Still, if cost is your primary consideration and you want a portable screen for watching videos, surfing the web, and staying in touch with friends, the price is absolutely right… so long as you have some patience while using the thing.
It starts at $60 with 16GB storage and lock screen ads.You can double the storage for another $20, and skip the ads for $15 extra.
The Fire 7 is slim and lightweight, and easy to tote around.It has plastic backing and a significant bezel around the display.
True, it’s thin plastic on the back instead of metal on some pricier rivals, but the Fire 7 is nicely contoured and doesn’t feel especially cheap or flimsy. In other words, it’s not lavish by any means, but the Fire 7 looks and feels more polished than expected at this price. It’s a little curvier than the previous 2019 edition, but the silhouette isn’t dramatically changed. I reviewed the version with a Rose-colored backing, but there are also Denim and Black options available. You do get a fair amount of bezel around the screen, however, making the Fire 7 feel larger than perhaps it needs to be. But that’s less a complaint than purely an observation: I found it easy to tote this lil’ thing around and even pop it in my back pocket when walking around.
The Fire 7 has a relatively low-resolution display at 1024x600, or 171 ppi.It’s also not a very vibrant screen.
Look, a 600p panel isn’t the end of the world at the 7” size, but it results in fuzzy-looking text and images, which impacts the viewing experience. It’s generally less noticeable when watching video or playing 3D games, so it might bother some users more than others, but there’s a strong chance that your smartphone’s screen is significantly crisper than this one. At times, the bigger issue is that the LCD screen is simply dull. Like the previous model, this Fire 7’s colors can look washed out at times, and there’s just not a lot of range to it. Our lab tests backed that up, with just under 67% of the sRGB color gamut on display, and 47% of the DCI-P3 space. It puts up a flatter image than I’d hoped for. In fact, I thought the display was dim at first, but my eyes deceived me—our brightness test measured a surprising 421 nits at the center, which is far more than I expected at a glance. Viewing angles are a bit limited, too, as any view other than dead-on tends to lose clarity.
The Fire 7 is very slow in loading apps and services.It’s also not a very capable gaming device.
Unfortunately, performance is the other big issue. Sluggishness absolutely defines the Fire 7 experience, top to bottom, often adding lengthy waits as you attempt to do just about anything. Most of the time, the apps eventually worked as intended, but with longer-than-usual waits. Angry Birds 2, for example, plays relatively smoothly once the level loads. But getting there takes a long while. Also, the tablet often gets bogged down when returning from sleep, especially if it has to try and reload a resource-intensive app or game. Expectedly, it’s spotty on gaming. Simpler games do OK here, like Angry Birds or Subway Surfers, aside from the slow loading times. For a visually-intensive racing game, Asphalt 9 ran sturdier than anticipated, but still encountered major performance hits during crashes and other big events. Roblox games, on the other hand, were widely hit-or-miss in terms of performance. Note that in addition to the 16GB and 32GB internal storage options, there’s also a microSD slot that accommodates cards up to 1TB in size. That’s a great benefit, especially since microSD cards are pretty affordable. For example, you can typically grab a 128GB microSD card for less than the $20 difference between the 16GB and 32GB models.
Audio playback isn’t great—use headphones if you can.
There’s just a tiny speaker grate here—six holes on the top when held in landscape mode—and expectedly, the output isn’t great. It gets pretty loud, but music and other audio gets very muffled at the higher levels. It’s fine for games, web browsing, and casual video watching, but I highly recommend plugging in headphones for consuming media and music.
Battery life is pretty solid, but it recharges slowly.
At full brightness, you’ll still get very solid uptime for a small tablet. I had the Fire 7 run through hours of Netflix and YouTube videos at max brightness, and it stayed alive for more than seven hours. That’s a fair target for mixed usage too, in terms of media, web browsing, and other apps, although 3D games can drain it even faster. Unfortunately, it’s a slow charger—the Fire 7 only picked up 8% of charge in 15 minutes and 15% in 30 minutes, so it’ll take a few hours to top up once it’s drained.
They’re poor cameras, through and through.
You get a pair of 2-megapixel cameras on the Fire 7, one on each side, and neither pumps out particularly detailed or balanced shots. Even in strong outdoor lighting, shots from the main (rear) camera were consistently muddy, while selfie shots were either washed out or had an odd orangish glow to them. And indoors, with less robust lighting on tap, the Fire 7 typically delivered noisy, blurry results. Nothing the Fire 7 gave me was Instagram-worthy, but again, none of this is surprising at the $60 price. It can give you tolerable video for Skype and other video chat apps with decent lighting, but don’t count on snagging any still shots worth saving.
Many major apps and games are available, but not nearly as many as on iOS or Android.
Likewise, with no access to Google’s Play Store, you’re not going to get the same level of access to premier apps and games as on most Android devices. But a lot of the heavy hitters are here, like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ for video, Spotify for music, Facebook apps and TikTok, and big games like Minecraft, Roblox, and Candy Crush Saga. Despite some sizable complaints, it’s still amazing that you can get a functional tablet for $60. The Fire 7 won’t be for everyone, and if you already have a high-end smartphone, then a slightly larger tablet that’s slow and clunky probably won’t appeal. But if you’re looking for a super-affordable tablet for watching streaming video on trips or on your commute, or another way to tap into social media and casual web browsing, then the Fire 7 can meet those budget-conscious needs. Steer clear if you put performance over price, though.
title: “Amazon Fire 7 2022 Review” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-10” author: “Barb Born”
Still, if cost is your primary consideration and you want a portable screen for watching videos, surfing the web, and staying in touch with friends, the price is absolutely right… so long as you have some patience while using the thing.
It starts at $60 with 16GB storage and lock screen ads.You can double the storage for another $20, and skip the ads for $15 extra.
The Fire 7 is slim and lightweight, and easy to tote around.It has plastic backing and a significant bezel around the display.
True, it’s thin plastic on the back instead of metal on some pricier rivals, but the Fire 7 is nicely contoured and doesn’t feel especially cheap or flimsy. In other words, it’s not lavish by any means, but the Fire 7 looks and feels more polished than expected at this price. It’s a little curvier than the previous 2019 edition, but the silhouette isn’t dramatically changed. I reviewed the version with a Rose-colored backing, but there are also Denim and Black options available. You do get a fair amount of bezel around the screen, however, making the Fire 7 feel larger than perhaps it needs to be. But that’s less a complaint than purely an observation: I found it easy to tote this lil’ thing around and even pop it in my back pocket when walking around.
The Fire 7 has a relatively low-resolution display at 1024x600, or 171 ppi.It’s also not a very vibrant screen.
Look, a 600p panel isn’t the end of the world at the 7” size, but it results in fuzzy-looking text and images, which impacts the viewing experience. It’s generally less noticeable when watching video or playing 3D games, so it might bother some users more than others, but there’s a strong chance that your smartphone’s screen is significantly crisper than this one. At times, the bigger issue is that the LCD screen is simply dull. Like the previous model, this Fire 7’s colors can look washed out at times, and there’s just not a lot of range to it. Our lab tests backed that up, with just under 67% of the sRGB color gamut on display, and 47% of the DCI-P3 space. It puts up a flatter image than I’d hoped for. In fact, I thought the display was dim at first, but my eyes deceived me—our brightness test measured a surprising 421 nits at the center, which is far more than I expected at a glance. Viewing angles are a bit limited, too, as any view other than dead-on tends to lose clarity.
The Fire 7 is very slow in loading apps and services.It’s also not a very capable gaming device.
Unfortunately, performance is the other big issue. Sluggishness absolutely defines the Fire 7 experience, top to bottom, often adding lengthy waits as you attempt to do just about anything. Most of the time, the apps eventually worked as intended, but with longer-than-usual waits. Angry Birds 2, for example, plays relatively smoothly once the level loads. But getting there takes a long while. Also, the tablet often gets bogged down when returning from sleep, especially if it has to try and reload a resource-intensive app or game. Expectedly, it’s spotty on gaming. Simpler games do OK here, like Angry Birds or Subway Surfers, aside from the slow loading times. For a visually-intensive racing game, Asphalt 9 ran sturdier than anticipated, but still encountered major performance hits during crashes and other big events. Roblox games, on the other hand, were widely hit-or-miss in terms of performance. Note that in addition to the 16GB and 32GB internal storage options, there’s also a microSD slot that accommodates cards up to 1TB in size. That’s a great benefit, especially since microSD cards are pretty affordable. For example, you can typically grab a 128GB microSD card for less than the $20 difference between the 16GB and 32GB models.
Audio playback isn’t great—use headphones if you can.
There’s just a tiny speaker grate here—six holes on the top when held in landscape mode—and expectedly, the output isn’t great. It gets pretty loud, but music and other audio gets very muffled at the higher levels. It’s fine for games, web browsing, and casual video watching, but I highly recommend plugging in headphones for consuming media and music.
Battery life is pretty solid, but it recharges slowly.
At full brightness, you’ll still get very solid uptime for a small tablet. I had the Fire 7 run through hours of Netflix and YouTube videos at max brightness, and it stayed alive for more than seven hours. That’s a fair target for mixed usage too, in terms of media, web browsing, and other apps, although 3D games can drain it even faster. Unfortunately, it’s a slow charger—the Fire 7 only picked up 8% of charge in 15 minutes and 15% in 30 minutes, so it’ll take a few hours to top up once it’s drained.
They’re poor cameras, through and through.
You get a pair of 2-megapixel cameras on the Fire 7, one on each side, and neither pumps out particularly detailed or balanced shots. Even in strong outdoor lighting, shots from the main (rear) camera were consistently muddy, while selfie shots were either washed out or had an odd orangish glow to them. And indoors, with less robust lighting on tap, the Fire 7 typically delivered noisy, blurry results. Nothing the Fire 7 gave me was Instagram-worthy, but again, none of this is surprising at the $60 price. It can give you tolerable video for Skype and other video chat apps with decent lighting, but don’t count on snagging any still shots worth saving.
Many major apps and games are available, but not nearly as many as on iOS or Android.
Likewise, with no access to Google’s Play Store, you’re not going to get the same level of access to premier apps and games as on most Android devices. But a lot of the heavy hitters are here, like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ for video, Spotify for music, Facebook apps and TikTok, and big games like Minecraft, Roblox, and Candy Crush Saga. Despite some sizable complaints, it’s still amazing that you can get a functional tablet for $60. The Fire 7 won’t be for everyone, and if you already have a high-end smartphone, then a slightly larger tablet that’s slow and clunky probably won’t appeal. But if you’re looking for a super-affordable tablet for watching streaming video on trips or on your commute, or another way to tap into social media and casual web browsing, then the Fire 7 can meet those budget-conscious needs. Steer clear if you put performance over price, though.
