The Kindle Fire software, which is a heavily customized version of Android 4.0, has changed little since its inception on the original Amazon tablet. Love it or hate it, the interface still largely revolves around a carousel and the horizontally listed functions immediately above it. This works well if using the tablet in landscape mode but is not very efficient in portrait mode. Much of the home screen is wasted and devoid of any functionality, which is made even more unacceptable due to the high resolution of the display. In other words, Amazon’s carousel interface scales extremely poorly to higher resolutions and is something that we hope will be improved upon in the future.
Beyond the home screen, all other functions perform at a similar speed to its smaller 7-inch brother and sometimes slightly slower. Apps and pages do not load or run significantly faster, at least subjectively, despite the faster processor in the 8.9-inch model. In fact, typing on the onscreen keyboard is not instant as inputs are sometimes delayed for seemingly no reason. Longer web pages (such as our review pages) can take a few seconds (or longer) to appear onscreen, especially when scrolling quickly. The Kindle Fire series also continues to neglect dedicated Home and Back buttons, so what is typically a one-step process will take at least two user inputs as the onscreen buttons are often hidden.
Fortunately, the Amazon-centric services (App store, video streaming, and Amazon Cloud access) function smoothly and are free from glitches. They continue to be easy to browse and are now easier on the eyes due to the higher resolution. Similarly, the Silk browser is generally much more enjoyable even if it is a bit slow to draw. Font sizes in particular can now be set smaller on eBooks if desired, though this may not necessarily make for a better reading experience. Finally, video quality from Amazon streams are good but not that great of an improvement as one might expect over the HD 7 since the streams are limited to 720p.
A minor, though notable annoyance with the tablet is the delay after pressing the power button and before the lock screen is shown. It is by no means a long pause, but it does take a bit longer than what we are used to with other tablets and smartphones. We can’t help but to assume that the tablet may be taking its time to load a different high resolution ad each time the power button is pressed.