![]() ![]() Mojito does offer a new grid view of your apps, which makes life easier - before, if you didn’t open Hulu for a week, it wound up buried in the carousel behind all the other things Amazon really thinks you should be buying and watching instead. The homescreen is still a reverse-chronological carousel of every book, app, and movie you’ve opened or purchased since the beginning of time. ![]() The top navigation is just a list of ways to give Amazon your money: Shop, Games, Videos, Audiobooks, Newsstand, and more. It’s not the flexible, versatile, platform Android has become, and still feels very much media-centric. But for the first time, the HDX does other things well too.įire OS is more subdued than Android, and much more media-focusedįire OS 3.0, codenamed "Mojito," is Amazon’s latest software effort. ![]() That job remains getting you to buy and use as many Amazon products as possible. It doesn’t feel quite so perfectly machined, as sleek or as smooth as the mini, but it’s utilitarian hardware that certainly gets the job done. ![]() It’s shorter and narrower than an iPad mini, shorter and wider than the Nexus 7, and at 0.66 pounds and 9.0 millimeters thick feels almost identical to the other tablets. The HDX quickly replaced my Kindle Paperwhite as my go-to reading device - it’s just so easy to hold in one hand. There are better accessories, I’m sure, and the HDX feels sturdy enough that I’d bet you don’t really need a cover anyway. I had trouble figuring out how to turn the case into a stand, and when one of the case’s magnets gave out after about three days I simply stopped trying. The Smart Cover-like magnet is handy, turning the HDX on when opened up and off when closed, and keeping the flap attached to the back when it’s open, but clearly I’m bad at origami. The problems are only exacerbated by the $49.99 Origami case. The HDX doesn’t quite fade away or disappear, and even though it’s sturdy and good-looking it just feels like you’re holding an object instead of peering through a window to another universe. It’s not uncomfortable and it’s handsomely designed, but you notice the ridges every time you pick up the tablet, and I couldn’t help constantly running my fingers along the edges of the back. The tablet is full of conflicting angles, as the back and front both slope toward the skinny edges. Well-designed, but it never quite disappears in your hands The recessed buttons are hard to find with your finger, easy to confuse with one another as you rotate the tablet around, and feel like a cheap TV remote. In an effort to keep the front and sides unadorned, Amazon placed the volume and power buttons on the sharply beveled back, which doesn’t work at all. Unfortunately, that’s where my love affair with the new HDX hardware ends. And with no big, mismatched bezels like the Nexus 7, the screen even looks a little bigger and brighter. It's as spectacularly reflective as any other tablet, no matter what Amazon might want to tell you, but it’s a massive upgrade over last year’s model, and puts the HDX right on par with the Nexus 7. That all starts with the 7-inch screen, a gorgeous 1920 x 1200 panel with excellent viewing angles, amazing color reproduction, and that wonderful feeling that whatever’s on the screen is leaping out toward you. The HDX is less of a device and more of a portal, so the more the hardware gets out of the way and lets Amazon’s software and content shine, the better. ![]()
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