I've recently purchased a Kidle Fire HD 10, and also have extensive experience of using a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1, which belongs to my significant other.
The Galaxy Tab A seems like a nice tablet, with all the standard Google services and applications installed. Unfortunately the tablet does not provide a standard Android experience due to Samsung's UI customisations and bundled bloatware. In retrospect I wouldn't have bought the Samsung Tab, instead opting for a Lenovo device providing a more standard Android experience.
The Kindle Fire is heavily customised towards towards consumption of Amazon content. The App store is not as well populated as that of Google's, though not to the point that it's caused me an issue. There are many applications and games available, including Netflix, Outlook and Facebook. The device also has a Micro-SD slot, and allows for offline content to be downloaded directly to the card, rather than being stored on internal memory. I've found Amazon Silk (built in Web Browser derived from Chromium) to be very good indeed; Even displaying pages full of ads (eg Daily Mail) which can normally give a desktop a run for it's money are displayed quickly and do not appear to have any performance degredation. I also use the device to display magazines which I have subscribed to via Amazon, which automatically get delivered using Kindle News Stand.
There is no Youtube application published in the Amazon Appstore as of yet, but it is possible to stream the videos (in HD) via the browser.
Based on my findings I would make the following recommendations ;
- If you consume a have a prime subscription and consume Amazon content, the Fire is a no brainer. If required, you can install Google Play etc onto the device, though this is on an unofficial and unsupported basis.
- If it's important to have a standard Android experience, then I'd strongly advise you to get something other than a Galaxy Tab A. I had my eye on the Lenovo Tab 4 Plus, but at under half the price, getting the Kindle Fire HD 10 was a no brainer.
