Gadget Guru: Amazon Fire tablet gets boost with Alexa

The Amazon Fire HD 8 Tablet with Alexa is an excellent value, especially combined with an Amazon Prime membership.

As a longtime iPad owner having familiarity with Apple’s app store, I was happy to see Amazon’s app store works much the same and just as easy. I downloaded a few apps I use on my iPad to see if they worked the same and they did.

The Fire ($79.99 for 16 GB, $109.99 for 32 GB) comes pre-loaded with a great selection of apps to play, shop, read, listen and watch. Users can purchase music, videos, books and games through the pre-loaded apps. Moreover, with a Prime membership, users have plenty of free options.

The tablet has a built-in web browser (Silk), parental controls (FreeTime) and apps for photos, calendar, camera, documents, contacts, maps, clock, weather and email. With Alexa, check your calendar, get news, find sports scores and even control your smart home – just press and ask.

I’m an avid reader so I started with the Kindle Books app and found hundreds of free books in the Prime Bookstore and more available to purchase. Movies, TV shows, music and games work the same way, with many available for free with a Prime membership and others available for purchase.

I used the tablet to read books and watch videos on a four-hour flight and barely made a dent in the battery power. It is rated for 12 hours of battery life, has an 8-inch HD display, a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, 1.5 GB of RAM and Dolby Audio. It is available in black, yellow, red and blue.

Available with 16 or 32 GB of internal storage, the tablet has a microSD slot for adding up to 256 GB of expandable storage.

More: Amazon.com

Sound system

Creative’s Sound BlasterX Katana multi-channel gaming sound bar sound system ($299.99) is marketed for gamers, but after hearing the sound quality, I’d use it for gaming, music, TV and movies – basically anything you want to hear in superior quality and room-filling sound.

For those not familiar with sound bars, they are speakers built with a long, slim profile. The five-driver Katena is 23.6 inches long, 2.4 inches high and 3.1 inches deep, making it ideal to keep under a computer monitor or attach to television wall-mounting brackets. Regardless of where it is utilized, the sound will be nothing short of outstanding.

A black front-facing grill covers two up-firing midbass drivers and two high-excursion tweeters. Connections, including optical, USB, MicroUSB and 3.5 mm, are on the back. Or use it wirelessly with Bluetooth 4.2.

What makes it a complete system is the subwoofer, which houses the fifth driver, referred to as one long-throw. The subwoofer (5.1 by 11.8 by 13.1 inches) can sit in full view or hidden behind furniture. Either way, users get the boom-boom sound effect.

I’m not a gamer, so I tested the sound with different presets on my receiver ranging from theater to gaming to surround sound, and each had a different tone. There’s no right or wrong, it’s whatever is comfortable to your ears. I like a deep bass so it took some tweaking, which is how superior audio should be achieved.

The included wireless remote comes in handy for volume control and song selections.

I’ve been a sound bar fan for some time and the Katana has shot to the top of my list with its great sound, looks and versatility.

More: us.creative.com

This story was originally published August 2, 2017 at 11:45 AM with the headline "Gadget Guru: Amazon Fire tablet gets boost with Alexa."