I tried Amazon's new AI features on the Fire HD 8, and I think they need work

These days, it feels like most major software updates center around the launch of AI-powered features. Whether it’s Google bringing the latest edition of Magic Editor to its Pixels, Samsung creating Auto Zoom for the Galaxy Z Flip 6, or Apple trickling out new features like Type to Siri, everyone has a trick or two to share. However, they’re almost always reserved for devices at the flagship tier, leaving users on a budget to watch and wonder what artificial intelligence must be like. Now, though, Amazon is throwing its hat into the ring with a budget-focused AI rollout of its own. It’s added three new features to its affordable Fire HD 8 tablet, and I think it’s time to check them out.

Silk-y smooth webpage summaries?

Up first, a venture into Amazon’s Fire-specific Silk browser. I’ll admit I haven’t spent much time in Amazon’s in-house alternative to Chrome, but when it announced webpage summaries, I was at least curious. After all, Google, Samsung, and, to an extent, Apple have their versions of webpage summaries, so I’d have plenty to compare Amazon’s results to.

So, I headed to the Android Authority homepage and selected an article I hadn’t yet read. Because I’m in the middle of a packed slate of reviews, I went for my colleague Andy’s list of widgets I could use to keep my home screen feeling a bit more exciting. However, I didn’t save myself time to read through and explore all 10 of his picks, so I tapped on the two stars that suddenly appeared in the address bar and selected Summarize Page. My Fire HD 8 sat and thought for a moment before popping up with one-sentence breakdowns of all ten widgets after about 15 seconds — not too bad, Amazon.

Then, I decided to try another article — this time selecting Rita’s thoughts on why the iPhone keyboard has killed punctuation usage in texting (a point I agree with). Unlike Andy’s short, sweet listicle, Rita’s feature centers around longer paragraphs that go further in-depth on one or two main points. It’s the type of piece you have to sit down and digest, but again, I didn’t leave myself a ton of time for that. So, I tapped on the same pair of stars, hit Summarize Page, and… got the same summary of the list of widgets. For whatever reason, the Fire HD 8 didn’t understand that I’d switched pages and needed to update its summary. Thankfully, a simple refresh of the article kicked the tablet into gear, but I shouldn’t have to load a page twice to summarize it once.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be a one-off issue, either. If I jumped between any two articles on the site, I seemed to get a summary that was one page behind. I had to refresh each time to get the correct summary, wasting just a little bit too much time for my liking. Thankfully, the Fire HD 8 is a little more responsive when I switch websites entirely, offering a much faster summary when I went to find a breakdown of Adidas Predator 24 colorways released over the past year. The only problem with the summary, though, is it doesn’t include images, which makes a summary about soccer cleats tough to enjoy.

Square wallpapers in rectangular holes

Next, it was time to try another staple of Android-adjacent AI rollouts: AI-generated wallpapers. At this point, we’ve seen Google, Motorola, Nothing, and more try their hand at cooking up unique wallpapers, so there wasn’t much that Amazon could do to surprise me. My biggest question was whether the Fire HD 8 would go for an open textbox style generator or ask me to fill in prompts like I was completing a Mad Lib. As it turned out, Amazon went for the former, which is the more fun approach.

Once again, Amazon’s wallpapers live in an app of their own, appropriately called the Wallpaper Creator. It’s a simple setup, offering a suggested prompt at the top with the textbox you need set right in the middle of the display. If you scroll down, you can also choose your art style from nine styles, including Cartoon, Starry Night, and Fantasy. Oh, and if you’re not sure what you want out of a wallpaper, you can look at sample prompts or have Amazon surprise you. I went for the latter and was treated to “A fox on a snowy hill enjoying peacefulness” in Amazon’s suggested style — which usually just means photorealistic.

Honestly, the final product isn’t too bad — it’s certainly a fox in the snow, and there are no bizarre artifacts to remind me that it’s AI-generated. So, I set it as my wallpaper and quickly realized that there were, in fact, a few problems. For starters, Amazon’s AI generates square images, which means you’ll have to cut the sides off to make them work on a rectangular display. The Fire HD 8 is also meant to work in landscape and portrait orientations, thus cutting off the top of my imaginary fox’s head — not ideal.

Amazon also seems to have some limitations in place, as I could not generate anything from a line of goats wearing mountaineering gear to a goblin stirring a cauldron in a cave. The restrictions aren’t explicitly stated anywhere, though, so I’ve had to experiment with what works and what doesn’t. Worse yet, the Fire HD 8 has a strict limit on how many wallpapers you can generate per month: 10. For me, that’s about five minutes worth of wallpaper generating on my Pixel 9 Pro or Motorola Razr Plus, yet it’s supposed to last a Fire user a whole month. Thankfully, the failed prompts don’t count towards my total, but having Amazon generate a random prompt certainly did.

Writing Assist is good for a laugh, at least

Last but hopefully not least, we have Amazon’s take on another AI-powered Android favorite — writing tools. Yes, just like Google and Samsung, Amazon has decided that you might want to use its AI to rewrite a paragraph of an essay or a quick email before you send it off. Amazon’s Write Assist seems to work in just about any app where the Fire HD 8’s keyboard is visible, too, giving it some much-needed flexibility.

Almost immediately, though, I ran into a problem — the Fire HD 8 isn’t my go-to device for writing, well, anything. Because it’s not running on a proper version of Android, it doesn’t come with familiar apps like Google Docs right out of the box. Technically, Amazon’s Files app looks just like what you’d find on an Android tablet, but that’s as close as it gets. Instead, I have to use WPS Office for Amazon, which feels a bit like a knockoff version of Word, complete with the fact that its top function bar gets cut off by the time, battery percentage, and Wi-Fi strength on my Fire HD 8. So, if I write anything in WPS Office for Amazon, I’m not sure what to do with it.

Anyway, I typed out a quick paragraph on how difficult it is to type on a small, relatively slow display, filling it with just enough complaints until I felt better about the process. Then, I highlighted my paragraph, tapped Write Assist, and started looking through my options. Amazon offers pretty much what you’d expect, with ways to elaborate, proofread, or completely rewrite your text. You can also change the tone to be more professional, wittier, more casual, or emojify it, if you’re into that. So, I chose to elaborate my paragraph, and then I decided to make it witty just to see if I’d cringe or not.

The good news is that I didn’t cringe — at least not too badly. Do I think I’d ever have Amazon make me sound witty? No, probably not, but it’s because I’m a writer by trade, so the last thing I need is for AI to take my job. Amazon’s attempt at expanding my paragraph was a bit more impressive, as it stuck mainly to the same subject but offered a few suggestions for making typing on the Fire HD 8 more enjoyable.

Sorry, Amazon, but you’re not there yet

Well, I can’t say that I’m shocked Amazon’s AI rollout wasn’t buttery smooth on its budget-minded Fire HD 8 tablet. There’s a good reason that others like Apple and Google stick to their flagship devices for AI — they’re powerful enough to handle the increased workload, but the Fire tablet is not. Everything from stumbling over summaries to limiting the number of simple AI-generated wallpapers you could create feels like Amazon is only entering the AI race for a chance to say that it’s there rather than staying competitive. Worse for Amazon is the fact that it’s trying features that everyone else has already launched. We know that they can be made to work so, if anything, Amazon is showing us the places where they can’t

Maybe I could see some people using Amazon’s writing tools, and the webpage summaries weren’t half bad when they worked, but the whole experience feels half-baked at best. I can’t believe I’m suggesting it, but I think Amazon might need to take a longer look at the premium tablet space before it should make a run at AI-powered features. At least then, it might have the hardware to keep up with its software demands. Until that day, though, I’ll be sticking to Gemini, Galaxy AI, and Apple Intelligence for my on-device needs.

If you want to grab a Fire tablet and try Amazon’s AI-powered features, you can do so below — but I’d probably wait a while or at least spring for a Fire tablet without ads.