Ever since Amazon has launched Kindle Fire in the US, people have been mulling over whether to buy Kindle Fire or an iPad during the coming up Christmas season. Media is presenting arrival of Kindle Fire as a challenge for iPad and some are even calling Fire the iPad Killer. Let’s see if Kindle Fire has enough fire in it to burn a hole in the markey share of Apple’s iPad.
Below, I am giving a comparison table of specifications of both the devices. Here you can compare the two devices on your own. In my opinion, Fire is not going to be the iPad killer because both the devices have been designed for different purposes. If you are looking for a tablet PC, iPad is convincingly better than the Kindle Fire. However, for less than half the price, Kindle Fire makes a good buy –but it lacks many important features if compared with iPad.
Kindle Fire is designed by Amazon to deliver Amazon contents; like books, movies, magazines; to you. It is not designed to be a full-fledged tablet PC (that is perhaps why Amazon is selling it at much lower price). Kindle Fire is a good extension of e-book reader Kindle Touch. But don’t expect it to be a great tablet.
Fire lacks, cameras, microphone, Bluetooth and HDMI port. With a 7 inch display –the device could be a wee bit too small for functions like typing a lot of text. Accessible storage of just 5GB could also be irritating.
Fire is a good buy for $199 –but it is not really a tablet PC.
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| Product | Apple iPad 2 | Amazon Kindle Fire |
| OS (current) | iOS 4.3.5 (as of 10/3/2011) | Android 2.3 |
| Apps | iOS Apps on Apple’s App Store (90,000+dedicated iPad apps) |
Amazon Appstore for Android (Unspecified number) |
| Ebooks | Kindle, Apple’s iBooks | Kindle |
| Magazines & Newspapers | √ | √ |
| Browser | Safari & Other Webkit Browsers | Amazon Silk |
| Dimensions (in.) | 9.5 x 7.31 x 0.34 | 7.5 x 4.7 x 0.45 |
| Weight (lbs) | 1.33 (Wi-Fi)/1.35 (GSM) | 0.91 |
| Display size (in., diag) | 9.7 | 7 |
| Display Resolution | 1024 x 768 (LED bklight) | 1024 x 600 |
| Processor | A5 (dual core)/ 1 GHz | TI OMAP dual core/ 1 GHz |
| RAM (MB) | 512 | 512 |
| User Storage (GB) | 16/32/64 | 8 |
| Front Camera | 0.3 MP | x |
| Rear Camera | 0.7 MP (720p) | x |
| Camera Flash | x | x |
| Microphone | √ | x |
| Audio/speaker | mono spkr, stereo headphone | stereo jack & spkrs |
| Wi-Fi | 802.11 a/b/g/n | 802.11 b/g/n |
| 3G Radio (GSM) | UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA/GSM/EDGE | x |
| 3G Radio (CDMA) | CDMA, EV-DO | x |
| Bluetooth | 2.1 + EDR | x |
| GPS | w/3G | x |
| Battery Life, hours | 10 (25 watt-hr) | 8 |
| Accelerometer | √ | x |
| Magnetometer/Compass | √ | x |
| Gyroscope | √ | x |
| Video out | HDMI (w/ accessory), Wireless AirPlay for Some Apps |
x |
| USB | x | √ |
| Sensors | Ambient Light | x |
| Colors | Black or White | Black |
| Price US$ (Wi-Fi) | 499/599/699 | 199 |
| Price US$ (3G) | 629/729/829 | x |
So, what did you see? Do you think Kindle Fire is an interesting buy? I think yes it’s going to be a good gadget but it is nowhere near Apple’s iPad. Before you decide which one to buy, I would suggest that you think about your requirements. Think a bit on what would you want to do with your gadget. I am sure then you’ll be able to make a much better decision.
Kindle Fire or Apple iPad? Do let me know which one you chose and how it turned out it be. Thank you for using TechWelkin.
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