Amazon offers to replace Fire HD tablets your kids smash up

Amazon is offering a new Kids Edition of its Fire HD tablet, which includes a “free” replacement if the device suffers accidental damage. In a similar vein to the Kindle Kids bundle Amazon launched in the US this week, the Fire HD Kids edition includes the tablet, a protective cover and a two-year warranty. 

The tablet in question is the 6in version of the Fire HD, which offers a 1,280 x 800 resolution and a base storage of only 8GB. Amazon’s tablets don’t offer memory card slots, so parents thinking about a prospective purchase may want to upgrade to the 16GB edition for an extra £20.

The 8GB tablet is available by itself for £79, but the Kids Edition costs £119. That extra £40 gets you the rubberised case, the two-year “worry-free” warranty and a year’s access to Fire for Kids Unlimited – a curated selection of games, books, videos and educational apps. 

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The tablet arrives pre-configured for a child, which includes a friendlier user interface and bars access to the adult content lurking in Amazon’s app store. Up to four child profiles can be created on each device, allowing the kids to share a tablet between them (good luck with that, by the way). Parents are given a range of controls, including placing limits on screen time and content. They can also enter a password and use the tablet as a regular Fire HD under their own profile.

Amazon says that warranty “includes coverage for anything that happens to your Fire HD Kids Edition”. The small print gives Amazon the option to either repair the device, replace it with a new or refurbished device “that is equivalent to the device that is being replaced” or “refund you all or part of the purchase price”. The warranty can be bought separately for £18.99, so if you’re not bothered about the case or the free kids content, and can set up the child account yourself (a rudimentary process), then you could save more than £20 on the deal. 

In truth, the Fire HD Kids Edition is the equivalent of those extended warranties the Saturday boy in Dixons tries to flog with anything from a USB stick to a 40in flat-screen TV, with a little extra content thrown in.