I use several devices (Pixel 4a, Samsung Galaxy Tab A, Kindle Paperwhite). for reading. Even with strong reading glasses, I can't comfortably read newspapers, magazines, or most books in their paper editions. My preference is for dark mode (white text on a black background) as I find a white screen hard to view for any length of time.
The Kindle Paperwhite does have a dark mode but it isn't very good, because the E-ink screen doesn't have enough contrast. I've been thinking about getting a small tablet (one smaller than the Samsung), so when I saw the Kindle Fire HD 8 tablet was on sale, I decided to get one.
The tablet is solidly built although a bit heavy compared to my Kindle. I've read complaints about performance but it is adequately fast for general use, certainly faster than my now 5-year-old Samsung tablet. Amazon uses its own version of Android and has its own app store, which is much more limited than Google's. It is possible to add the Google Play Store to the tablet; more on that later.
There are several Amazon-installed apps that you can't remove, but it's easy enough to move them into folders and tuck them away at the bottom of the home screen. I intend to use the tablet as an ereader and won't be installing email or social media apps like Facebook on it. So on my home screen right now, I have the Kindle app and Libby for reading magazines and books from the library.
The Kindle app works but has some limitations that I find annoying. The major issue for me is that the choices of font and font sizes are limited. For font size, the choices aren't granular enough and I would like a size in between the sizes offered. You also can't add your own fonts to the app (I prefer Atkinson Hyperlegible), something that I verified with Amazon support. You can use Calibre to embed the font into a book and transfer it to the tablet as a document.
The Libby app works quite well and I will probably be using it more than I did on the larger Samsung tablet.
I ordered Amazon's own case for the tablet, but have decided to return it and get something else. Their case is very slippery, and I am really afraid I will drop it, especially if I read in bed. (Update: The Moko case is better than the Amazon case: the strap makes it much more secure to hold and the stand is better, at least for keeping it in landscape mode).
I did get the Google Play Store onto the tablet by following these instructions and installed several apps. Unfortunately, I'm having a problem with Chrome; it won't let me log into my Google account, claiming the account is already on the tablet but won't let me log in. More investigation is needed, although given the intended uses of the tablet, it's not a big deal.
I likely would have gotten more flexibility out of a Samsung tablet or an iPad, but given the cost of the tablet ($100 CDN), I don't have many regrets.
Update: After almost six months, I've noticed that my Google account now syncs with Chrome on the tablet. Either an OS or Chrome update fixed the problem as I didn't do anything else to change it. This makes the tablet much more usable.
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