Goodbye Fire OS as Full Android Arrives on Amazon Tablets
Nanomatte Display Wins Over Nearly Every Reviewer
Premium Pricing Still Undercuts the iPad Air
Midrange Chip Gets Lapped by Every Current iPad
Performance is where the honeymoon ends. The 12 Pro runs on MediaTek's Dimensity 8400, a 2024 midrange processor. The Verge found it benches between last year's and the year-before's flagship Android phones, and in one graphics-heavy test the current 13-inch iPad Pro scored about nine times higher. BGR lists a 13-megapixel autofocus rear camera and an 8-megapixel fixed-focus front camera, in line with rivals including the iPad Air. Battery life is mixed: Amazon claims 16 hours of video playback, but Engadget managed closer to eight hours of real office work across Docs, Chrome, and Slack. Verdicts split accordingly, with a Verge Score of 6 against Engadget's 8.4 out of 10, both sides faulting Amazon bloatware, advertising, laggy moments, and Android apps that still ignore large screens.
Leadership Shake-Up Puts Alexa+ on the Spot
A day after the launch, Reuters reported Amazon is replacing the head of Alexa: vice president Daniel Rausch, who ran Alexa and Echo for over three years, steps away in November, with Aidan Marcuss, head of Fire TV, advertising, and the Appstore, taking over. Rausch, a 17-year Amazon veteran, returns to a different devices role in 2027, with no further explanation given. The timing ties the hardware bet directly to the assistant: Alexa+ sits at the core of the tablet experience, from the Dynamic Tab's proactive suggestions to screen-aware answers, and it will even point users toward buying things on Amazon. If the assistant and the ad load disappoint, even a superb matte display may not lure iPad buyers. The European launch and the holiday quarter are the first real tests.
