After months of speculation, Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, at a press event today finally took the wraps off his company’s first tablet, the Kindle Fire. Slightly bigger than a regular Kindle, the Fire comes stacked with a fast processor, custom-built operating system, a high-resolution multi-touch display, and a price tag that’s sure to attract waves of people looking for a credible tablet on a budget. Some are saying it’s the Apple iPad’s first real competitor. According to the New York Times, early sales estimates have the Fire moving 5 million units. But while it’s still way too early to tell if the Fire catch on or burn out, we decided to take a quick head-to-head look at the two tablets.
Amazon Kindle Fire
Mark Zuckerberg once said he didn’t consider the iPad a true mobile device. We don’t think he would say the same about the Kindle Fire. Amazon’s first full-fledged tablet weighs in at less than a pound and can be toted in practically any bag. Sure, it doesn’t have a built-in camera, or a 3G version, and its accompanying app store isn’t yet as robust as Apple’s, but it’s plenty powerful and half the price of the iPad. It also lives in the cloud. Every piece of content and media on the device will be housed in Amazon’s Cloud service and updated and backed up via the company’s Whispersync. But the real reason the Kindle Fire may do very well is its connection to Amazon’s ecosystem of content: Kindle Store, Appstore, MP3 Store, and Prime video service. All of which are already super-successful on their own. On paper it looks like the iPad’s first true competitor.
Price: $199
Processor: 1GHz Texas Instruments Dual-Core Processor, 512 Mb of RAM
Display: 7” Multi-touch with in-plane switching technology, 1024 x 600 pixel resolution at 169 ppi, Gorilla Glass
Operating System: Google Android-based custom OS
Content Stores: Amazon Appstore, Amazon Kindle Store, Amazon MP3 Store, Amazon Prime (Video)
Camera: N/A
Storage: 8GB, Free cloud storage for all Amazon content
Battery Life: 8 hours, 7.5 when watching video
Weight: 14.6 ounces
Wireless: Wi-Fi, No 3G Option
Inputs/Outputs: USB 2.0
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Apple iPad 2
All hail the King. With over 29 million sold, the Apple iPad is the number one tablet on the market. It’s easy to see why. It’s incredibly thin, powerful, simple to use, beautiful, and flush with apps. Then there’s all the other stuff like the ability to mirror your screen on your TV with an HDMI cord, its long-lasting battery life, its many configurations, the abundance of accessories, the list goes on. It’s the device that created the current tablet market, but can it hold on to its lead? We don’t see why not.
Price: Starts at $499
Processor: 1GHz dual-core Apple A5 processor
Display: 9.7” LED-backlit multi-touch display with in-plane switching, 1024 x 768
Operating System: Apple iOS
Content Stores: Apple iTunes, Apple App Store, Apple iBooks Store
Camera: Front camera, Rear Camera; 720p recording,
Storage: 16 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB
Battery Life: 10 Hours
Weight: 1.33 pounds
Wireless: Wi-Fi, 3G Option
Inputs/Outputs: Apple 30-pin dock connector, 3.5-inch stereo headphone jack, microphone
