Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro review: almost the Android tablet we needed

We need to talk about this screen. It’s the first thing you notice, and perhaps the only thing that matters, about the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro. It’s a 12-inch, 2,800 x 1,840 panel with a new technology Amazon calls “Nanomatte” that aims to reduce glare and increase the feeling that you can reach out and touch the things you see on the screen. When Amazon set out to build the best tablet the company had ever shipped, it started with this screen.

The $549.99 device I tested is one of four new models in the Alexa tablet line, which ranges from an 8-inch model at $229.99 all the way up to a $679.99 12 Pro with that Nanomatte coating and extra RAM you don’t really need. The pitch for all of these devices is the same: they’re well-designed mid-range tablets that can access the entire universe of Android apps via the Play Store and come with a whole bunch of Amazon bloatware whether you like it or not. I haven’t tested these other devices, but I’m glad they exist: it’s too hard to find good, cheap Android tablets.

But the Nanomatte. The Nanomatte! The engraving on the screen, which Amazon says it partnered with Corning to do at a sub-pixel level to reduce glare without causing the slight rainbow flicker effect you can get on other matte displays, absolutely does its job. When I use my iPad outside, I can often see what’s behind me like I’m looking in a mirror; the 12 Pro only reflects a small sliver of light and does so without losing any sharpness. The viewing angles are also incredible. I wish the screen was a bit brighter, but since the main reason for increasing the brightness is to combat glare, it hasn’t really been a problem.

The screen is not perfect. The anti-glare texture gives the Alexa tablet a bit of shimmer, especially when looking at light text on a black background. And the blacks on the iPad are even blacker; When watching a movie, the letterboxes above and below are still slightly lit on the Alexa tablet’s LCD screen, and they are simply off on the iPad’s OLED panel. You can fix some of these issues: the 12 Pro has specific modes that automatically adjust tone and color to make reading more enjoyable, and you can even control the overall picture with a few presets like those you’d find on your TV. My review unit came with “Boosted” mode enabled, which made each color a little too colorful. I set it to “Natural” and immediately liked the image better.

I’m not sure this screen represents a revolution in display technology, but then again, I reflexively said “whoa” the first second I turned it on, and all that showed was the Amazon logo. I love this display for everything. 120Hz refresh rate is superb when running Star Wars: Galactic Runnerand the 3:2 aspect ratio is ideal for web browsing and side-by-side work. The more discreet display modes even make reading more enjoyable than your average giant screen, although it’s a shame they only work in the Kindle app. After a few days of using the tablet indoors and outdoors, I prefer the 12 Pro’s screen to any iPad I’ve tried. (Unfortunately, I don’t have an iPad Pro with nano-textured glass to compare it to, but it’s a $2,200 tablet. I doubt anyone is debating between the two.)

All that display technology in a $549.99 device requires compromises virtually everywhere else, and Amazon makes plenty of them. The MediaTek Dimensity 8400 processor sits somewhere between a flagship high-end Android phone from last year and a flagship phone from two years ago, and is absolutely dwarfed by virtually every iPad today. In a graphics benchmark, the current 13-inch iPad Pro scored about nine times higher.

I would like more power here, but in my daily use this tablet has plenty of power. After several days of playing games, working, and watching lots of NFL RedZone, the only slowness I detected were small, annoying things in the Android experience. The app switcher sometimes stutters when loading. I guess I’m a little worried about how this tablet will age, given that it doesn’t share the iPad’s absurd excess processing power, but for now, so good.

Come to think of it, “it’s fine” explains most of the 12 Pro’s hardware. The four speakers are a bit thin and muddy, but sufficiently loud and clear. The cameras wash out some colors, but they work for video calls. The $149.99 keyboard case is nice to type on, but a little difficult to detach and handle. The $89.99 stylus is smooth and responsive, but few Android apps support a stylus. The battery lasts me about eight hours of screen time, which is a little less than I’d like and less than Amazon advertises. Nothing here is prohibitive, it’s just a lot of GOOD.

The software, on the other hand, is quite extreme. The good news: Alexa tablets run entirely on Android, not the weird off-brand operating system that Amazon’s Fire tablets have used for 15 years. That means you get all the apps in the Play Store, a vastly improved interface, and access to things like Google’s Gemini Assistant. This change alone makes these the most functional Amazon tablets ever.

Unfortunately, Amazon has done to Android exactly what you feared – and perhaps expected. This destroyed things at Amazon. I’m okay with the sliding panel on the left of the home screen filled with content recommendations; the overlap of Alexa tablet owners and Prime subscribers/Kindle readers is probably pretty high, and at least that screen isn’t staring you in the face every time you unlock your tablet. I can even live with Amazon preloading its own browser, photos and music apps, none of which are better than its competitors. But it’s frankly outrageous that Amazon thinks it can get away with adding two separate, non-removable home screen widgets that serve no purpose other than advertising Amazon products.

If you say you’re “obsessed with customers,” you can’t borrow the upper left corner of my home screen and then use that space to show me an ad vaguely offering to “Cook with premium ingredients” that launches an equally invisible Alexa chat window in the lower right corner of my home screen.

Luckily it’s Android and installing a new launcher takes 30 seconds. If you buy an Alexa tablet, I recommend you do so immediately.

I would be less annoyed by Alexa’s dominating presence on this tablet if Alexa Plus was actually useful, which it usually isn’t. If you’re looking to buy whatever’s on your screen, Alexa is your robot: You can summon the assistant in any app, and it will almost always assume your goal is to buy whatever you’re currently looking at. If you want something else, you’re probably out of luck. Nearly a year after its launch, Alexa Plus isn’t a very good assistant. It’s slow, it gets lost in communications, and it still doesn’t have enough access to my apps and data to be useful. You can switch to Gemini in the device settings, and you should do so.

Once you unAmazon the tablet, you’re left with a very useful Android device. And this is where the Alexa tablet becomes difficult to review. I wouldn’t recommend using it as your primary computer, given the still-deplorable state of Android apps on the big screen. (Between that and the current Googlebook fiasco, I really hope Google learns a lesson about encouraging developers to care about big screens and keyboards.) But between the Kindle-specific display mode, all the streaming and reading apps in the Play Store, and that great screen, it’s immediately one of the best tablets for tablets you can buy.

In reality, you’re probably wondering whether it’s worth buying the Alexa tablet or an iPad. (Apologies to Samsung Galaxy Tab buyers, but this one is a much better buy for almost anyone.) For the same $550 you’ll spend on the 12 Pro, you can get a base model iPad with 256GB of storage. I’d probably tell you to buy the iPad; it has much better tablet software and much better big-screen apps, and Apple has a much better track record with tablets.

And yet, these days, I have an iPad and an Alexa tablet sitting on my desk, and every time I want to watch or read something, I find myself drawn to the Amazon device. It’s really nice to watch has.