Torture-testing the new Kindle Fire HD Video

To play this video, you need Javascript enabled and the latest version of Flash installed. Install Flash now
Torture-testing the new Kindle Fire HD
Created: 10/08/2012
Video description: Amazon updated its Kindle Fire line, but can the new 7-inch Kindle Fire HD stand up to the Always On battery of torture tests?

Torture-testing the new Kindle Fire HD Video Transcript

-Alright, we have here the brand new kindle Fire HD. 7-inch tablet and it's going through the torture test. We are starting with the cold test. 2 hours in the freezer. Alrighty. That is a big 7-inch tablet. See ya. Time to rescue the Kindle Fire HD 7-inch from the freezer. Alrighty. How are you doin'? Nice and cold. The real trick here is for me to remember where the power button is. That's where I always get wrong. I end up doing the drop test by accident. There we go. Let's see. Ooh! Uh-oh! No immediate response to power. Kind of nothing happening here so far. So, we will let it thaw for a little while and charge. Maybe the battery died in there. We know that can happen and see if it recovers. Kindle Fire HD gave us a little bit of a scare, but after I thawed it and charged it for just a few minutes, a little less than 5 minutes, it came back on. I think though that it just didn't like the cold because it is not all the way to the bottom of the charge and I only charged it for maybe 3 minutes. I think it just wanted to be warm, but it's okay. Wrap it up a little bit here. Okay. My Kindle Fire is done. Ooh. It definitely have some plastic smell here. That is hot. The smell of burning components. This show is gonna kill me. I don't think I could sue somebody. It was all my idea. Okay, let's see here. We have no obvious damage so unlike some of our recent gadgets, well, it looks like it is pulling away a tiny bit. So, we do have a little bit of separation at the seams here from that heat. It's not very dramatic, but it is there just on that one side especially compared to this side. You can see it looks a little bit different. Ooh, it comes on. Ooh. You can-- Ooh-- it changed its mind. Good idea. Alright, we'll let this cool for a little bit and see how it is doing. The Kindle Fire HD is all cooled off. Let's see how it's feeling. It looks like it actually shut itself all the way down after I tried to turn it on while it was still really hot. Okay. Back to life. It seems to be okay. Kindle seems to be okay. It's okay. Alright. We're just gonna head outside a do a little reading. I've got my hands kind of full and oh-- oh-- Kindle hand cramp, too big to hold. Oh-- uh-- Alright, let's see how we're doing here. I might as well scrape it all in the pavement when I pick it up too just to add insult to injury. Actually though, this thing is in good shape. I don't really see any scratches or anything major on the back. The front is fine. A little scuffing here, some kind of nicks, but I gotta say that-- that's not a major damage. It's pretty tough. Maybe we should just try the concrete. Ooh. It's so heavy. It's really dramatic although once again even despite some skidding we do have a little bit more scratchage on the back here. Scratchage, that's an official-- always on term. One more nick, but overall I gotta say this thing is-- is pretty tough. I'm surprised. It's still fine after the drop. Oh, I need some cookie. Oh no! Uh-oh, what a mess. That's terrible. What am I gonna do? Oh, I know! I have an idea. There's some lights. It's gonna be okay, Kindle. Okay. It's cleaned. Probably dry it off a little now, I guess. Oh wait, the back still has some soda on it. Okay. All better. Ooh, my screen is still on. Let's see here. Look at that. The cookie is ruined, but the Kindle seems okay. I'll give it the rice treatment just in case. Time to check on our Kindle Fire HD. It's been in this bag of rice for 36 hours since we spilled soda on it and hosed it down. That was a fun day. Let's see how it is doing though. Okay. Moment of truth. It comes right on. I mean, it came right on. Wow! Screen seems totally fine. Carousel moving. Looks going still pretty responsive. Huh, alright, I'm gonna have to call that one a pass. Now, the Kindle Fire HD sailed through our regular battery of torture test, but we just couldn't come up with the perfect wild card idea, so please e-mail me some ideas, alwayson@cnet.com, and we will revisit this at a later date. In the meantime, maybe I'll use it. Try getting used to holding it.

Related Videos

Episode 17: A Kindle bonanza!

Torture-testing the Kindle Fire HD, unboxing the Kindle Paperwhite, showing how to record live TV onto your PC, and road-testing the Lytro camera!

Torture Testing the original Kindle

The original Kindle goes through the battery of Torture Tests and even gets a day at the pool. Will it survive?

Amazon Kindle Fire gets a makeover

The new 7-inch Kindle Fire has an improved 1.2GHz processor speed, twice the RAM as the first Kindle Fire (1GB), and a longer battery life.

Torture-testing the Nexus 10 tablet

Is Google's Nexus 10 a tough tablet? Watch Jeff Cannata bake it in the oven, dunk it in the tub, and throw it like a Frisbee in our latest torture test.

Episode 14: iPhone vs. HTC One X in midair

The iPhone 5 ships this week; Molly unboxes the Kindle Fire HD; Torture testing the original Kindle; and a Road Test of the iPhone and HTC One X from 10,000 feet in the air!

In Paris, torture-testing the iPad Mini

Molly Wood visits Paris and takes the iPad Mini on the Champs-Elysees and to a small brasserie, where she torture-tests the popular Apple tablet. Will it survive or fail? Watch to find out!

Torture test: Snowmobile vs. gadgets

The iPhone 5, Lumia 920, and Kindle Fire HD all get torture tested in our first-ever reindeer games. Molly Wood drops gadgets from a ski lift, jumps on them with a snowboard, and drives over them with a snowmobile -- all in the name of product testing.

Torture-test highlights: iPad gets dunked in liquid nitrogen!

Molly Wood and Brian Tong host an extreme torture test at CES in Las Vegas. See highlights from our 9-foot-tall ladder drop test and liquid nitrogen wild card test.

Amazon Kindle Fire HD vs. Google Nexus 7

The battle for 7-inch tablet supremacy is far from over. Amazon's Kindle Fire HD is the new challenger for Google's Nexus 7. Will it be the new king of the ring?

Amazon Kindle

With tablets and smartphones blurring the lines of what it means to be an e-reader, the Amazon Kindle still stands strong against the competition.