Surprise Amazon sale slashes price of popular Fire tablet to less than £40

If you want a tablet for simply streaming Netflix and Disney+, playing simple games, sending emails, browsing the web or even reading Kindle books, you don't need to splash out on the latest iPad. Amazon tablets, while nowhere near the most powerful Android devices available, are some of the best value tablets, even at full price.

But right now, you can pick up one of the firm's most compact Android tablets for a penny under £40, one of the best deals I've seen on Amazon devices in recent weeks - even after October's Prime Big Deal Days sales have ended.

The Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus is currently £39.99, a huge 63 percent saving on its usual £107.99 RRP.

Part of the reason this device is this price is because it's a 'Certified Refurbished' tablet. This means it has been previously purchased on Amazon but returned, likely within the 30-day returns window.

But being refurbished does not mean it might not work, in fact Amazon claims the very opposite, as the term 'refurbished' implies.

"Certified Refurbished means the product has been returned to Amazon, professionally inspected, tested, and restored to like-new condition by Amazon-qualified suppliers", according to Amazon.

It means you can spend just £39.99 and get an Android tablet with an 8-inch LCD screen you can carry around in a bag or jacket pocket. Connected to Wi-Fi, it will run popular apps such as Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Facebook, BBC iPlayer, Instagram, Spotify, Now TV, TikTok and even Zoom.

You can access your emails via Outlook and even play games such as Minecraft.

One thing to note with Amazon Fire tablets is they cannot download Google apps. That means the app store won't have Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube or any other Google-owned or branded app.

If that's not an issue, this is one of the cheapest Android tablets if you just want to stream and browse the web. As it's Amazon-made, you can also get the Kindle app to access your Kindle books (though you have to buy new books on a Kindle e-reader device or via the Amazon website and send them to your Fire tablet).

The Fire HD 8 Plus is different to the regular HD 8 as it adds more RAM, so things run a little faster, plus it is compatible with wireless charging if you also but the optional wireless charging dock.

This tablet also comes 'with ads'.

"The With Ads option displays sponsored screensavers on your device's lock screen and in sleep mode", Amazon says.

That means you'll see ads occasionally, which is a tad annoying, but ads won't be displayed when you're actually using the tablet, or when you're in apps. It's the price of getting such a cheap Android tablet, in Amazon's world.

Just remember you're only paying £39.99, even if it is a very basic tablet. You could spend hundreds more on more premium hardware, but you might not need or want to.