Review: Amazon Fire HD 8 (2015 release) Case

• January 25, 2016
• James Skemp
• review

The following is a review of the Amazon Fire HD 8 (2015 release) Case - Slim Lightweight Standing Custom Fit Cover with Auto Wake/Sleep for Amazon Fire HD 8 Tablet, received as part of the Amazon Vine Program.

Nigh Perfect

A few weeks ago I was looking at tablets since my second generation Nexus 7 is starting to get rather slow, and doesn't seem to want to hold a charge as well as it once did. After taking a look at a handful of devices I decided to pick up a new Amazon Fire 8.

Naturally, when you buy a new tablet you have to buy a case for it, so I was glad to see Amazon's case up for review on Amazon Vine. While I had initially looked at the case when I was purchasing an SD card for the tablet, I was a little turned away by the price. In fact, I was definitely turned away by the price.

However, having now used the case for over three weeks I can honestly say this is one of the best cases I've had on a tablet.

The first nice thing about the case is that it leaves all of the buttons free. While a case with button covers doesn't necessarily mean the buttons require more pressure to be used, having them clear is so much easier.

The case also features a pretty powerful magnet, which combined with the case wraps around the device, means that the cover stays in place, but can still be removed with relative ease. It also sticks quite well to the back of the case, which means that it has the same profile open or closed, with no slippage. Do note that since the case can switch the power off automatically, once you put it into place initially you will have to switch it back on.

The oddest thing about the case is that the cover folds in half diagonally. Within the box itself is the two ways this fold can be used to stand it up either in portrait or landscape view. Honestly, I still haven't gotten used to this, and have to play around with the flap a bit before I get it right.

Finally, the case feels pretty ridge, but still has some flex to it. It fits fairly snug around the tablet itself, but leaves enough of the device free for it be relatively flat on the top of the tablet itself. This initially lead me to believe that it might pop out of the case, but thus far have had no issues with it.

The only minor complaint I have with this case is the fold to get the tablet standing up. However, since I do keep it mostly open, this is probably more due to lack of use. For this reason, I have to give the Amazon Fire HD 8 (2015 release) Case - Slim Lightweight Standing Custom Fit Cover with Auto Wake/Sleep for Amazon Fire HD 8 Tablet a full five of five stars. The case itself is pricey, especially compared with the AmazonBasics line, which I'm most familiar with, but the case quality is high, and works very well.

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