Amazon's new Alexa Tablets drop the Fire branding but are more Android than ever

For the last 15 years, you’ve been able to buy a Fire tablet from Amazon. Which Fire tablet? It doesn’t matter—like Kindles, they have been pretty much the same year to year. The company’s new tablet lineup is a big change, though. Amazon has dropped the Fire branding in favor of Alexa, and the new Alexa Tablets are now Google-certified Android devices.

Throughout the history of Fire Tablets, Amazon downplayed its use of Android. They ran Android apps from the company’s Appstore platform, but there was no Google integration with “Fire OS.” However, Amazon shut down its app store last year. The new Alexa Tablets run full-fledged Google-y versions of Android with the Play Store and all the apps you’d expect. This contrasts sharply with Amazon’s Fire Sticks, which have abandoned Android for the custom Linux-based Vega OS.

The Alexa Tablet lineup consists of three devices, all redesigned with unibody aluminum housings. The Alexa Tablet 8 starts at $230, and the Tablet 11 jumps to $330. They run on the budget MediaTek 8189 processor, but that’s still an upgrade from the last-gen Fire tablets. Both devices have 16:10 display ratios that are better for watching video, but the flagship tablet is a little different.

Starting at $500, the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro has a taller 3:2 ratio that is better for running multiple apps side by side. It also offers a matte display upgrade for $50, and Amazon sells a keyboard ($150) and stylus ($90) for this device as well. This device runs on a more powerful MediaTek Dimensity 8400 processor with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The display clocks in at an impressive 2800×1840 with a 120 Hz refresh rate and 500 nits of peak brightness.