Amazon Fire HD 8 vs. Walmart Onn 8: Battle of the Budget Tablets
The world of tablets is often dominated by Apple’s iPads, but for those on a tighter budget, the Amazon Fire HD 8 and the Walmart Onn 8 offer affordable alternatives. I spent a few weeks testing these two 8-inch tablets to see how they stack up. This comparison aims to determine which, if either, provides a worthwhile experience.
Design
At this price point, you won’t find premium materials. However, the Onn tablet makes a better initial impression, resembling a budget iPad mini with an aluminum back, squared-off edges, and firm side buttons. Many testers were surprised by its quality for the price.
The Fire HD 8 feels cheaper, constructed from hard plastic, with slightly thicker, more rounded sides and less sturdy buttons. The front-facing camera and dual speakers are on the long edge, optimized for horizontal video streaming or gaming. The Onn has a more conventional setup, with the selfie camera at the top and speakers on the bottom edge.
I found the Fire HD 8 more comfortable to hold for extended periods. The curved sides don’t dig into your palms like the Onn’s flat edges. The larger bezels also give your thumbs a natural resting place. The Onn, however, can experience accidental inputs.
Each tablet weighs under 0.8 pounds, making them highly portable and easy to hold with one hand. However, there are compromises.
The cameras on both tablets are low quality, blurring details and washing out colors. Neither has water resistance. Both use basic USB-C 2.0 ports and lack fast charging. The Fire HD 8 has the edge when it comes to audio, but it’s only a slight improvement over the Onn’s tinny speakers.
Display
The Onn’s panel is the clear winner when comparing the two tablets. Colors appear less muted, black levels are deeper, and the overall brightness is better. The Fire HD 8 runs warmer, tinting everything with an orange hue, making it easier on the eyes at night but dulling colors and washing out blacks.
Both screens feature a 1,280 x 800 resolution, which is adequate for the size but renders text and images less sharp than on an iPad or more expensive Android tablets. The Fire HD 8 is also a fingerprint and smudge magnet, and it’s more difficult to read outdoors.
However, the Fire HD 8 offers a significant advantage: it supports 720p streaming from popular services like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Paramount+, and Max. The Onn, however, is limited to 480p resolution for these apps because it doesn’t fully support Google’s DRM platform.
This is a crucial factor. Since many people buy tablets for video streaming, the Onn’s superior display can’t fully compensate for the lower video resolutions. With streaming video being a major use case for tablets, this is a serious drawback.
Performance
Both the Onn and the Fire HD 8 are budget tablets. Though the Onn may get the slight edge on paper. The Onn features a 2 GHz eight-core chip, compared to the Fire HD 8’s 2 GHz six-core processor. Both have 3GB of RAM.
In practice, the performance difference is negligible. Both easily handle light media consumption. Apps, videos, and e-books load relatively quickly. Web browsing is acceptable if you don’t open too many tabs, and basic games run smoothly. However, expect occasional lags. Multitasking or serious work is out of the question on either device.
Both tablets also include only 32GB of storage. A microSD card can add up to 1TB of storage, essential for downloading videos for offline viewing. This is a feature not available on any iPad.
Battery Life
A benefit of these devices’ slower specs is extended battery life. Walmart claims up to 15 hours for the Onn, while Amazon rates the Fire HD 8 at up to 13 hours. While these figures are optimistic, both should last for over 10 hours with mixed use. In our testing, the Onn lasted slightly longer, but the difference was minor.
Software Experience
The software is where the Onn and Fire HD 8 diverge the most.
The Onn tablet runs Android 14, with Walmart’s app pre-installed; you can uninstall it. You have access to all Google services (Gmail, Chrome) from the start, the Discover feed, and the Google Play Store.
Amazon’s tablets run Fire OS, a heavily customized version of Android 11, which prioritizes Amazon services. Many streaming and social media apps are available, but some popular apps are missing, including Reddit, Apple Music, Apple TV+, Slack, any browser besides Amazon’s Silk, and many popular games. There are no Google apps by default.
Getting the Google Play Store on a Fire tablet requires some work and Fire OS is designed to promote Amazon. The first app seen upon unlocking the device is literally called “Shop Amazon.” Many Amazon apps are pre-loaded, but subscriptions are required for their full functionality. Swiping left leads to a “For You” page of content suggestions that promotes Amazon services and includes a row of sponsored apps. Lockscreen ads for various services. You can remove lockscreen ads, but it costs an additional $15.
However, Fire OS has some advantages. The Alexa voice assistant is integrated. It’s also kid-friendly, allowing you to create a child-friendly profile. The Onn offers similar capabilities through Google’s Kids Space mode, but the Fire HD provides slightly easier parental controls.
Conclusion
After testing both tablets, the best advice is to consider spending a bit more for a better device. An iPad, or a refurbished older model, or a more powerful tablet from brands like Samsung or Lenovo, are generally better options.
If you must spend $100 or less, wait for a sale on the Fire HD 8. It is generally more comfortable, and despite the subpar display, the Onn’s inability to stream many popular apps in HD makes it difficult to recommend. Fire OS has annoyances, though expert users can find “hacks” to get missing Android apps. However, the average user likely will not bother.
Ultimately, these budget tablets force consumers to compromise. If you seek quality, you have to pay for it.
