tablets, the 7″, 8″ and new 10″ tablets. This new line of kid’s tablets is aimed at older kids, ages 6-12 whereas the ‘Fire Kids’ tablets are designed for kids ages 3-7. The diferentiators for the ‘Fire Kids Pro’ tablets is the slimmer protective cases and ‘Fire Kids Pro’ software optimizations with “looks and feels more like a ‘grown-up’ tablet,” and the browser enables “open but filtered” web access, with parents able to block or allow specific sites.  The 7″ model is $99.99, 8″ is $139.99 and the 10” is $199.99.

Fire HD Kids

Since the Fire HD 10 is updated, Amazon is also updating the protective case with a built-in kickstand, which constitutes the changes for the new Fire HD Kids model.