You can now buy a dock for the Amazon Fire HD 8 and Fire HD 10 which transforms the low-cost tablets into a budget Echo Show for your home.The Show Mode Charging Dock will set you back £39.99 for the 8-inch version (£49.99 for the 10-inch variant), which seems a little pricey for what appears to be a glorified plastic stand for your tablet, but it offers more than just a way to prop up the slate.You also get a case for your Fire HD tablet, which magnetically connects to dock, which itself can then be tilted for the optimum viewing angle.Once docked, the screen will switch to mirror the display on Amazon's Echo Show smart speaker, showing handy information such as the time, date and weather.It also means you'll be able to use your voice to interact with the tablet as you would any other Echo speaker, with the 'Alexa' command waking the smart assistant.Cheaper than a ShowA quick bit of maths shows that buying a Fire HD 8 or Fire HD 10 and the Show Mode Charging Dock (£119.98 for 8-inch slate and dock, £199.98 for the 10-inch setup) is actually cheaper than buying an Echo Show outright (£219.99).However, before you rush out and buy a tablet and dock combo rather than the Echo Show, there is a reason the latter is more expensive.
It's because the Show packs in a proper speaker for enhanced audio, while the tablets rely on their considerably weaker built-in speakers.You can pair them with Bluetooth speakers, but that's an additional expense so have a think about what exactly it is you want before parting with you hard-earned cash.The Show Mode Charging Dock is compatible with the 2017 Fire HD 10 and both the 2017 and 2018 variants of the Fire HD 8.If you're tempted to splash out on the tablet and dock bundle, or if one of Amazon's Echo speakers is more up your street, we'd recommend holding fire on your purchase. Black Friday 2018 is on November 23, and Amazon has already started offering special deals on products.
We expect it to discount some of its own products (including tablets and speakers) as we get closer to the big day. Wait a week and you may be able to save yourself some money.