# Considering a Fire HD 8 Plus 2020 - have questions



## DSHornet (May 18, 2020)

My trusty seven year old Google Nexus 7 is getting more reluctant to operate smoothly.  I plan to replace it with a Fire HD 8, probably a Plus, when Amazon releases them in a few weeks.  My wife has an original Fire (my gift to her for Christmas 2011) which still works well but I'll do more on mine than read books.  Since my experience with portable devices has been in the Android system, I wonder how that might translate to a new Fire.

Questions:
1. What apps come on the Fire HD 8?  I haven't yet found a list of what the tablet runs out of the box (besides the Amazon apps, of course).
2. Are there apps from the Amazon store that emulate popular Google apps - Google Maps, Contacts, VPN's, browsers, and so forth?
3. I've read about side loading Google apps on a Fire.  What is the experience of the community with side loading?
4. Will side loading foreign apps affect my warranty?

Since my old Nexus 7 is getting more crotchety I'll probably pull the trigger soon on a new Fire HD 8, but I want to be prepared with a plan ahead of time.

Thanks, y'all.

DSHornet
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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

There's another thread with some basic discussion of the new Fire models, HD 8 and HD 8 Plus: https://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,323725.0.html

I have had several Fire models -- still have at least one, in fact, but haven't used it in a while. Honestly, I've not been particularly impressed. For me, Samsung tablets, though a bit more expensive, are way more bang for the buck. My feeling is the Fires are designed to be content consuming devices -- so videos, music, etc. For most, they're probably fine for that, but I need a tablet that can double as an 'everything' computer if I'm traveling. And the Fire just didn't do that well for me. The latest models are very integrated with Alexa, if that's something you want. Again, not a thing I care about particularly.

And ... welcome to KBoards.


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