Amazon updates the Fire HD 10 with better performance and hands-free Alexa

Even though Amazon slightly updated its Fire HD 8 over the summer, the same was not said about the Fire HD 10, which hasn’t seen a true refresh in almost two years. That drought has finally come to an end, with the retail giant finally giving some much-needed love to its larger-sized tablet.

The first things folks will notice about the new Fire HD 10 the new 10.1-inch 1920 x 1200 resolution IPS display, a solid step-up from the 1200 x 800 resolution display found on its predecessor. This is the first time a Fire tablet rocks a 1080p panel since 2013’s Fire HDX, so suffice it to say that it will be a welcome feature for those looking to watch Netflix shows and read books on the Fire HD 10.

Next up is the updated internals, which include a quad-core 1.8 GHz MediaTek processor that Amazon says is 30 percent faster than the processor found in the older Fire HD 10. The refreshed Fire HD 10 also features 2 GB of RAM and either 32 GB or 64 GB of native storage, though a microSD card slot is there if you need additional space.

As a final point on the internals, Amazon touts a 10-hour battery life with the updated Fire HD 10, a solid increase from the 8-hour battery life of its predecessor.

As is the case with the rest of Amazon’s Fire tablets, the Fire HD 10 runs a forked version of Android that aims to retain people in the company’s ecosystem by including features like “For You.” The feature makes it so the software remembers what was the last thing you did, but as you keep scrolling, you also see suggested topics like what books you might want to buy and what movies you might be interested in.

More notably, the Fire HD 10 features hands-free Alexa that lets you summon Amazon’s personal assistant with just your voice. Amazon did not say whether hands-free Alexa will make its way to other Fire tablets, but the Fire HD 10 will get it once it becomes available.

Speaking of which, the Fire HD 10 will be available starting October 11 for $150 for the 32 GB version and an additional $40 for the 64 GB variant. If you don’t want ads, you can either pay $15 extra or eventually pay a one-time $15 fee once you get the version with special offers.

You can pre-order the Fire HD 10 at the link below.