Amazon Fire Max 11

If you want to do anything else, you’ll find yourself fighting Fire OS to get it done. There are no Google apps and no Play Store, only the limited offerings of Amazon’s App Store. I did try to install the Play Store using my own instructions, but so far I have not been able to get it working. I will update that guide as soon as I figure it out, but Lenovo’s Tab P11 Pro is still a better investment for roughly the same price.

With its bright 2K screen and premium design, the Fire Max 11 is Amazon's best tablet yet—but it's still handicapped by the limitations of FireOS.

The Fire Max 11 is a surprisingly good budget tablet that is – as ever – let down by a lack of choice when it comes to which apps you can install. However, if the apps you want are in the Appstore or you can use web apps, it’s a good choice at this price.

Ultimately, the Max 11 doesn’t change anything about Amazon’s Fire tablets. Its draw is that it’s cheap: the bundle with the stylus and keyboard and six months of Microsoft 365 is the same price as just the ninth-gen iPad alone. That argument is fine for a tablet you’re only going to use for watching video or maybe hand to a kid to keep them entertained on a flight or at a restaurant. Even still, if that’s your planned use cases, Amazon has even cheaper options that work just as well for those things.

All things said and done, the Fire Max 11 is easily the best Fire Tablet Amazon has made yet. If the rest of the lineup takes the same approach, Amazon's tablet lineup is going to be compelling to everyone. The Fire Max 11 productivity bundle provides everything you need to get some work done on the small and affordable tablet, as long as your work can be done in Microsoft's suite of apps and services, or in sites that work properly with Amazon's Silk Browser.

The Amazon Fire Max 11 gives Amazon Prime subscribers the biggest-possible screen to experience their content at a surprisingly affordable price, though Appstore limitations may nix the appeal for some.

Like other Fire tablets, the Max 11 is a good value at its list price -- and a very good budget tablet that looks and feels more expensive than it costs. My only reservation in recommending it is the lack of the Google Play Store to access those apps that are missing from Amazon's App Store. But that shortcoming can be overcome if you follow the steps to install it yourself.

Amazon’s biggest tablet introduces a frisson of premium design to the Fire family, but FireOS holds it back.