This story is part of Christmas gift guide 2020, CNET's gift selection with expert advice, reviews, and recommendations for the latest tech gifts for you and your family.
Black Friday is still two weeks away according to the calendar, but the price tags on Amazon's Fire tablets say Black Friday is coming early. Both Amazon and Best buy Fire tablet prices have dropped to the lows on Prime Day last month, and while those deals have now expired, it's worth keeping an eye out as they can be back anytime. The best deals were as follows:
- The Fire HD 10 (10-inch tablet) had dropped to $ 80 ($ 70 off, back at the lowest price we've ever seen).
- The Fire HD 8 (8-inch tablet) was $ 55 ($ 35 off)
- The Fire HD 8 Plus was $ 75 ($ 35 off)
- Fire HD 8 Kids Edition was $ 80 ($ 60 off)
- The Fire 7 Kids Edition was $ 60 ($ 40 off).
Note that the Fire Kids Editions contain a case and year of Amazon Kids Plus Subscription Service, a value of $ 36.
Black Friday 2020 sales and offers
David Carnoy / CNET
The Fire HD 8 Plus offers wireless charging and more RAM (3 GB instead of 2 GB). The performance is better than the standard Fire HD 8. It costs $ 20 more, but is arguably the better deal at $ 75.
The tablet should charge properly on most wireless charging pads. Read our Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus review.
David Carnoy / CNET
Amazon has come a long way from the first Kindle Fire tablet. The Amazon Fire HD 10 is Amazon's largest tablet with a screen size of 10 inches and powerful speakers (and is now charged via USB-C). Just like its smaller 8-inch sibling, the Fire HD 8, the tablet has numerous benefits for Prime subscribers, so members can easily stream and download movies, TV shows and games. The Fire tablets do not use a pure Android version, but rather the Android-based Fire operating system from Amazon and pull apps from the Amazon App Store. You can still get apps from Google Play, but you'll need to install the store yourself. This means that gaming enthusiasts have access to all of their favorite mobile games for a great gaming tablet experience. Continue reading.
The Fire HD 8 was updated earlier this year with a faster processor, USB-C charging, better Wi-Fi performance, 2GB of RAM (down from 1.5GB), and an increase from 16GB to 32GB of storage in the base model. Its HD screen is sharper than the entry-level Fire 7, but nowhere near as sharp as the iPad. Still, it's a decent deal at $ 90 and a lot at $ 55.
The HD 8 Plus offers wireless charging and slightly better performance thanks to 3 GB of RAM. It's on sale for $ 75 or $ 20 more. Read our Amazon Fire HD 8 (2020) review.
This kid-friendly version of the Fire HD 8 tablet comes with a padded case, parental controls, a two-year warranty, and a one-year subscription to Kids Plus (formerly known as FreeTime Unlimited) that typically costs $ 3 a month and costs you access to a number of child-friendly content. It's not exactly great for distance learning, but it's a much cheaper option than giving a full-fledged iPad to a young child.
This has all of the same extras as the HD 8 above, but it's the kid-proof version of the smaller, cheaper Amazon Fire 7. You get a 7-inch screen instead of 8 and a less rugged processor.
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