Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days starts tomorrow, but some deals are already live. Most of the offers are for Amazon’s own devices or services, though this includes partner manufacturers. (e.g. TCL’s Fire TVs). There are some non-Amazon deals as well.
You need to sign up for Prime to get most of these deals. The current prices are $15 a month (after a 30 day trial) and $140 for a full year. Students and people on qualified government assistance pay $7.50 and $7.00 a month, respectively.
But the first batch are not tied to Prime, instead they are Pixel 8 series pre-orders.
Pixel 8 series
First up, Google’s latest flagship phones, the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. These will receive 7 years of software support and spare parts, making them the longest lasting mainstream phones yet (beating even Apple, second only to the Fairphone, but those aren’t really available in the US). Here the Pixel 8 is bundled with a free pair of Pixel Buds Pro, the Pixel 8 Pro gets the new Pixel Watch 2 instead.
You can also pick up accessories like a protective case or a wireless charging stand.
Headphones
Amazon’s new Echo Buds (2023) are cheap TWS buds with multi-point connectivity and 20 hour battery life (5h for the buds themselves). There’s no active noise cancellation on this one, though.
If you want ANC, the older Echo Buds from 2021 offer that. These still offer multi-point connectivity and 20h battery life (5h + 15h). Note that there are two versions – the cheaper one has only wired charging, the other adds Qi support.
The Bose Headphones 700 launched in 2019, so they’ve been around for a while. But at$400 they were more premium than the QuietComfort 35 II ($350) and even today are quite comfortable and with a capable active noise cancellation system. A pair of black headphones can be yours for $300, if you prefer the silver ones these are unfortunately $40 more.
Tablets
The Amazon Fire Max 11 is the most capable of the company’s tablets. It has an 11” 2,000 x 1,200px display (15:9), a 60Hz IPS LCD, plus stereo speaker, so it is geared towards streaming services. The MediaTek chipset is not a speed demon, but is the more powerful one in a Fire tablet yet. The Fire Max 11 is good for both work and play too, with stylus support and an optional keyboard case. The tablet by itself is down to $150, but you can also pick up the Productivity bundle (stylus+keyboard, also no ads) for $265.
If you’re looking for something cheap, the Fire HD 10 is almost as big with its 10.1” 1,290 x 1,200px (16:10) display and only costs $75 since it’s half off. The chipset is no match (it has four A73 cores and four A53, whereas the Max has 2x A78 and 6x A55) and RAM and storage are limited.
Unless you are explicitly looking for something small, you should probably skip the Amazon Fire HD 8 – it’s more compact than the HD 10, but with only $15 between them, the large tablet’s sharper display and more powerful chipset are certainly worth the upgrade.
Then there’s the Amazon Fire 7, better known as “I can’t believe they built a $40 tablet”. Seriously, it’s as cheap as it gets but it is still powerful enough for Zoom calls and scrolling through TikTok.
Note that there are “Kids” versions of the last three tablets. These are slightly more expensive, but part of that is the removal of ads, another part is the durable, colorful case that they come in. These also feature a 1-year subscription to Amazon Kids+, which gives free access to kid-friendly books, games, apps and videos (the subscription normally costs $5 a month).
E-readers
While Fire tablets with Kids+ have a selection of children’s books, more grown up kids – and adults too – will appreciate a proper e-reader more. The Amazon Kindle Scribe is the elite e-reader from the company with a 10.2” display (big enough for PDFs and other documents) as well as stylus support for note taking. The base version comes with 16GB storage and a Basic Pen, then there are 32GB and 64GB models with the Premium Pen.
Smart displays
This is a prelude to the smart home section that follows. The most basic option is the Echo Show 5. This one has a 5.5” display and Amazon doubled the base for the 2023 release. It’s a smart speaker (with support for Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, Audible and so on), but the display allows it to do more – e.g. show a view from your doorbell camera or make video calls with other Echo Show devices or phones using the Alexa app.
The Amazon Echo Show 8 is more of the same, except bigger – an 8” 1,280 x 800px display (vs. 5.5” 960 x 480px), also with two 2.0” speakers (vs. a single 1.7” speaker). Note that the Show 8 on offer is the older 2021 model, not the 2023 version.
Things get more serious with the Echo Show 10. This one has a motorized base so it can rotate to follow you around the room during video calls. The base also houses two 1.0” tweeters and a 3.0” woofer. Like smaller Shows, this one supports video streaming services (Amazon, Netflix, etc.), but the 10.1” 1,280 x 800px is more suitable for watching things.
The Amazon Echo Show 15 is a smart picture frame – while it can be put on a stand, it is mainly intended to be mounted on the wall. The large 15.6” 1080p display and included remote make this into a tiny TV (we’ll get to the big TVs soon).
Security cameras
We mentioned that the Echo Show can stream videos from smart security cameras, here are a few options. The Ring Video Doorbell offers 1080p video and built-in motion detection, plus it supports two-way voice communication. There is a built-in battery, so you don’t need to run new wires to the door.
The Ring Floodlight Cam combines a 1080p security camera, motion-activated LED floodlights and a 105dB siren. This one does require a wire for power.
You can also have indoor cameras too, these stream 1080p video and have night vision too. Two-way speaking is also supported.
Smart Home
The Echo Shows can also act as hubs for your smart home automation. Amazon has basic things like a Smart Plug that can be controlled through Alexa.
The Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor tracks particulates (PM2.5), volatile organic compounds, plus carbon monoxide (this is in addition to the basics like humidity and temperature).
There is also the Amazon Smart Thermostat, which gives you voice control over your home’s temperature, plus some smart features – for example, you can tell Alexa that you’re leaving and it will dial down the air conditioning.
Smart TVs
Amazon has worked with a number of manufacturers to make smart TVs powered by Fire TV. These go for the tiny 24” TV (720p) for $70, through a more substantial 50” 4K TV for $220 and even massive 75” TVs like this Toshiba model.
There are Amazon-branded TVs too, the ones below are all 4K and all support HDR10 and Dolby Vision support.
Amazon also has a series with QLED panels, helpfully named Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED. The Quantum Dot displays support the more advanced HDR10+ Adaptive and Dolby Vision IQ.
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