Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Why I bought it: I'm a young librarian and I wanted access to all of the downloadable media offered at work. My Kindle Voyage will only allow me to download books in Kindle format. I wanted to download magazines, epub format books, and use the databases on a larger screen than my phone. I also wanted to be able to stream YouTube video tutorials and movies without having to use my laptop. In short: I wanted a tablet for basic media consumption, not for presentations at work or to replace my computer. I take pictures with my phone like a normal person. What I almost bought instead: While I wanted an affordable tablet, I'd already decided against the $50 Kindle, after reading reports about poor screen resolution and slow performance. I had settled on and actually ordered the Galaxy Tab A the evening before this Kindle was announced. After comparing the specs, I canceled my previous order and chose this one, because for $20 less, I could get twice as much memory and the three year drops and spills warranty. The Kindle Fire HD 8 has better specs (memory, RAM, and PPI) and comes in pink! What I think overall: Calling this tablet a "good deal for the price" does it a disservice, because this is just a great little tablet. The app market is more limited than Google's and the interface is slightly different. I almost returned it when I thought I couldn't download the app my library uses for magazines, but Amazon allows sideloading and I was able to get it and numerous other apps, including Nook, that way. It has beautiful screen resolution and sound and plays videos smoothly. The processor and touch screen are responsive enough to play interactive games. I LOVE that it came in different colors and would definitely call mine hot pink, not magenta. I know some will consider the body "cheap", when comparing it to a tablet four times the price, but I think it's fun and plenty sturdy for what I need. I would rather have the extra half gig of RAM and better PPI than have the Tab A, with its subjectively sleeker form. I also appreciate that the new design comes in matte, not the fingerprint magnet gloss. I'm very happy with my purchase and with a three year warranty, I'm sure I will be for at least that long.