- Amazon Fire Max 11 tablet (newest model) vivid 11” display, all-in-one for streaming, reading, and gaming, 14-hour battery life, optional stylus and keyboard, 64 GB, Gray

I come from a 2021 10 plus for reference. This tablet has better graphics, brighter, sharper...hands down. It does everything the 10 plus did plus more and it is faster. The charging port is a PD C port. This means that I can plug in various flash or external drives (the fire has to format them and prepare them first to work with it so go in bare and let it do that). These drives can STILL be used with your regular computer too after that per usual. I made a flash drive of various things that I'd want during a power outage for that purpose as my fire is my go to device in that situation. The pen...oh my, the pen. I bought one when I got the Max 11. It is the best thing I've ever done and the reason I also bought an 11 and pen for my disabled son. Lets talk at some length about the pen being used with the tablet as that is a major upgrade. It writes better on this tablet than any stylus I've ever used on any device. The palm rejection is GREAT..it only very rarely makes a small mistake. I tried every major stylus apps on my 11 (after sideloading the play store of course- if that ability goes away I will quit buying these as the provided app store is meager and pathetic- sorry amazon, it's true. It's super easy to do, google it and there are simple instructions to install 4 programs with links where to get them- very simple). The two that came out on top is Inkredible and Squid. Inkredible lets you buy what you want and need without having to get the whole thing. Brownie points there. I want fun and rich backgrounds to write on mostly for household notes. I have small papers all over with various notes I've taken and this will solve that mess. I tried doing it with adding a picture and sizing it over the provided area. That worked only somewhat ok. When I'd touch the stylus to make a dot for like the top of an i, it would stop writing and you had to fuss with it to get it to write again (that is a thing with the program and not the stylus). I figured out how to fix it though. I made the background what I wanted IN inkredible then exported it out of inkredible to a file as a .pdf (I sent it to my main computer), then I put the file back on the 11 and imported that pdf back into the inkredible and it was now an embedded background and it was fine, great...no more problems. They have writing enhancement in the inkredible that makes your writing still yours but cleaned up a touch to look nicer and smoother. On Squid, they want a continuing payment to unlock things like importing. It works very well but they don't have the enhanced writing so how you write is what you get raw. I was going to pull the trigger until I figured out how to make inkredible work for the backgrounds, now I don't need to I don't think. Squid has pages for a large variety of uses and needs though- graphing, music and the like. If I end up needing something that inkredible doesn't provide me I'll do Squid for the cost. The only thing I WISH I had on the 11 is the ability to mark over pages in the web browser and other programs that are similar. My HP laptop has that and it is fun and amazing to be able to markup stuff on webpages and save it as a screenshot essentially to send where you will. Other than that the stylus functioning is nearly perfect. I am SO jazzed, this is what I've been waiting for a very long time. With the play store sideloaded this becomes a great tablet. I don't know how productive it is for business people but for the average user it is productive enough. This is my brain cell and my babysitter. I take it with me out and it keeps me entertained or working on stuff while I wait in waiting rooms. It keeps notes for me, now easier than ever as I don't have to hunt and peck on the keyboard popup, I just write it, and it looks good while doing it. It will now stand in for the tablet/s I keep on my desk for taking notes while on the phone AND I don't have to scramble looking for the recent notes when I have a need to refresh my memory as they will be saved right on my 11. My son needs to keep notes as well as a function of his disability. The thing is he is disorganized and never has ready paper and a writing instrument, but he lives life with a fire in his hand- literally he's almost never without it. I got him a case that holds the pen too and now at any moment he is ready to take a note and he's absolutely loving that. Our 2021's were working fine, but because of the stylus capabilities I decided to try the Max 11 and I am so glad that I did. For us it is a major jump in enjoyment and productivity and disability mitigation. I think it is well worth upgrading to.

The device itself is okay. I"m comparing it to a 13" Lenovo with 256 GB internal storage and 8GB of system ram. I'm also comparing it to all previous generations of Amazon fire 10 HD tablets, Samsung S series tablets, Onn tablets, and Ipads. What sells me on Amazon Fire tablets in general is the support behind it. I never have to worry about system updates. App updates are generally self maintained really well. Amazon stays on top of their OS with patches. iPad and Google Pixel are the only alternatives in terms of comparable speed and frequency of system updates. Generally, and Amazon tablet is well integrated. I have found them to be with less headaches overall - maybe even better than iPad. iPad will always dominate in terms of hardware. Amazon is that well thought out budget model that gives you top quality life of product service and support. My 9th generation (2018 version - "Maverick") Fire 10 HD is still supported and performs as well as new fire tablets. I did not lose a dime on that $200 tablet purchased 7 years ago - it still performs well today (meaning it was a good investment). Show me a Samsung device of that age still supported with OS patches today. Despite costing three times as much as a fire tablet, you get at most 2 to 4 years out of them and then support ends completely. Overall, my 9th generation 2018 Fire 10 HD gave me much more life and satisfaction. The big gain in upgrading is the switch from Fire OS 7 in older generation tablets to Fire OS 8. You also get Stylus support. Fire 11 Max models also have the option of a wired keyboard - never type in passwords on a blue tooth keyboard ... just don't! Fire OS 8 gives you many options you don't have in Fire OS 7 like saving internet favorites to home screen so that you can launch them like apps. If you have an account with "Todois", but there is no app for this in the fire OS app store; no problem, just access Todoist on the interent and make a home screen icon that opens it in a web browser. It works just as good. With older Fire tablets on Fire OS 7, you only need to pin the app as a favorite and it involves one extra click. Stylus support is only rivaled by iPad. Lenovo does well, but not as good. I like being able to use a AAA cell battery on the stylus - so much less trouble. Wish Amazon would have a simple notepad option for quick notes. One Note does well enough. The keyboard is a little too flexible. I like the case overall with it's fabric cover - another reason I like the look and feel of Amazon tablets over rivals. Any other device I case with Otterbox. With Amazon, i go with Amazon, fabric bound, cases. I like the fold out flap on the back of the Fire 11 Max case. it's stable. I hate the flimsy tri fold cases as they tend to flip over. Ultimately, I will never again buy an Android based tablet that is not supported by Amazon. Product support is terrible after a few short years. I will also keep a current iPad to work along side my fire tablet. Both are great investments that function well and are well supported. If you are not ready to fork over the bucks for an iPad, I highly recommend and Amazon Fire 10 or 11 Max.