Amazon Fire 7 2017
Specifications
Secondary Camera: 0.3 MPix
Price comparison
Average of 12 scores (from 12 reviews)
Reviews for the Amazon Fire 7 2017
Made for penny-pinchers. Amazon's latest Fire 7 Tablet generation is thinner, lighter, equipped with a better display, and supposed to offer an improved battery life. The price, however, remained largely unchanged, and the 2017 generation remains very affordable. Find out in our extensive review whether the entry-level tablet is worth it.
Source: Laptop Mag Archive.org version
For under $50, the Fire 7 offers a solid design and offers easy access to Amazon's content, but mediocre performance and endurance dim the flame.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 08/09/2019
Rating: Total score: 70%
Source: Tech Advisor Archive.org version
Even if you buy the normal version rather than the Kids Edition, you still get the excellent parental controls via the Fire for Kids app and the ability to create multiple user profiles.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 11/25/2018
Rating: Total score: 80%
Source: PC Mag Archive.org version
The 7-inch Amazon Fire tablet doesn't offer high-end specs or the latest apps, but it's the best way to put a wealth of multimedia content at your fingertips for an almost unbelievable $50 price.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 06/29/2018
Rating: Total score: 80%
Source: Computer Shopper Archive.org version
At just $49.99, the 2017 Amazon Fire 7 remains the best extreme-budget tablet you can buy. Yes, it has limitations, but no other mainstream brand offers something comparable for the price. It’s an especially good deal if you’re already an Amazon Prime customer, and/or have plenty invested in Amazon digital content. The Fire 7’s simple design and bold, mostly easy-to-follow menus make it a great starter or second tablet for the family. However, we’d recommend going up in price to the Fire HD 8 if you need to view large text or want a tablet that can work better as an e-reader.
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 09/28/2017
Rating: Total score: 60%
Source: Toptenreviews Archive.org version
It’s not a standard Android tablet, so your choice of apps is limited, but it does nearly as much as other tablets at a price we can’t argue with.
Single Review, online available, Very Short, Date: 08/10/2017
Rating: Total score: 80%
Source: Tech Advisor Archive.org version
The Fire 7 is a very minor update to the 2015 7in Fire tablet. It’s a shame that the processor and cameras haven’t been upgraded, but the low price makes it hard to complain. It remains great value and a great way to use Amazon’s services including video and music – as well as Alexa. The absence of all things Google will be a deal-breaker for some, but it’s an excellent choice for kids or undemanding adults.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 07/10/2017
Rating: Total score: 80%
Source: Pocket Lint Archive.org version
The Fire 7 has won itself a lot of fans based on its happy-go-lucky positioning at the bottom of the tablet pile. It's one of those devices that you'd probably dismiss based on the spec sheet, if it wasn't for its ridiculously affordable price point. Instead, this tablet is one of the best tech bargains you'll find.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 07/06/2017
Rating: Total score: 80%
Source: Laptop Mag Archive.org version
While you can find other tablets that cost under $50, most are from no-name companies or are way out of date. When you consider the Fire 7's strong build quality, easy access to Amazon services and dead-simple interface, this tablet is almost in a class by itself. However, to reach this price, Amazon cut several corners, including on screen quality, audio performance and battery life. The slow processor and poor cameras are the most egregious of these downsides.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 07/05/2017
Rating: Total score: 70%
Source: PC Mag Archive.org version
Yes, there are other cheap tablets out there. You can find them on the shelves at your local drug store, or in the depths of Amazon.com. Many of their specs are similar to the Fire's; some even have more storage. Still, though, they give me the willies because by and large, they're running ancient versions of Android and have essentially no customer support. So we prefer to recommend Amazon's tablets.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 07/05/2017
Rating: Total score: 80%
Source: Techradar Archive.org version
Amazon is still in a $50/£50 tablet league of its own with the Fire 7 (2017), but the low-res display is now arguably a cut too far for a modern media-focused device.
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 06/22/2017
Rating: Total score: 60%
Source: What Hi-Fi Archive.org version
There are improvements we’d still like to see (and this new iteration hasn’t addressed all the ones we highlighted in our review of the original, such as the sluggish OS or the tinny speakers), but considering its price point it performs well.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 06/22/2017
Rating: Total score: 80%
Foreign Reviews
Source: Ofertaman ES→EN Archive.org version
Positive: Low price; 16GB ROM; high autonomy; solid workmanship. Negative: Mediocre speakers; weak processor; thick.
Single Review, online available, Very Short, Date: 03/14/2018
Comment
Model:
Amazon Fire 7 (2017) is Amazon's improved version of their cheapest tablets on the market. The Amazon Fire is the sort of tablet that would make a perfect gift for a little one who won't be too perturbed by the lowly specs or a good first tablet for someone who is not the techiest. It comes in a plastic case and is both thinner and lighter than previous versions, but it's quite an easy device to hold in the hand while watching a video or playing games. All the hardware buttons sit along the top of the slate, with the power/unlock key and micro USB port on the top right, while the 3.5mm headphone jack and volume controls are on the top left. Amazon has included color options of blue, black, red and yellow for the Amazon Fire (2017), plus there are a variety of material cases a user can choose from. The display on the new Amazon Fire has had some slight improvements for the new version with better contrast levels, but there isn't a major upgrade. It has just a 7-inch screen with a resolution of 600 x 1024, which is the same as the previous model and quite a bit lower than HD. Although the resolution is low, it uses an IPS display, which results in decent viewing angles and fair color.
One of the biggest upgrades of the new tablet is the introduction of dual-band Wi-Fi support, which means the user should be able to use slightly speedier internet with the Amazon Fire 7 (2017). If the user has 5GHz Wi-Fi at home or where a user will be using the tablet, this may be a big benefit and offer slightly better streaming and download speeds for the media they are consuming. Under the hood, the Fire 7 (2017) has a MediaTek MT8127 SoC, a quad-core 1.3GHz processor designed to support displays up to 1920x1200 resolution. This chipset has easily enough power to power the Fire's 1,024 x 600-pixel display. The Fire 7 comes in 8 and 16GB models. The 8GB model has very little storage available at only 5.63 GB, however, there is a microSD memory card slot that counters this problem. The Fire 7 has two cameras which a VGA camera on the front and a 2-megapixel camera on the back. The Amazon Fire is an Android tablet, but it can't be noticed by looking at the software. Android 5.1 is at the Fire's heart, but on the top is Amazon's own Fire OS 5. This is a total re-skin of Android, one that not only replaces the top layer but every Google service beneath too. Battery life was fine on this tablet at 4 hours, 32 minutes of web video streaming on maximum brightness. The Amazon Fire 7 (2017) is a reasonable tablets for reading e-books and playing some media but falls far behind the others in terms of screen resolution and performance.
Hands-on article by Jagadisa Rajarathnam
ARM Mali-450 MP4: OpenGL ES 2.0 GPU for ARM based SoCs with 4 fragment processors and 1 vertex processor.
These graphics cards are not suited for Windows 3D games. Office and Internet surfing however is possible.
» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.
MT8127: Quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 SoC clocked at 1.7 GHz that integrates a single channel 32 Bit DDR3-1333 memory controller and a Mali-450 MP4 GPU.» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.
7.00":
It is a small display format for smartphones. You shouldn't be severely defective in vision, and you won't see much detail on the screen and only have a small resolution available. For that, the device should be small and handy, easy to transport.
» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.Amazon: Amazon is a company that is mainly known as an online retailer, but it also has its own product line called AmazonBasics. This product line includes a wide variety of products, including electronics, housewares, office supplies, sports and leisure items, and more. Amazon also works with other manufacturers to offer products under the "Amazon's Choice" brand, which are recommended by Amazon based on their reviews and popularity.
74.73%: This rating is poor. More than three quarters of the models are rated better. That is rather not a purchase recommendation. Even if verbal ratings in this area do not sound that bad ("sufficient" or "satisfactory"), they are usually euphemisms that disguise a classification as a below-average laptop.
» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.