Amazon’s new Fire HD 8 tablets bring faster chipsets and USB-C

Amazon just updated its Fire HD 8 tablet and is now offering three varieties – a vanilla HD 8, an HD 8 Plus and an HD 8 Kids Edition, which is identical to the HD 8 but comes with a special protective case. All three bring faster chipsets, more RAM and USB-C connectors.

Amazon Fire HD 8

The big change comes under the hood where Amazon put a new quad-core CPU clocked at 2.0 GHz which it claims will deliver 30% faster performance than the previous-gen tablet. The vanilla Fire HD 8 will now ship with 2GB RAM and 32GB or 64GB onboard storage which can be expanded via the microSD slot.

Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus

The HD 8 Plus bumps the RAM to 3GB and also adds wireless charging capabilities, marking a first for the Fire line. In addition, Amazon is offering a faster 9W power adapter in the box and an optional wireless charging dock.

The displays on the other hand are still 8-inch IPS HD panels, though the bezels are now equally thick on all sides. There’s also dual speakers, 2MP cameras on the front and back and Amazon’s Fire OS on top of Android. Battery life is rated at 12 hours on a single charge.

Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Edition

The Amazon Fire HD 8 will retail for $90 but there is a two for $160 bundle. The HD 8 Plus will go for $110 and comes with 6 months' worth of Kindle Unlimited. The HD 8 Kids Edition comes with a base price of $140 bundled with a year of Amazon's FreeTime parental control and kids' content app. All three are up for pre-order and will be available from June 3.

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