Amazon's new Alexa Tablets use the Google Play Store and are more capable than Fire tablets

Amazon first got into the tablet game with the Kindle Fire. It later dropped the “Kindle” branding to emphasize that its tablets do more than its e-readers. And now the company is changing tack again with the introduction of the Amazon Alexa tablets.

As you can tell from the name, AI is a big part of this. However, the change in naming also emphasizes that these are fully-featured Android tablets – Fire tablets were known for being cheap but good enough (and did we mention cheap?). The trio of new slates is a lot more capable, but costs have gone up as well. And these have full access to the Google Play store, meaning that you don’t have to use Amazon’s own app store anymore.

The new Amazon Alexa Tablet trio

The Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro is the most powerful Amazon tablet to date – the CPU is three times faster and the GPU is nine times faster than that inside the Fire Max 11. Specifically, Amazon picked the Dimensity 8400 chipset.

This model has a 12” display with 3:2 aspect ratio – this ratio strikes a good balance between the most popular use cases of web browsing, watching movies and reading books.

Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro

And if you do plan to read books on the Alexa 12 Pro instead of on a Kindle, you should consider the new Nanomatte display option – this glass has glare-resistant etching and is made by Corning. It improves the viewing experience both indoors and outdoors.

The 12 Pro already has the longest-lasting battery of any Amazon tablet – up to 16 hours of video playback. The dedicated reading feature silences notifications, reduces blue light and extends battery life to up to 20 hours. There are several themes that control the display mode, e.g. you can pick natural color, a softer paper tone or pure grayscale.

There is an additional consideration – the Nanomatte version of the Alexa 12 Pro is more expensive, but also has the option for more memory. The standard version is $500 and comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage. The Nanomatte version starts at $550 (so $50 more for the glare-resistant glass) and has the same 8/128GB configuration. However, there’s also a 16/256GB option for $680 if you need the extra performance.

Taking a page out of the recent Kindles, the Alexa tablets have aluminum unibodies. The Pro measures 6.5mm thick and weighs 550g. Another notable feature is that the USB-C port can reach up to 5Gbps data speeds (it’s a USB 3.2 Gen 1 port) and supports video out over DisplayPort.

You can use the 12 Pro for work or school too – it supports the new Amazon Alexa Tablet Pro Keyboard, which uses a direct connection (instead of wireless). The updated UI supports running multiple apps side by side. The keyboard is priced at $150.

The Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro supports a keyboard and a stylus

Additionally, the Amazon Alexa Tablet Pro Pen is an USI 2.0 stylus. It attaches to the tablet magnetically and charges wirelessly. It supports 4,096 pressure levels and tilt detection. The pen is $90 and you should consider spending the extra $50 for a Nanomatte display – unlike slippery glass, this adds friction that makes it feel more like writing on paper.

The Amazon Alexa Tablet 11 has an 11” display. This one is a 16:10 panel and there is no Nanomatte option here. Also, it only runs at 90Hz while the Pro slate has a 120Hz refresh rate. That said, the pixel density is nearly identical. Another difference is that while the Pro has quad Dolby Atmos speakers, this one has only two.

Amazon Alexa Tablet 11

The 11” model uses a less powerful MediaTek MT8189 chipset, which has previously been featured in Chromebooks. We don’t know much about it, but it has an 8-core CPU that runs at up to 2GHz, so it’s in a completely different league from the 8400 chip inside the Pro. It is still paired with 8GB of RAM, though. On the cheap Fire tablets, it wasn’t unusual to see 2GB or 3GB, so this one will feel much snappier even with its slow chipset. Storage is 64GB for $330 or 128GB for $380.

There’s no video output on this one as it only has a USB-C 2.0 port. The battery life is almost as good, though, lasting up to 15 hours of video playback.

Then there’s the Amazon Alexa Tablet 8. This one actually has an 8.7” display with a fairly low 1,340 x 800px resolution (180ppi vs. 280ppi or so on its larger siblings). This one is built for portability and weighs 329g. For comparison, a Kindle Paperwhite has a smaller 7” screen and weighs 214g. That’s just an e-reader, though.

Amazon Alexa Tablet 8

Anyway, the 8.7” tablet uses the same MediaTek MT8189 chipset, this time with 4GB or 8GB of RAM. The 4/64GB model costs $230, while the 4/128GB version is $280 and the 8/128GB one is $300. The battery lasts up to 14 hours of playing videos and is recharged over the USB-C 2.0 port.

Note that the prices above are for the ad-supported Alexa Tablet 11 and 8 – only the Pro is exempt from lockscreen ads. You can pay $20 extra to get rid of the ads on the smaller slates, though.

The three new Alexa tablets will start shipping on October 14 in the US (Wednesday next week). In the UK, the new models will arrive on October 19 instead.

All three tablets come with Alexa+. It supports natural language conversation, you don’t have to say “Hey, Alexa” before each request like in the previous, dumber incarnations of the digital assistant. There’s optional On-Screen Intelligence that allows Alexa+ to see what’s on your screen – however, Amazon notes that this is off by default and you have to manually enable it to assuage privacy concerns.

The new tablets have Alexa+ built in

PS. Amazon also unveiled new Alexa tablets for kids – those will be covered in a separate post.

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