[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 Android Development] xdadevelopers1222:
Hi, Everyone!

I'm in the United States, and I received my 32GB Fire HD 10 2021 tablet on December 1, 2021. Here are the steps I went through to get things going...

When ordering the tablet through Amazon, I made sure to uncheck the "Link device to your Amazon account to simplify setup" box at the Add to Cart / Buy Now screen.

When I received the tablet and powered it on, it runs through its initial process and will not let you skip through the WiFi setup process. So, I shut the tablet down...went to a Windows 10 PC that was only connected to the Internet via LAN cable...turned on Mobile Hotspot from Windows 10's Settings > Network & Internet Settings section...and disconnected the LAN cable from the PC. Windows will notice that the Internet connection is gone, but keep its mobile hotspot function working to allow devices to connect to it. I then powered the tablet back on and connected it to the Windows 10 hotspot. The tablet made the connection and noticed the lack of Internet. But this time, a button appeared on the tablet that allowed me to skip WiFi setup. I then proceeded to finish up the remainder of the tablet configuration.

In the tablet's Settings, I verified what firmware it was running on. It seems to ship out of its factory with 7.3.1.9...perfect for Fire Toolbox (latest version 25.2).

I went into Settings > Device Options > About Fire Tablet and tapped Serial Number several times until it exclaimed that "You are now a developer!" I could now see Developer Options in Settings > Device Options.

In Developer Options, I turned it on. I then enabled USB debugging and Verify apps over USB.

At this point I connected the USB cable between the tablet and my Windows 10 PC and ran Fire Toolbox to my heart's content. I initially followed the instructions of tech YouTuber ETA Prime (

) before going off on my own afterwards. NOTE: remember to have Fire Toolbox

DISABLE

Automatic Updates and OTA Updates from Main Menu 2 > Modify System Settings

BEFORE

you connect the tablet to your WiFi setup.

At this point, the tablet remained un-activated / unregistered to Amazon's eyes.

Here are my experiences from the last few days...

When at the Main Menu > Manage Amazon Apps > Simple (Recommended) screen to try disabling factory pre-installed apps from Fire Toolbox, you will not be able to successfully disable Mopria Print Service and Washington Post. The process will error out. It's not really a deal breaker.

The Washington Post app can be uninstalled normally...but the Amazon App Store eventually re-installs it when it detects that it isn't there.

Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, and Prime Video are tied to Amazon's ecosystem on your Fire HD tablet and will not show up in Google Play Store searches. Here are some issues...

Disney+ - can be sideloaded via apkmirror.com. I chose version 2.2.0-rc5 APK, and it seems to work without issue. Chromecast functionality is good.

Hulu - Amazon's version of Hulu seems to be stripped of Chromecast functionality. So, it can be sideloaded via apkmirror.com. I chose version 4.39.0+8967-google APK, and it seems to work without issue. Chromecast functionality is good with this version.

Netflix - Netflix's app seems to detect that it's running on an Amazon mobile device and completely blocks access to regular Chromecast devices. It will only see products on the Android TV platform such as the Nexus Player and Chromecast with Google TV. Sideloading a version (8.9.1 build 14 40080 APK) from APK Mirror does not change this limitation.

Prime Video and Amazon Shopping - these two apps cannot be installed through the Google Play Store. They are visible in the Play Store, but will error out when installation is attempted that way. These two apps can only be installed by the Amazon App Store.

Prime Video - ALL Amazon online apps are tied together to a single Amazon account log-in. Prime Video pulls the Amazon account log-in information from the installed shopping app so Prime Video will not set up until the Amazon shopping app gets set up on the device. This means you have to launch the Amazon App Store on the device to get everything rolling.

HOWEVER

, once you do that, Amazon "sees" the tablet and activates it and registers it to your Amazon account. The Prime Video app does support casting to all Chromecast, Android TV, and Fire Stick devices, so that is one good thing about it.

If you have a sideloaded app that is also usually available in some form on the Amazon App Store, you will eventually get a push notification informing you that it detects the sideloaded app and will try to get you to install the Amazon App Store version over it. I already experienced this with the Hulu app that I got from APK Mirror, and have since continued to ignore the notification with no ill effects.

The final thing I did

AFTER

getting everything set up and looking how I want was to go back into Fire Toolbox and disabling the Amazon App Store. After doing so, the tablet still remains activated, apps originally installed through the Amazon App Store seem to remain working, and all sideloaded apps continue to function. I'm going to assume that disabling the Amazon App Store at this point will at least stop any sideloaded apps detection notifications from coming to the tablet. We shall see.

The only thing I will add to the tablet is a thin, clear TPU case. Even though its physical shell is light-textured plastic, it is surprisingly slippery. An inexpensive TPU case will help with that.

I hope this post is helpful.

For the Black Friday price (and even at its usual $149.99 U.S.D. price), this 2021 Fire HD 10 is a worthy budget tablet. The overall build quality is good, the screen is nice, and its two speakers are actually very decent. Any kind of bloatware is actually at a relative minimum so the tablet has plenty of breathing room for the installation of Google apps, video streaming apps, casual games, etc.. Sure it runs off what is actually Android 9 Pie, but Amazon's devices have always been highly-customized, dependent on, and integrated with the older operating system versions they choose to use. I don't plan on using this tablet for anything other than media consumption, web browsing, and maybe the occasional light game. For those things, I'm giving this modified tablet a (y).

:)