The Amazon Fire Max 11 is Amazon’s most powerful tablet yet, but instead of simply being a big-screen portal into Amazon’s world of goods, music, and movies – which the Fire range has typically been – you can get it with a keyboard and a stylus, which says it’s a productivity device too.It’s a new direction for Amazon’s Fire team, so has it pulled off this brave move?
The Amazon Fire Max 11’s design is just about as simple as it gets. It’s flat and gray on the back , flat and gray down the sides, and flat on the front too. There are two upward-firing speakers, a small and awkward rocker switch for volume adjustment, and another small power key that doubles as a somewhat reliable fingerprint sensor. That’s really all there is to it.
Adding the keyboard and rear kickstand case accessory gives it some character, though. Each has a soft, textured backing that adds grip and style, while the incredibly useful kickstand securely attaches to the rear of the tablet using magnets. The folding lower section allows plenty of adjustment, and the hinge feels very secure. I haven’t taken it off, and I love how useful it is to fully enjoy watching videos.
The keyboard is also attached using magnets but is also backed up by two solid locator pins, and it hasn’t shaken loose yet.At 7.5mm thick and 490 grams, the Fire Max 11 is very portable, even with the kickstand and the keyboard attached when it tops 900 grams, and I’ve happily carried it around in my bag. It weighs less than both my iPad Pro (2020) and the Magic Keyboard (a hefty 1.06kg) and my 1.29kg MacBook Air M1. Unfortunately, there’s no water resistance rating, but it does feel well-protected from shocks inside the keyboard and kickstand case.
This isn’t a tablet to buy if you want to make a statement. It’s never going to attract admiring glances or single you out as a trendsetter. Instead, it’s inoffensive, well-made, maturely styled (although absent of the Apple iPad) , and highly functional. This sounds like I’m putting it down, but I’m not. The Fire Max 11 isn’t trying to be something it’s not and is all the better for it.
Things the Amazon Fire Max 11 does best
I use a tablet every day, mostly for video and apps that benefit from larger viewing areas, such as Reddit and Autotrader, and I also use my iPad Pro (2020) to edit videos and for work when I don’t want to carry my MacBook. I’ve tried to replicate all this on the Fire Max 11, and just as expected, watching video emerged as the tablet’s forte.
In addition to Amazon Prime, Disney+,
Netflix, ITVX, BBC iPlayer, Channel 4, and Now are all available in Amazon’s App Store, and each works perfectly. The 11-inch, 2000 x 1200-pixel screen looks great indoors, with natural colors and strong blacks, and I’ve enjoyed watching almost all of season three of Picard on Prime through it. The tinny speakers are disappointing, but I’ve connected several pairs of Bluetooth headphones to the tablet, had no issues with linking them, and it improves the audio experience a great deal.I subscribe to some magazines through Amazon and use the Kindle app to read e-books too, and the Fire Max 11 does both really well.
I like the convenience of having a color screen, which is better for magazines, plus access to my Kindle library on the same device. It’s not as comfortable to read books for long periods as an e-ink Kindle reader, but magazines look much better here than on a slow, monochrome screen.It’s good for casual games too. The MediaTek MT8188 octa-core processor handles Asphalt 9: Legends and Candy Crush Soda without a problem, and the kickstand accessory means you don’t have to hold the tablet all the time to play games like this either. The chip does struggle to keep a high frame rate playing Asphalt at times, and with only 4GB of RAM, this isn’t a tablet that will be happy to play graphically intensive, top-level games on.
The list of things the Amazon Fire Max 11 does well is impressive.
Obviously, shopping on Amazon is fast and easy, and the store app is right there on the home screen. I’m assuming you’re an Amazon customer already if you’re interested in the Fire Max 11, and rest assured the company makes it effortless to spend money in its stores, as is connecting to Alexa devices and using the voice assistant on the tablet itself.
Things the Fire Max 11 doesn’t do so well
The list of things the Fire Max 11 does well is impressive, and as a media machine, it’s a great value. Unfortunately, the list of things it doesn’t do well is equally as long. The biggest issue with the Fire Max 11 is the software and, in turn, the apps it will run. The software (called Fire OS) is a variation of Google’s Android but without Google Play installed, and you grab apps from Amazon’s own curated app store. There are ways to install Google Play and to get apps like Chrome, Gmail, and Drive, but this isn’t how the tablet will be delivered.
Using Fire OS is like stepping back in time, which isn’t a surprise as it’s based on outda ted Android 11. There are no gesture controls, only the old-style Android three-button system at the bottom of the screen, app icons are boring squares, the Settings screen is condensed and ugly, and there are straight lines absolutely everywhere. It’s not slow, but it is painful to use because it looks and feels like an Android tablet that hasn’t been updated since 2018.The Amazon App Store is sparsely populated,
and the apps that are there don’t always work well on the tablet’s screen. Twitter is laughable to use, and Instagram only works in portrait orientation, for example. I use LumaFusion to edit videos, but this is not available in the Amazon App Store, and neither is Autotrader or Discovery+. Stick to watching the video apps that are there or using Amazon’s apps, and you won’t notice these problems. However, you may have spotted I haven’t mentioned YouTube yet. There’s no app for YouTube (or any Google app), forcing you to watch through the Amazon Silk Browser, where the experience is poor.
Apps are a key consideration when considering the Fire Max 11, but luckily you can check out the store for yourself quite easily. Apps can be searched for through the online Amazon store, or you can download the App Store itself onto any Android phone. It’s Definitely worth doing this if you have specific apps you want to use on the tablet.
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