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NICOLE LEE: After
two long years,

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Amazon has finally
updated its Fire 7 tablet.

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It still has the same
design as before,

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but it's now a little faster,
with twice the storage.

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Aside from that, the Fire
7 is relatively basic.

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At just $50, the Fire 7 is
certainly one of the cheapest

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tablets out there, but
as with most things,

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you get what you pay for.

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The other new feature
is hands free Alexa,

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which until now has
only been available

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on the larger Fire devices.

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This means that, instead
of pressing a button,

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you can just say
Alexa to trigger

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Amazon's personal assistant.

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Alexa, show me the weather.

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- Here is the weather
in San Francisco.

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NICOLE LEE: Fire
7 comes in plum,

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twilight blue, or sage,
which is the one I have.

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You can also get a matching
case with a matching

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color for an extra $25.

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With it's all
plastic construction,

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the Fire 7 definitely
looks and feels

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like an entry level tablet.

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Plus, the seven inch IPS display
still has that old 1024 by 600

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pixel resolution.

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That's understandable,
given the low price point,

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but I still wasn't a fan.

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Images were a little
fuzzy around the edges

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and text was just not as
sharp as I would like.

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Given that one of the
main uses of the tablet

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is for watching videos, I
really would have preferred

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at least an HD display.

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There have been a
few updates though.

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The built in storage has been
expanded to either 16 gigabytes

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or 32 gigabytes, and
there is now an option

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to add up to 512
gigabytes of extra storage

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with a micro SD card.

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The front and rear two
megapixel pixel cameras

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now record in 720 P,
which is definitely

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a lot better than the 480
P on the previous Fire 7.

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Just like other fire
tablets, the Fire 7

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runs Fire OS, which
puts the Amazon

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experience front and center.

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From the moment
you've powered up,

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you'll be presented
with dedicated shortcuts

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to your favorite Amazon
apps and services,

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such as Audible, Prime
Video, and of course,

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the Amazon store.

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There are also separate
pages for categories

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like books, video, and games.

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It's basically an all
in one Amazon Portal

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in the palm of your hands.

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The Fire 7 comes in two flavors,
one with special offers,

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which shows ads when
the screen is locked,

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and one without that.

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Keep in mind that the ad free
version will cost you $15 more,

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bumping up the
starting price to $65.

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It's worth remembering that,
unlike normal Android tablets,

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Fire OS devices don't have
access to the usual Google

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Apps like Gmail or YouTube.

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Instead, you have to download
third party alternatives

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to these applications, like this
thing called videos for YouTube

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made by Key Apps, for example.

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Also, with an Android
tablet, you just

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need a single Google
account to log into all

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of your Google related apps.

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Obviously, that's
not so with Fire OS.

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Even though Amazon says the
new Fire 7 tablet is faster

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than the 2017 version, I
still found the performance

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to be pretty disappointing.

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It often takes several
seconds to launch apps.

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Even swiping through the
menu feels a little sluggish.

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Playing games was especially
frustrating, with long load

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times and a lot of lag.

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The experience of watching
videos isn't much better.

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So I mentioned the screen
quality is quite poor.

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I imagine this is probably
acceptable for young kids,

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but for me, I'm far too
spoiled on HD quality screens

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to enjoy it.

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Plus the Fire 7 only has one
speaker, so the sound quality

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isn't that great either.

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Another area where
the Fire 7 disappoints

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is the battery life.

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According to Amazon, it should
last around seven hours,

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but from my experience,
it seems to be around 5.

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One of the few features I did
enjoy was hands free Alexa.

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Rather than having
to press a button,

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I can just say
Alexa to trigger it.

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When I say, Alexa, show me
the weather, for example,

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it'll show me the day's
temperature and climate,

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as well as the forecast
for the next several days.

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I know I just said--

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I just said your
name, I'm sorry.

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Shush.

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Shush.

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I also used it for finding
videos, playing songs, setting

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timers and alarms,
and just finding out

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what's going on in the world.

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It's sort of like having a
tiny less capable Echo Show.

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Yet, that wasn't
enough to sway me.

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With its ho hum display,
sluggish performance,

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and short battery life, the Fire
7 just isn't worth the money.

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Of course, it's
understandable that at $50

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the Fire 7 is not going to
be top of the line hardware.

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But the thing is you can
do a lot better with just

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a little bit more money.

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Spend just $10
more, for example,

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and you can get the
Fire HD 8, which

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has a slightly larger
screen an HD display,

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Dolby Atmos speakers, and a
few more hours of battery life.

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That's still very
affordable at just $60,

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and it will be a
much better purchase.

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As always, hit subscribe
for more videos,

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and go to engadget.com
for more news and reviews.

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