Amazon's soon to be launched Kindle Fire will battle directly against the iPad 2 and Barnes & Noble Nook Color this holiday season. You can read our hands-on review of the Kindle Fire from the press conference, but here's a quick chart for how it compares:
Amazon Kindle Fire | B&N Nook Color | Apple iPad 2 | |
---|---|---|---|
Price | $199 | $249 | $499 |
Dimensions | 7.5" x 4.7" x 0.45" | 8.1" x 5.0" x .48" | 9.5" x 7.1" x .34" |
Weight | 14.6 oz | 15.8 oz | 1.33 lbs |
Screen size | 7" | 7" | 9.7" |
Resolution | 1024 x 600 | 1024 x 600 | 1024 x 768 |
OS | Android 2.3 | Android | iOS |
Processor | 1GHz dual-core | 800MHz single-core | 1GHz dual-core |
Storage | 8GB | 8GB | 16GB |
Camera | No | No | .7MP rear, .3MP front |
Wireless | Yes | Yes | Yes |
3G | No | No | Yes ($629) |
GPS | No | No | Yes |
Bluetooth | No | No | Yes |
Max battery life | 8 hours | 8 hours | 10 hours |
Adobe Flash | Yes | Yes | No |
Apps | Amazon app store or third-party | Barnes & Noble only | iTunes |
The specs don't tell the whole story, though. If you're comparing the Kindle Fire against the Nook Color, the Fire will have four distinct advantages (beyond the small price difference):
- The Kindle Fire has a much faster processor, which will deliver smoother navigation and better app performance
- The Amazon app store is far larger than the B&N app store, plus you can "sideload" thrid party apps
- The Kindle Fire will integrate with Amazon's massive music and video store
- The Kindle Fire comes with unlimited cloud storage for any content purchased through Amazon. Though the Nook Color does have a microSD card slot, which lets you expand the storage on the device for an additional 32GB, which the Kindle Fire does not.
Against the iPad, there is obviously a huge price differential, and it's really going to come down to a personal decision on cost vs features. Main considerations should be:
- Do you value the larger screen of the iPad 2 over the greater portability of the Kindle Fire?
- Do you want cameras for video chat?
- Are the thousands of apps in the Amazon Appstore enough or do you want the hundreds of thousands in the Apple App Store?
- Do you need a 3G option for on the road or can you get by with Wi-Fi?
Much of your information is incorrect
From GetReal on September 28, 2011 :: 3:13 pm
Fire is based on (highly customized) Android 2.1, not 2.3. This is a HUGE difference.
Fire DOES do 3G as an option
Fire does NOT have ANY 3rd party apps, so why are you reporting things that don’t exist?
Nook Color 2 is based on (highly customized) Android 2.3
Meh, it’s not worth going on detailing the errors you have made here.
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Our information is directly from Amazon
From Josh Kirschner on September 28, 2011 :: 3:51 pm
Don’t know where you’re getting your information from, but we got ours directly from product executives at the Amazon press conference today.
Per Amazon:
- Kindle fire runs Android 2.3.
- There is no Kindle Fire 3G option on the market (you can go to Amazon and easily see that for yourself).
- Kindle Fire will allow you to sideload third-party apps.
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