Amazon's new Alexa Tablets drop the Fire branding but are more Android than ever

Amazon killed its app store, so Google Play it is.

The short version

• For the last 15 years, you’ve been able to buy a Fire tablet from Amazon.
• It doesn’t matter—like Kindles, they have been pretty much the same year to year.
• The company’s new tablet lineup is a big change, though.

What happened

Amazon has dropped the Fire branding in favor of Alexa, and the new Alexa Tablets are now Google-certified Android devices. Throughout the history of Fire Tablets, Amazon downplayed its use of Android.

Why it matters

They ran Android apps from the company’s Appstore platform, but there was no Google integration with “Fire OS.” However, Amazon shut down its app store last year .

Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Ars Technica via the links above and below.