Cheap tablet to replace old and basic Kindle Fire (not HD)

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stevewestern

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My wife spends many hours on a train every week, and uses her old Kindle to watch stuff while waiting for the delays to clear..
It works fine, but is slow to download and given that Christmas is coming (sorry if you hadn't noticed) as is black Friday I'm wondering if a new Kindle should be bought or if there is something else that might be easy to use that I should think about. I need to stress that it does all and more that she needs, so there is no need for lots of bells and whistles.
She is not techy-minded, which makes me think that staying with a Kindle would be sensible, and they are cheap right now - £50 for an 8" HD. Anything bigger is not an option as it will be too big for her bag and she will resent its size.
However, we all know that if a device can do more it may well end up being used at some stage...

Any suggestions much appreciated !
 
Bang for buck you'll not get much better than a Kindle. The next step up could be something like the Huawei MediaPad M3 (£140) or M5 (£220) 8" which would at least give you a boost in processing power. Another alternative would be to buy an 'A' grade device from CEX as you'll get a 2 year warranty with it. They're second hand units but the A grade stuff is usually 'As new' with a no quibble return policy in the first 2 weeks.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Huawei-Med..._DLandingS_PC_88a498aa_NA&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
 
Kindle or an Amazon 8" fire tablet. They are cheap at the moment, just £50. I bought one to keep at the holiday house and it's brilliant for what I need, Hive app, browsing etc.
 
dhaywood17 said:
Bang for buck you'll not get much better than a Kindle. The next step up could be something like the Huawei MediaPad M3 (£140) or M5 (£220) 8" which would at least give you a boost in processing power. Another alternative would be to buy an 'A' grade device from CEX as you'll get a 2 year warranty with it. They're second hand units but the A grade stuff is usually 'As new' with a no quibble return policy in the first 2 weeks.
Click to expand...

Byker28i said:
Kindle or an Amazon 8" fire tablet. They are cheap at the moment, just £50. I bought one to keep at the holiday house and it's brilliant for what I need, Hive app, browsing etc.
Click to expand...

Thank you both so much - Looks like a Kindle it is.
Now, wonder if I can get a new lens out of her as my present.....
 
Semantics possibly but aren't the Kindles purely ebook readers?

The Fire range are tablets and will also support ebooks.
 
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JohnX said:
Semantics possibly but aren't the Kindles purely ebook readers?

The Fire range are tablets and will also support ebooks.
Click to expand...
You are right John - its the Amazon fire I may be getting her - I'm one of those who calls a vacuum cleaner a Hoover....!
 
I'd agree with the Fire as well, we have one and have been very happy with it. The only thing I would highlight is that you don't have access to apps on the google play store easily as it's set up to download from Amazon, probably not a problem for you as your wife already has a kindle but worth pointing out as my kids were disappointed that they could not get a few things that they wanted on it.

Not sure if it's still the case but we got the 7 inch one as it has a HD screen which was better than the spec on the 8 inch one, might make a difference if your wife is watching a lot of films on it.
 
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SteveSc said:
I'd agree with the Fire as well, we have one and have been very happy with it. The only thing I would highlight is that you don't have access to apps on the google play store easily as it's set up to download from Amazon, probably not a problem for you as your wife already has a kindle but worth pointing out as my kids were disappointed that they could not get a few things that they wanted on it.

Not sure if it's still the case but we got the 7 inch one as it has a HD screen which was better than the spec on the 8 inch one, might make a difference if your wife is watching a lot of films on it.
Click to expand...
From what I can see, the 8" has 1.5gb of RAM, the 7" only a mere 1gb, otherwise pretty much the same, though the current 7" one is not called HD, so you may be right on that.
Either way, one will be in her stocking in a month....
 
SteveSc said:
I'd agree with the Fire as well, we have one and have been very happy with it. The only thing I would highlight is that you don't have access to apps on the google play store easily as it's set up to download from Amazon, probably not a problem for you as your wife already has a kindle but worth pointing out as my kids were disappointed that they could not get a few things that they wanted on it.

Not sure if it's still the case but we got the 7 inch one as it has a HD screen which was better than the spec on the 8 inch one, might make a difference if your wife is watching a lot of films on it.
Click to expand...

Google play isn't an issue, took me 5 minutes to install, you don't have to modify the OS either. I needed it to install google chrome, Hive app etc
https://www.howtogeek.com/232726/how-to-install-the-google-play-store-on-your-amazon-fire-tablet/
 
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