Along with a new 4K Fire TV and a cheap as chips £50 tablet, Amazon has also introduced two new devices at the upper end of its range that are better geared for those who want a bit more oomph, a better screen and slimmer profile than ever before.

Our quick take

Amazon Fire HD 8 and Fire HD 10 hands-on

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The only real difference between the two higher-end devices is that the Fire HD 8 has an 8-inch 16:10 display, while the Fire HD 10 has a 10.1-inch display.

Both displays are IPS and feature resolutions of 1280 x 800. And bar size there are few other changes apart from price. The HD 8 starts at £129.99 for the 8GB model, while the HD 10 starts at £169.99, for which you get 16GB. The HD 10 is also available in a more premium silver aluminium all metal case version at the same price, so that's 16GB or 32GB starting at £170 or 64GB for £230.

Each of them can also be expanded through a microSD card slot, by up to a further 128GB, and the best news is that Amazon has introduced a function in Fire OS 5 that allows users to download videos to the card slot for offline viewing. Prime subscribers therefore can fill a microSD card with downloaded shows and movies to watch while travelling, rather than be limited by the on board storage.

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The tablets have 1.5GHz quad-core processors and 1GB of RAM apiece, which isn’t the highest specs on the planet but acceptable for the price, but at least they also allow the devices to offer a claimed eight hours of battery life in normal use (watching video, etc).

And because they are more designed for family use, Amazon has made every effort to ensure that they are both more durable and can take bigger knocks than many competitors.

It boasts that each of the tablets have gone through the tumble test 200 times and came out the other end still working. This is basically where the tablets are put into a machine a bit like a tumble dryer and spun. An iPad Air 2, we were told, only manages to go round 30 times before breaking.

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Both Fire HD tablet is just 7.7mm thick and the HD 10 will be available with a black or white body. The HD 8 will be available in four colours: tangerine, magenta, blue and black.

You will also be able to get a keyboard case for the HD 10 that offers a full-size keyboard and trackpad, much like a laptop. It connects through Bluetooth, but will still last for up to four months on a single charge.

The Amazon Fire HD 8 and HD 10 tablets are available for pre-order now and will start to ship from 30 September. That’s the black models of both, while the coloured versions of the HD 8 will ship from 6 October and the white HD 10 will ship from 30 October.