iPad Mini vs Kindle Fire HD
Introducing a new product to a market is an arduous task involving a lot of research on a variety of sections and disciplines. On one side, the manufacturer needs to conduct a thorough market research in order to find out whether their intended product matches the customer’s requirements. On the other hand, a considerable effort needs to be put in order to design and morph the product that customers want in their hands. Hence it is considered as one of the most daunting tasks in Research and Development section of any manufacturing company. This is even severe in an ever changing field like mobile computing environments. Because of this reason, we have to appreciate the iconoclastic innovations from various vendors in the field. For instance, Samsung has been introducing computing platforms in different sizes among which 8.9 inch, 5.5 inch and 4.8 inch products have almost become a de-facto standard. Another good example is the radical detour that started after Apple introduced iPads. We can identify Amazon’s debutant Kindle Fire budget tablet as a game changer as well. This is because it is recorded to be the most successful budget tablet as of now. With their injection, other manufacturers also have followed the same product line and now that Apple has also released a budget version of iPad, we can expect astringent competition in the market. Let us review the new product from Apple alongside with a similar innovative tablet from Amazon that is bound to blow your mind away.
Apple iPad Mini Review
As predicted, Apple iPad Mini hosts a 7.9 inch IPS capacitive touchscreen display that features a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels at a pixel density of 163ppi. It is smaller, lighter and thinner than Apple new iPad. However, this no way compromises the look and feel Apple’s premium grants you. It will come in several versions which will be released throughout November. There is also a 4G LTE version which can cost as much as $660. Let us look at what Apple has included in this mini version of their all-time favorite Apple iPad.
Apple iPad Mini is powered by Dual Core A5 processor clocked at 1GHz along with preferably PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU and 512MB of RAM. This is the first reason that worries us about purchasing the iPad Mini given that it features a last generation processors of Apple A5 which went out in circulation two generations before with the introduction of Apple A6X. However, we can’t predict the performance without taking it for a lengthy test run given that Apple can now modify their processors in-house. It seemed to work seamlessly at light tasks, but games seem to take some time to initialize which can be an indication of the performance it can offer.
This miniature version of iPad has dimensions of 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.28 inches that can fit in to your hand very well. Especially the keyboard feels way more comfortable compared to the Apple iPhone line. The basic version only has Wi-Fi connectivity whereas the more expensive and higher end ones offer 4G LTE connectivity as an addition. It will come in different sizes ranging from 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. Apple seems to have included a 5MP camera at the back of this miniature version that can capture 1080p HD videos which is a good improvement. The 1.2MP from facing camera can be used with Facetime for video conferencing. As speculated, it uses the new lightening connector and comes in either Black or White.
Amazon Kindle Fire HD Review
Amazon lists that Kindle Fire HD has the most advanced 7 inch display ever. It features a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels in a high definition LCD display that seems to be vibrant. The display panel is IPS, hence offers vivid colors, and with Amazon’s new polarized filter overlay on top of the display panel, you are bound to have wider viewing angles, as well. Amazon has laminated the touch sensor and LCD panel together with a single layer of glass reduces the effective screen glare. Kindle Fire HD comes with exclusive custom Dolby audio in dual-driver stereo speakers with auto optimization software for crisp balanced audio.
Amazon Kindle Fire HD is powered by 1.2GHz dual core processor on top of TI OMAP 4460 chipset with PowerVR SGX GPU. This sleek slate has 1GB of RAM to support the processor. Amazon claims that this setup is much faster than Nvidia Tegra 3 mounted devices although we need to do some benchmarking tests in order to verify that. Amazon also boasts of featuring the fastest Wi-Fi device which they claim is 41% faster than new iPad. Kindle Fire HD is renowned as the first tablet featuring dual Wi-Fi antennas with Multiple In / Multiple Out (MIMO) technology enabling enhanced bandwidth capabilities. With the dual band support, your Kindle Fire HD can automatically switch between the less congested band of 2.4GHz and 5GHz. The 7 inch edition doesn’t seem to feature GSM connectivity, which may be problematic if you’re in an area where Wi-Fi networks aren’t frequent to come by. However, with new devices like Novatel Mi-Wi, this can be easily compensated.
Amazon Kindle Fire HD will feature Amazon ‘X-Ray’ feature which used to be available in ebooks. This would enable you to tap the screen while a movie is playing and get the complete list of actors in the scene and you can further explore those using IMDB records right in your screen. This is a pretty cool and solid feature to implement inside a movie. Amazon has also enhanced the ebook and audio book capabilities by introducing immersive reading, which enables you to read a book and hear the narration of it at the same time. This is available for almost 15000 ebook audiobook couple according to Amazon website. This merged together with Amazon Whispersync for Voice would do wonders if you are a book lover. For instance, if you were reading and went to the kitchen to prepare the dinner, you’ll have to ditch the book for a while, but with Whispersync, your Kindle Fire HD would narrate the book for you while you’re making your dinner and you can come right back to the book after dinner enjoying the flow of story the whole time. Similar experiences are offered by Whispersync for Movies, Books and Games. Amazon has included a front facing HD camera that enables you to keep in touch using custom skype application and Kindle Fire HD offers a deep Facebook integration, as well. The web experience is said to be ultra-fast with the improved Amazon Silk browser that comes with the assurance of 30% reduction in page load times.
The storage starts from 16GB for Amazon Kindle Fire HD, but since Amazon offers free unlimited cloud storage for all your Amazon content, you can live with the internal storage. Kindle FreeTime applications offer the parents with a chance to give a personalized experience for their children. It can limit children from using different applications for different durations and supports multiple profiles for multiple kids. We are positive that this is going to be a favorable feature for all the parents out there. Amazon guarantees 11 hours of battery life for Kindle Fire HD which is really great. This version of tablet is offered at $199 which is a great bargain for this killer slate.
A Brief Comparison Between Apple iPad Mini and Amazon Kindle Fire HD
• Apple iPad Mini is powered by 1GHz Dual Core A5 processor with PowerVR SGX543 GPU and 512MB of RAM while Amazon Kindle Fire HD is powered by 1.2GHz dual core processor on top of TI OMAP 4460 chipset with PowerVR SGX GPU.
• Apple iPad Mini has 7.9 inch IPS capacitive touchscreen featuring a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels at a pixel density of 163ppi while Amazon Kindle Fire HD has 7 inch HD LCD capacitive touchscreen display featuring a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels.
• Apple iPad Mini runs on Apple iOS 6 while Amazon Kindle Fire HD runs on Android OS.
• Apple iPad Mini has 5MP camera that can capture 1080p HD videos @ 30 fps while Amazon Kindle Fire HD features a HD camera in the front for video conferencing.
• Apple iPad Mini is bigger but thinner and lighter (200 x 134.7 mm / 7.2 mm / 308g) than Amazon Kindle Fire HD (193 x 137.2mm / 10.1mm / 394g).
Conclusion
Sometimes, more harm can come with a downright straight conclusion than good. This is because a conclusion is highly biased on your preference no matter how objective your judgment is. For that reason and some other reasons we’ll mention, we leave the final choice on your hand. The important reason is that there are no performance tests that were carried out against Apple iPad Mini as of yet and hence we can’t really predict the performance. But given that the processor is Apple A5, the expectancy of innovation sinks and hence we can merely expect the performance matrices of iPad 2 from iPad Mini. If that speculation is correct, then we can also conclude that Amazon Kindle Fire HD would beat or just be above that of Apple iPad Mini. However, this is all based on speculations that may or may not hold true depending on the actual product. There is also a fact we can’t deny here at play. Apple iPad Mini is almost as twice the price of Amazon Kindle Fire HD which may be a deal breaker given that if our speculations are to be proved, both would have the same performance levels. Hence it’s better to wait and see what the benchmarks have to tell us.