Amazon’s Prime Day is almost here – the shopping event will be held on July 11 and 12. However, if you have Prime already, you can jump right in with these early Prime Day deals.
Note that we tried to find the same item in the US, the UK and Germany, however, discounts differ by region – sometimes there are no discounts at all.
Also, we have divided things into categories: tablets, e-readers, speakers, streaming devices, TVs and Wi-Fi routers.
Tablets
Amazon’s Fire tablets are some of the cheapest Android tablets that you can find, at least ones that bear a recognizable brand name. They have an Amazon-specific setup out of the box, but it’s quite easy to change that, if you catch our drift.
The Amazon Fire HD 10.1” tablet from 2021 has a 1,920 x 1,200px display and dual speakers (plus a 3.5mm jack). With up to 12 hour battery life, these a great for streaming, but with an octa-core CPU and half decent GPU you can do some light gaming too.
Although if you want that, you may want to pick up the Fire HD 10 Plus model, which has an extra gig of RAM. This one also supports 15W wireless charging (mainly intended for use with the optional dock).
Unfortunately, the new Fire Max 11 tablet is not part of the Prime Day promotions. It is easily the best of the bunch – and it is priced accordingly. This 11” tablet has a 2,000 x 1,200px display, a more powerful chipset (MediaTek MTK8188J) with 4GB of RAM and 64/128GB storage, plus battery life is up to 14 hours.
If you want something cheap, there is also the Fire HD 8, but only the US branch offers a good discount. This 2022 model has a 6-core CPU and a 1,280 x 800px screen, so it’s not great hardware but it just might be the best hardware that $55 can buy.
E-readers
The Kindle Oasis has a 7” 300ppi display (compared to 6.8” 300ppi on the Paperwhite) with an adjustable warm light. It is IPX8 water resistant and has physical page turn buttons. Also, this is the only model with free cellular connectivity, so you can download new books on the go with no extra charge.
The Kindle Scribe is an interesting one, but unfortunately Amazon is not offering Prime deals for it (not yet, at least). This is the largest e-reader in the family with a 10.2” display (300ppi) and it gets its name due to the stylus support – this can be your your digital notepad or sketchbook. For $30 more you can get the Premium Pen, which has a virtual eraser on the other end and a shortcut button.
By the way, there is a Kindle Paperwhite Kids version. This comes with no ads and a 1-year subscription to Kids+, which gives you free access to a wide variety of books. There are some very popular titles on there, including the Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl books.
Speakers
Depending on your smart home setup, a lot of electronics in your house could be controlled with Amazon Alexa and the Echo speakers are the easiest way to get that.
Starting off with the basic Echo Dot and Echo Dot with clock, these provide decent audio quality on a budget.
There is also an Echo Dot Kids, which comes with a free year of Kids+ – similar to the Kindle offer, except with Audible audiobooks. There are also interactive sound-based games and some education features.
The Echo Link Amp is an easy way to turn a pair of old bookshelf speakers into smart speakers that support streaming – both from Amazon Music HD/Spotify/Apple Music and from your phone (either by casting or by using Bluetooth). This amp can power two 60W speakers (there is an output for a powered sub-woofer too). It has optical and analog out and an Ethernet port (in addition to Wi-Fi).
On the other end of the scale is the Echo Pop, a speaker that is cheaper than the Dots, but it has a slightly bigger driver (1.95” vs. 1.73”).
For high-end audio, but without plugging in external speakers, the Echo Studio features Dolby Atmos support and can create an immersive soundscape thanks to its multiple speakers – 1.2” tweeter, three 2” mid-range speakers and a 5.3” woofer.
Streaming
With audio covered, let’s move on to TV streaming. The Fire TV Stick 4K is a cheap way to add 4K streaming to an old TV. It supports all the major services as well as Dolby Vision and HDR10+, as well as Dolby Atmos for audio.
For a bit more you can get the Fire TV Stick 4K Max instead – Amazon claims that its chipset is 40% more powerful and (more importantly) it has Wi-Fi 6 connectivity (vs. Wi-Fi 5 on the other 4K stick). In case you’re wondering why you might need a faster chipset, keep in mind that these can run games too.
The Fire TV Cube is the top of the line model – it’s twice as powerful as the 4K Max stick and it has even faster Wi-Fi 6E support. It has a built-in mic and speaker, so it replaces an Echo Dot too.
Just in case you lost or broke the remote that comes with the sticks and cube, here is a replacement. Actually, this is the Alexa Voice Remote Pro, which has customizable and backlit buttons.
Then there’s the Fire TV Blaster – this is like a remote for your TV, but it’s controlled by Alexa. This device has a built-in infrared blaster, so it can control your whole setup: TV, cable box, A/V receiver and so on.
TVs
Why not skip the middle man and get a TV with Fire features built in? We should also note that these are quite cheap for their size – here are the 43”, 50” and 55” options. These support HDR10 and have one HDMI 2.1 with eARC plus three HDMI 2.0 ports.
Wi-Fi routers
Amazon’s eero routers can cover even large, multistory buildings with their Wi-Fi mesh. There’s the eero 6+, which features Wi-Fi 6 connectivity and a single unit is enough to cover 140 sq. m/1,500 sq. ft. Amazon is also selling them in 2, 3 and 4 packs.
For better range and higher speed, the eero Pro 6E brings Wi-Fi 6E and a single router covers 190 sq. m/2,000 sq. ft. These are available in packs of 2 or 3 too, if you want to build your mesh in one go. Note that the Pro 6E has two Ethernet ports, one 2.5Gb and one 1Gb, the non-pro model has a pair of gigabit ports. Also, Wi-Fi 6E operates in the 6GHz band, which can help if the 5GHz band at your place is crowded.
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