Amazon Sizes Up the New iPad Mini

Amazon is indeed on fire! The online shopping giant just launched an advertisement that should shake the iPad Mini to its core. Amazon seems to be of the offense lately. Indeed, the battle is on! Two iconic devices pitted against each other but only one will win.

Image by Amazon

Let's start with the Kindle Fire HD, which Amazon touts as having "much more for much less". This was said in comparison with Apple's newly launched iPad mini. The Kindle Fire HD is said to have a higher display resolution than the iPad mini. At 216 pixels per inch, Amazon's tablet has 30% more pixels than Apple's baby (163 pixels per inch). Amazon went on to claim that it has better speakers because of its dual stereo capabilities as compared to the iPad mini's mono speaker. But this claim is entirely wrong. Apple has just clarified that the iPad mini indeed has stereo speakers, making it the first iOS device to feature such kind of speakers. Lastly, Amazon claimed that it has better Wi-Fi than its main adversary, which is the ultra-fast MIMO Wi-Fi.

Image by IBTimes

The funny thing is that Amazon only focused on the display and speakers. Perhaps, these are its only advantages over the iPad mini. But how about other areas like hardware, camera, browser, video playback, storage, etc.? Let's find out.

The iPad mini indeed has a lower resolution display compared to Amazon's tablet but it does give you 30% more screen estate which is crucial for browsing, e-book reading, video playback, and whatnot. While the display is not HD, it's not something that is ugly either. It's decent and usable to say the least. With regard to the mono speaker, all Apple products use mono speakers so there is nothing we can do with that...and yes, Amazon truly wins in that aspect alone.

Let's move on to storage. The iPad mini is available in 16GB/32GB/64GB configurations while the Kindle Fire HD is available in 16GB/32GB only. But at least the Kindle Fire HD has 1GB of RAM as opposed to the iPad mini's 512MB RAM. Unfortunately, both devices have no expandable storage options. Hey, this applies too to the Google Nexus 7.

Image by AppAdvice

The camera department is where the iPad mini crushes its competition. Equipped with a 5-MP snapper with advanced optics, capable of shooting 1080p FullHD videos, the iPad mini easily beats the Kindle Fire HD. Geo-tagging, touch focus, autofocus, face detection, video stabilization...Amazon's tablet could only dream of those. While the Kindle Fire HD only has a front-facing camera to boast about, sadly, Apple's tablet has it as well.

How about the processor? Well, the iPad mini's innards are kinda dated already, as it is using that of the iPad 2. At least on that aspect, the Kindle Fire HD has the upper hand. However, the iPad mini's GPU is much better. When it comes to OS and apps, the iPad mini wins again as its has at least 275,000 apps dedicated to it. This is not to mention that the Kindle Fire HD comes with heavily customized Android OS that has no access to Google Play but it makes up it with the Amazon App Market, which has limited availability outside the United States.

How about the price? This is perhaps the tipping point. Not everyone could shell out $329 for a tablet and the Kindle Fire HD wins here by a large margin. But then again the iPad mini is an Apple product that is so hard to resist with its vast app collection, timely OS updates, and a better app ecosystem. If you can afford Apple's tablet, then I suggest you go for it. But if you barely have $200, then the Kindle Fire HD will do just fine (provided you live in the US).

Image by MedCityNews

To be honest, I think Amazon should be comparing its Kindle Fire HD to Google Nexus 7 as they are both Android and they share a lot in common. Or perhaps Amazon thinks that its tablet is far more superior than what Google offers. What do you think? Tell me your thoughts in the Comments Section.

Til then...

xoxo Nash