This is far from the first time we've heard a promise that a low-cost Android tablet would be good. And when Kindle VP Peter Larsen said that "These don't compromise," I was skeptical. I'll remain skeptical until I have a chance to use them for an extended period of time, but after twenty minutes or so with them, I came away cautiously optimistic. Both have what Amazon describes as "quad-core" processors that run at 1.5GHz (they're made by MediaTek) with "3x the graphics performance of the Samsung Tab 4." It certainly seemed that way in the demos today, but even if the new Fire HD tablets don't reach those goals, they're certainly faster than the average bottom-end Android device.

Part of that speed perception actually comes from Fire OS, which is now on its fourth major version here. Amazon has added advanced family profiles, content sharing between family members, "ASAP" pre-caching of video it expects you'll want to watch, and other enhancements on top of the Android KitKat base. It's still not a tablet OS that feels very productive to me, but for consuming Amazon's content, it's fine. Since that's the primary purpose of an Amazon tablet, I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that there aren't major changes.

The hardware itself is, at best, uninspiring. Both sizes are very thick and chunky, with harsh lines on the matted back. The color options are bold (hello "citron"), but making a svelte and attractive tablet wasn't the primary design goal. Instead, Amazon aimed to make a very durable tablet, going to far as to put a tablet in a medieval torture machine that twisted the machine without breaking it. Amazon claims it's twice as durable as the iPad mini, actually. This thing is meant to be knocked around, and it looks like it.