Amazon Kindle Fire HD 6 Tablet Review

The original Kindle Fire launched in late 2011 with one of the thickest chassis around at just over 11 mm. While subsequent revisions thinned down the profile, case quality suffered as a result. The Fire HD 6 hearkens back to the original with a thick profile (10. 7 mm) while keeping some of the better aesthetic qualities of the latter models to retain a strong chassis without sacrificing looks. The model feels great in the hand no matter the orientation and actually feels easier to grip than its 7-inch HDX counterpart. The matte plastic back and glass front warp very little under pressure with only very minor signs of creaking and twists. The rubberized surface of the original Kindle Fire is completely gone and replaced with smooth plastic all-around. The texture is very slightly bumpy, which reduces fingerprint buildup quite well.

Perhaps surprisingly, all these features add up to a chassis that can hold its own against other similarly-sized tablets. By allowing for a thicker design, Amazon have managed to outclass their thinner competitors in case quality and sturdiness. Competing 6-inch models like the HP Slate 6 and Nokia Lumia 1320 may be better aesthetically, but the Fire HD 6 will be the one that can take the daily abuse and still live to tell the story.

In terms of weight, the Fire HD 6 is a bit heavier than other 6-inch devices as expected from its wider girth and thick bezel. For example, the Slate 6 and Liquid S2 weigh 160 and 231 grams, respectively, compared to almost 300 grams of the Fire HD 6. Though the figures are small, they are certainly noticeable on such small tablets. There is no denying that the Amazon tablet has a heft to it that gives it its rigid feel, but at the same it is understandable that some users may prefer a thinner, lighter, and more eye-catching chassis at the cost of structural integrity.

Like other members in the Fire family, the HD 6 is severely lacking in connectivity options. Basics such as 3.5 mm audio and microUSB ports are available, but anything more would be asking for too much from a very inexpensive tablet. In its defense, however, competing models do not offer much beyond these basics either, though a few models like the Lumia 1520 or Galaxy Note II have microSD and SIM slots for better expandability and versatility.

Attempting to connect external devices like generic keyboards and mice via microUSB will work natively on the Fire HD 6. While typing feels quick and responsive, the onscreen mouse cursor has a notable latency compared to a desktop cursor, so scrolling and clicking can be frustratingly slow at times. On the other hand, USB flash drives will work if they are formatted in FAT as our tested NTFS drive could not be natively recognized by the tablet. MHL is also not supported as our tested connection to an external monitor proved fruitless.

Touchscreen

The multi-touch capacitive touchscreen responds to inputs with no major issues. The smaller screen size, however, does make certain icons smaller and thus more difficult to tap. The Home, Back and Search buttons, for example, are easy to miss with no options to increase the size of the icons. Furthermore, the lack of any haptic feedback makes it more difficult to really see if your inputs have been registered. Ideally, the display should respond to your inputs immediately, but the Fire HD 6 suffers from the occasional lag and delayed loading screens that will make you question whether or not your last input was accurate.

Fortunately, the onscreen keyboard does not suffer from any of the latency issues mentioned above. Letters and numbers appear without delay and Swype is enabled by default for those who prefer it. We find touch-typing to more comfortable on the 6-inch display as opposed to smaller or larger devices where keys can feel too cramped or far away from the thumbs.

As for any physical buttons, there are only the basic Power button and Volume rocker. While the Power button is easy to depress with firm feedback, the volume buttons are too flushed on the edge and can be difficult to reliably hit, especially with larger fingers.

The Fire HD 6 shares the same resolution as its larger Kindle Fire HD 7 sibling of 1280 x 800 pixels. Its resulting 252 PPI is thus more dense than many 7-inch tablets where 800p is standard, such as on the original Google Nexus 7, Dell Venue 7 and Asus Fonepad 7. Subjectively, images and text are sharp on the glass-covered 6-inch display, even when zoomed out to fit the screen. Our standard Notebookcheck review pages, for example, are typically very text heavy, but the pages are at a comfortable viewing level without needing a higher magnification. 

Our average measured screen brightness of nearly 400 nits is very high for such an inexpensive device. In fact, this is brighter than a good handful competing 6-inch to 8-inch tablets including the Lenovo Tab A8 and Acer Iconia Tab A8. Nonetheless, the 2013 Nexus 7, Acer Liquid S2, and Nokia Lumia 1320 tablets are a step brighter than the Amazon in review. A strong backlight is invaluable for outdoor usability and reading, so it is a relief to see that the manufacturer has chosen not to cut any corners in this regard. Coincidentally, its contrast level is just as impressive for excellent movie playback.

System Performance

Despite having decent raw performance according to the benchmarks above, subjective performance is on the slow side during even mundane tasks like switching between apps, alternating between tabs, or invoking the keyboard for inputting commands. As mentioned earlier, most taps and touch inputs in general have a slight but noticeable delay before seeing an onscreen response. In fact, pressing the Home button to exit an app will at times greet the user with an unsightly loading screen before the Carousel becomes available. Scrolling through longer or image-heavy webpages will often cause stutters and unloaded portions of the page. The effects are minimized if only one tab or app is open, but even light multitasking can cause the system to slowdown.

This isn't to say that system performance is unbearably slow, but users who are accustomed to faster and more costlier tablets like the Nexus 7 or iPad will notice that the Fire HD 6 lacks the instant response that many other popular tablets offer. This is made more disappointing after experiencing lightning-fast performance from the Snapdragon 800 SoC found in last year's HDX 7. Simply put, this 6-inch tablet could have benefited from a more powerful processor.

1080p video performance is good with support for MP4 and MKV playback without the need for third party apps. Sounds from MKV files may not play correctly, however, and our tested AVI, OGG, and MOV files resulted in playback errors or were simply not recognized by the device.

Temperature

When idling, surfing the web or watching a movie, the Amazon tablet will barely warm up. Surface temperatures average around 33 degrees C on both sides with no noticeable hot spots. Unless if your tablet happens to have a Core i5 or i7 CPU, this uniformity in surface temperature is common under low loads.

To simulate stressful conditions for maximum load temperature, we ran Stability Test 2.5 for just over an hour before taking readings. This is unrepresentative of real-world usage, but it gives a good contrast to our low-power idling state. Under these conditions, we were able to measure surface temperatures of almost 50 degrees C concentrated on the side of the tablet with the Power button, which happens to be where the logic board and processors are located. This is much warmer than competing tablets where 40 degrees C is more common under similar testing conditions, such as the Liquid S2 and Slate 6. Though users will almost never experience temperatures as high as our recordings under normal use, extended periods of multitasking, tabbed browsing, or playing games will certainly cause a noticeable temperature gradient on the device.