But the follow-up Fire HD launches amid a very different tablet landscape. We now have Asus and Google’s Nexus 7, which came out in May and redefined the 7-inch tablet category. It had so much speed, sophistication and understated style that we compared it to a Porsche and deemed it the absolute best Android tablet on the market at any price. And it, too, sells for just $200.
The Fire HD’s 7-inch model feels like the tablet Amazon wanted to build last year but couldn’t. It has a beautiful display, sleek and speedy hardware and, yes, the same $200 price. So is it enough to dethrone the Nexus 7 as the king of the 7-inch tablets? Read on to find out.
Display
Both the Nexus 7 and the Fire HD have 10-point multi-touch LCD displays. And both tout the same 1280 x 800 resolution, with image quality nearly as good as Apple’s iPad Retina display. Both also do a great job of deflecting glare that distorts images on glossy screens. But there are key differences. The Fire HD’s display offers slightly more contrast than the Nexus 7, and it can get brighter, as well. Colors are more vibrant and saturated. Not by much, but enough to be noticeable.
Winner: Kindle Fire HD
Design and ergonomics
At 12 ounces, the Nexus 7 is lighter than the 13.9-ounce Kindle Fire HD. The difference is noticeable, but neither of these featherweights is so heavy that your arms will ache after reading an e-book for a couple of hours.
Both feature 7-inch displays, but the bezels around the two devices are quite different. The Fire HD has a bezel that maintains the same thickness all the way around, which results in a larger tablet — 0.21 inches wider and a substantial 0.7 inches taller than the Nexus 7, which is enough to make the Fire HD more difficult to shove into a jacket pocket.
Also, holding the Fire HD with one hand requires you to have your thumb on the screen to keep it balanced, which necessitates that wider display bezel.
Winner: Nexus 7
Performance and Speed
The Kindle Fire is plenty quick, but it still lags behind the Nexus 7 in terms of pure speed. This probably has more to do with the Nexus 7 using the vanilla flavor Android build of Jelly Bean as opposed to the highly customized version of Android that Amazon put on the Kindle Fire. While the quad-core-versus-dual-core argument could be made here, there’s something to be said about going native.
Winner: Nexus 7
Operating System
Amazon and Google are offering two different visions of what a tablet should be.
The Fire HD is all about consumption, especially of content from Amazon. If you have more Kindle e-books than actual books, or if you’re an Amazon Prime customer and rely on Amazon for your streaming video, the OS is perfect for submersion into all things Amazonian. It’s essentially a direct pipeline into the digital storefront of the largest online retailer in the world. The Fire HD requires almost no setup, and Amazon’s books, music, movie and apps stores integrate directly into the operating system. By default, there are ads on the lock screen and across the bottom of the Fire’s “carousel” homescreen. In the web browser and on the homescreen, you get “what’s trending” and “customers also bought” suggestions. But these ads can be shut off for a one-time $15 fee.
On the Nexus 7, you can still download Amazon’s Kindle app for e-books, Amazon’s MP3 app for music, and Amazon’s Appstore for Android app, if you prefer buying those items from Amazon. But the Nexus 7 also gives you the freedom to tap into Google Play, Barnes & Noble and Kobo, among other choices for books. While both offer Netflix and Hulu apps for streaming video, the Nexus 7 runs an unaltered version of Google’s Android operating system — 4.1 Jelly Bean — and receives software updates from Google directly. This means you always have access to the latest version of Android and the latest version of Android apps.
Amazon built its OS over the top of Android and forked it so much that it’s difficult to spot Android underneath it all. As such, Amazon’s software will always be a bit behind Google’s. Case in point: The Fire HD runs a forked version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which debuted about a year ago. Last year’s Fire tablet runs a customized version of Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and Amazon has promised no update to Ice Cream Sandwich as of yet. There’s a real chance that the first Fires will get left behind, which means outdated apps. So who knows where the Fire HD will be in a year? This is a problem Nexus 7 owners will have to worry about.
The Nexus 7 also offers the ability to change your device’s wallpaper and add widgets related to apps to a home screen, and comes with the fantastic Google Now voice- and card-search features built-in.
Winner: Nexus 7
The Kindle Fire is plenty quick, but it still lags behind the Nexus 7 in terms of pure speed. This probably has more to do with the Nexus 7 using the vanilla flavor Android build of Jelly Bean as opposed to the highly customized version of Android that Amazon put on the Kindle Fire. While the quad-core-versus-dual-core argument could be made here, there’s something to be said about going native.
Winner: Nexus 7
Operating System
Amazon and Google are offering two different visions of what a tablet should be.
The Fire HD is all about consumption, especially of content from Amazon. If you have more Kindle e-books than actual books, or if you’re an Amazon Prime customer and rely on Amazon for your streaming video, the OS is perfect for submersion into all things Amazonian. It’s essentially a direct pipeline into the digital storefront of the largest online retailer in the world. The Fire HD requires almost no setup, and Amazon’s books, music, movie and apps stores integrate directly into the operating system. By default, there are ads on the lock screen and across the bottom of the Fire’s “carousel” homescreen. In the web browser and on the homescreen, you get “what’s trending” and “customers also bought” suggestions. But these ads can be shut off for a one-time $15 fee.
On the Nexus 7, you can still download Amazon’s Kindle app for e-books, Amazon’s MP3 app for music, and Amazon’s Appstore for Android app, if you prefer buying those items from Amazon. But the Nexus 7 also gives you the freedom to tap into Google Play, Barnes & Noble and Kobo, among other choices for books. While both offer Netflix and Hulu apps for streaming video, the Nexus 7 runs an unaltered version of Google’s Android operating system — 4.1 Jelly Bean — and receives software updates from Google directly. This means you always have access to the latest version of Android and the latest version of Android apps.
Amazon built its OS over the top of Android and forked it so much that it’s difficult to spot Android underneath it all. As such, Amazon’s software will always be a bit behind Google’s. Case in point: The Fire HD runs a forked version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which debuted about a year ago. Last year’s Fire tablet runs a customized version of Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and Amazon has promised no update to Ice Cream Sandwich as of yet. There’s a real chance that the first Fires will get left behind, which means outdated apps. So who knows where the Fire HD will be in a year? This is a problem Nexus 7 owners will have to worry about.
The Nexus 7 also offers the ability to change your device’s wallpaper and add widgets related to apps to a home screen, and comes with the fantastic Google Now voice- and card-search features built-in.
Winner: Nexus 7
Front-facing cameras
Both the Fire HD and the Nexus 7 ship with a 1.2-megapixel front camera that can shoot up to 720p video. But neither ships with a pre-installed camera app. Yes, users can download apps from the Amazon Appstore or Google Play, but no one should have to hunt down an app to unlock a built-in camera. This is a pretty senseless oversight on the part of both Google and Amazon. It’s almost as if they don’t want you to use the camera they gave you. It really makes no sense. We’ll call it a draw here, but really they both lose.
Winner: Draw
Speakers
No question here; the Fire HD offer better audio, with a dual-speaker setup that crushes the Nexus 7’s single mono speaker. But neither can match a good pair of headphones.
Winner: Kindle Fire HD
Both the Fire HD and the Nexus 7 ship with a 1.2-megapixel front camera that can shoot up to 720p video. But neither ships with a pre-installed camera app. Yes, users can download apps from the Amazon Appstore or Google Play, but no one should have to hunt down an app to unlock a built-in camera. This is a pretty senseless oversight on the part of both Google and Amazon. It’s almost as if they don’t want you to use the camera they gave you. It really makes no sense. We’ll call it a draw here, but really they both lose.
Winner: Draw
No question here; the Fire HD offer better audio, with a dual-speaker setup that crushes the Nexus 7’s single mono speaker. But neither can match a good pair of headphones.
Winner: Kindle Fire HD
Browser
A importance of a quick browser can’t be overstated. And while Amazon has given Silk a much-needed octane boost, it still like the browser could do with a bit more work. The Chrome browser, on the other hand, is a finished product. It’s quick and smooth and launches without any unnecessary latency.
Winner: Nexus 7
A importance of a quick browser can’t be overstated. And while Amazon has given Silk a much-needed octane boost, it still like the browser could do with a bit more work. The Chrome browser, on the other hand, is a finished product. It’s quick and smooth and launches without any unnecessary latency.
Winner: Nexus 7
Apps and Games
Google Play has far more apps, period. Amazon’s walled-garden is nice, but it keeps apps off the Kindle Fire HD that would improve the device’s utility. Sure, you can sideload apps to the Fire, but you’d be doing that as a workaround to get the apps that are already available in the Google Play store.
Winner: Nexus 7
Google Play has far more apps, period. Amazon’s walled-garden is nice, but it keeps apps off the Kindle Fire HD that would improve the device’s utility. Sure, you can sideload apps to the Fire, but you’d be doing that as a workaround to get the apps that are already available in the Google Play store.
Winner: Nexus 7
Books, Movies and Music
What Amazon lacks in apps it makes up for in media. There are all the books, Kindle singles, and music and video libraries on par with the iTunes store. Google also sells these things, but we can’t remember the last time we bought media from Google Play.
Winner: Kindle Fire HD
What Amazon lacks in apps it makes up for in media. There are all the books, Kindle singles, and music and video libraries on par with the iTunes store. Google also sells these things, but we can’t remember the last time we bought media from Google Play.
Winner: Kindle Fire HD
And the Winner Is
The best all-around Android tablet is still the Nexus 7. Its polish, speed, software and pocket-friendly size give it an edge over the fantastic Fire HD. But this misses the fact that the Kindle Fire HD isn’t trying to be just another Android tablet. Yes, Android runs through its veins, but the Fire HD is geared toward feeding Amazon’s super consumers (and creating more of those super consumers). Given that mission, the Fire HD works exactly as it should. Still, we’d rather spend our $200 on the Nexus 7.
The best all-around Android tablet is still the Nexus 7. Its polish, speed, software and pocket-friendly size give it an edge over the fantastic Fire HD. But this misses the fact that the Kindle Fire HD isn’t trying to be just another Android tablet. Yes, Android runs through its veins, but the Fire HD is geared toward feeding Amazon’s super consumers (and creating more of those super consumers). Given that mission, the Fire HD works exactly as it should. Still, we’d rather spend our $200 on the Nexus 7.
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