Amazon Fire 7 tablet 7” Review

So you're looking at a $50 tablet. Let's be real, that's the price of a decent dinner. This is the Amazon Fire 7, but it's the 'Like-New' refurbished version. That means it's been tested, cleaned up, and comes with a warranty. It's got a 7-inch screen, up to 10 hours of battery, and 32GB of storage you can expand with a microSD card.

Performance is exactly what you'd expect for fifty bucks. The quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM are a step up from older Fire tablets, but it's still slow. Everything lands in the bottom third of all tablets. Apps take a second to open, and scrolling can feel a bit sticky. The screen is fine for watching a show in bed, but it's not bright or sharp. The battery is perfectly average, hitting the 50th percentile.

For $50, it's hard to complain. You're getting a functional tablet for the price of a cheap Bluetooth speaker. It won't wow you, but it will reliably play Netflix, let you scroll TikTok, and handle an e-book. Just know you're buying a very basic tool, not a sleek device.

Don't compare this to an iPad Pro or a Galaxy Tab. That's like comparing a scooter to a sports car. The real question is whether you need a tablet at all. For $50 more, you could get a newer Kindle for better reading. Or, if you just want video in bed, a used older iPad will feel much faster. This Fire 7 wins on one thing: being the absolute cheapest way to get a tablet screen.

Buy this if you want a super cheap screen for videos in the kitchen, or to keep the kids occupied without worrying about it breaking. Don't buy it if you need speed, want to use normal Android apps, or plan to do anything more than watch and browse.