Review of Amazon Tablet

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BHZT5S12

These tablets are usually half price on Black Friday. That is how I got mine.


Good Tablet for the Price

This is a tablet that does exactly what it claims to do, which is to stream audio and video extremely well. It works with an Amazon Prime account, but also other streaming services like Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Audible, and YouTube.

Amazon claims that the 8 core processor is fast, but the Passmark score is only barely above 1,000. That is not very impressive, but the processor is just powerful enough to do what it is designed to do.

The tablet can access the Internet fine, but the Android user interface feels clunky. I much prefer iOS, which is more intuitive.

I prefer the feel of iPads in my hands, but I am getting used to the feel of the Fire Tablet.

For hundreds of dollars more you can get an iPad that is faster than your desktop computer. However, I don't need that kind of power in a tablet when just performing basic functions.

I don't regret the purchase. It does what I need. I am thinking that people should save hundreds of dollars instead of buying much more expensive tablets.

The tablet does not come with the Google Play Store, because Amazon wants you to use their app store, but I was able to install it, which was a bit tricky, using instructions on the Internet.

Internet plans

I figured out that my Xfinity internet plan is going to double in cost in August, to $101 per month.  I got alerted to this because they sent me an email saying that I was getting over 1 gigabit Internet download speeds.  That is not my real world experience, with actual speeds maxing out at around 400 Mbps.  I was previously on cheaper plans that were 300 to 400 Mbps, but these were temporary promotional offers, and now Xfinity wants me to pay full price.  On the phone they offered me a slight discount, but I told them that I was going to call back later to cancel the service.

I have seen an offer from GigabitNow for $50 per month, which is about what I am paying now.  

However, I also found out that XFinity offers a different service called "NOW", which is a pre-paid internet service.  It is both slower and cheaper.  They wouldn't sign me up on the phone for this, but sent me some instructions on how to sign up.  The 200 Mbps plan is $45 per month.

I see that the AT&T Internet service also has some promotional offers.

I've been telling people that Internet speed is overrated.  I had a driver problem with a computer, which I fixed, but I was only getting 30 to 40 Mbps and I was just fine.  The biggest speed issue with the Internet is how fast the servers at the websites respond.  There is usually a slight delay.

My first cable Internet service back around 2001 was only 3 Mbps, but this was a huge leap compared to dial-up.

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

New Rule: Grad GPT | Real Time with Bill Maher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBJw5pp-6_U

Internet Speed

sandra r.

Prairie Stream Estates·

2 hr ago

·

What internet is better. ATT fiber or gigabit now?

9

John Coffey

3m · Edited·Cedar Crest

I think that Internet speed is overrated. Most sites have a slight lag in responding, so you really don't notice the extra speed. The bottleneck seems to be how fast the website responds. I had a driver bug on a computer that I fixed, but I was temporarily limited to about 30 or 40 MbPS. I didn't notice until I did a speed test. I'm on a cheaper plan with Comcast where I get 500 MbPS. I had a promotional discount for a couple of years where I only got 200 to 300 MbPS, but this was plenty fast.