The Alexa Tablet presents itself as a quintessential Amazon experience right from the moment it powers on. The home screen is adorned with shortcuts to a plethora of Amazon’s services, including Kindle, Luna, Prime Video, Audible, and the Silk browser. However, users will also find a dedicated folder housing essential Google applications such as Gmail, Maps, Meet, and YouTube. As a fully functional Android tablet, it allows for seamless downloads from the Play Store, enabling users to replace Amazon’s offerings with their preferred applications with relative ease.
User Interface and Features
Beyond the familiar Amazon aesthetic, the tablet incorporates several user interface enhancements that further emphasize its Amazon-centric design. The upper-left corner of the home screen features a widget that displays recently accessed content from Amazon’s apps, allowing for quick access to resume reading a Kindle book or listening to music on Amazon Music. In the bottom right corner, a widget for the Alexa+ app provides instant access to Amazon’s virtual assistant. Users can also engage with Alexa through voice commands by simply saying, “Hey Alexa.” Interestingly, a Google search widget occupies the top-right corner, illustrating Amazon’s willingness to share screen space with its competitor.
While the Alexa Tablet excels in delivering a solid reading experience, it is equally adept at fulfilling the diverse expectations users have for a tablet. The vibrant display makes it an excellent choice for streaming movies or enjoying YouTube content, complemented by speakers that support Dolby Atmos technology. Although the audio quality may not rival high-end systems, it offers a notable improvement over many standard laptop speakers, providing a satisfactory listening experience for casual use.
Upon installing additional applications from the Play Store, the performance remained largely positive. However, a persistent challenge for Android tablets is the lack of optimization for larger screens by many developers. For instance, while Slack functions adequately, it lacks the multi-column layout that would enhance usability. Consequently, some applications feel more like enlarged phone versions rather than being tailored for a tablet experience.
On a brighter note, popular applications such as Adobe’s Lightroom and Todoist have been optimized for tablet use, ensuring a smooth experience. Google’s suite of applications, redesigned for larger displays, also performs well on the Alexa Tablet, making essential tasks manageable and efficient.
Multitasking and Performance
Amazon has integrated robust multitasking capabilities into the Alexa Tablet. Users can easily switch an app to split view mode or send it to a desktop-like interface, allowing for the resizing and overlapping of multiple applications. Although the screen size may limit the practicality of running numerous apps simultaneously, the tablet handles several open applications without significant issues.
Powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8400 processor, the Alexa Tablet demonstrates commendable performance across various tasks. The model under review features 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, with options to upgrade both. While the performance is generally smooth, there were instances of app unresponsiveness and some lag during app switching, which could be improved.
Regarding battery life, while Amazon claims up to 16 hours of video playback, initial testing suggests around eight hours of usage for a mix of work-related activities, including editing documents, participating in Slack conversations, and browsing with Chrome. Further testing will provide more definitive insights into the battery performance, which will be updated in due course.
