The tablet world was shaken a little bit when Amazon unveiled the Kindle Fire. The device is aimed at helping Amazon push some digital content into the marketplace. While it is easy to draw comparisons to Apple’s iPad 2, the Kindle Fire offers up a much cheaper price at $199 and seems to be more comfortable competing against a rival booksellers device, the Nook Color. So how does the Kindle Fire stack up against two of the big boys?
Screen Size
The Kindle Fire clicks in with a screen size of seven inches, which is smaller than the 9.7 inch screen of the iPad 2. However, it has the same screen size as the Nook Color. When it comes to resolution, all of the tablets have pretty impressive displays. However, in raw dimension the iPad pretty much dwarfs the smaller units.
Memory
As many Apple iPad owners already know the iPad is available in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB varieties with varying price tags. The Nook Color features 8GB of space, but is expandable via MicroSD card. The Kindle Fire will come equipped with 8GB of space as well, but Amazon content can be stored in a cloud, perhaps the Amazon Cloud, which will grant users virtually unlimited storage.
Applications
As far as applications go, the iPad is tough to beat. Since the Nook Color, and the Kindle Fire when released, run modified versions of Android, they do not necessarily have as large variety of apps as the Apple rival. However, the Fire is built to run Amazon content, which means their huge library of music, movies, television, shows, and more can be viewed on the device. The iPad has apps for Netflix, Hulu, and much more, and users can also view iTunes content on the device. In short, the iPad and Fire are more versatile than the Nook Color, which has no Hulu or Netflix app.
Price
The Nook Color retails for $249 and the iPad can run anywhere from $499 and up, but the Kindle Fire will be priced at $199. As far as usability, the iPad is in another class from the two smaller tablets. However, users looking to watch movies and television will probably skew more towards the Fire. The Kindle Fire might not be an iPad killer, and really what device has answered that bell, but it certainly outclasses the current Nook Color. Barnes and Noble will have to rework the ereader. The Nook Color could arguably be called the best selling Android tablet so far, but it look like the Kindle Fire will be a serious threat to that crown.