I Bought an Android Tablet Called the HiGrace KB1004S

2026-04-04

I bought yet another Android tablet. I really need to stop.

The thing is, I had been using a Fire HD 10 Plus (11th Gen) as a dedicated device for looking up recipes in the kitchen.

I had no complaints about the usability itself, but I absolutely hated the Fire Launcher.

There are various ways to hack around it, but none of them are fully satisfying workarounds. So I decided to just buy a new one.

HiGrace 10-inch Android 16

It just arrived, and after setting it up and playing around with it for a bit, I found it to be a pretty interesting tablet.

It's only day one, but I'd like to write a quick review.


First, let me start with a comparison against the Fire HD I mentioned above.

SpecFire HD 10 Plus (11th Gen)HiGrace KB1004S
OSFire OS 7 (Android 9 based)Android 16
Display10.1 inch 1,920 x 1,20010.1 inch 1,280 x 800
CPUMediaTek MT8183 2.0GHz 8-core1.8GHz (22nm)
RAM4GB3GB
Storage32GB32GB
Battery6,300mAh6,000mAh
Weight468g496g
SpeakersDual stereoDual stereo
Google PlayNot supported (can be hacked)Supported
Release dateMay 2021Around March 2026
Price12,980 yen (at launch)9,699 yen

There's limited information available, so some of this might not be entirely accurate.

The two tablets look remarkably similar from the display side — almost identical.

The size is nearly the same too, which surprised me.


Next, let me quickly go over the pros and cons of the HiGrace KB1004S.

Pros

  • Cheap! Under 10,000 yen for these specs is incredible
  • Responsiveness is great — it runs very snappily

Neutral

  • Camera quality is what you'd expect — though I doubt anyone would use this for photos or videos
  • It runs AUMI AI OS, a customized Android-based OS, but there's nothing particularly noteworthy about it

Cons

  • Audio quality is worse than I expected — playing sound through the speakers is honestly painful

For a focused use case, this price point is incredible.

The Fire HD might look affordable in the table above.

But as of 2026, if you try to buy the successor model, it costs 24,000 yen...

Alexa being available out of the box is a nice perk, but considering the price, it's just hard to justify.


I quickly replaced the default launcher with Smart Launcher.

It has a bit of a unique feel to it, but it's minimal and hits all the right spots. Really liking it.

If you're looking for a budget Android tablet, I hope this was helpful.