10/1/2011 Comparing Apples and Fire

As I expected, Amazon launched a new tablet this week. When the smoke finally cleared, we were introduced to the Kindle Fire. The price alone is enough to warm the buying public's response to the Fire. The new tablet carries an eye-popping price tag of just $199. That's without a two-year contract, ads or any other subsidizing gimmick.   Still, even that low price may be a bit much for what you get in return. Naturally, as with any tablet, the Amazon Fire is going up against the mighty Apple iPad 2. Everyone is asking me for a comparison of the two tablets. I can tell you right now, the Fire doesn't begin to come close to being an iPad-killer. For example, the hardware on the Fire is lacking. It has a dual-core processor, which is nice. However, the screen is only 7 inches, it has a mere 8 gigabytes of storage and there are no cameras or microphones. Battery life is 8 hours. Additionally, there is no 3G version, only Wi-Fi. Even when comparing only to iPad 2's Wi-Fi version, the Apple product offers so much more: a 9.7-inch screen, a minimum of 16GB of storage, two cameras and a microphone, for starters. Battery life is slightly better at 8.5 hours. When the iPad 3 debuts, it will widen the hardware gap even more.  1  2  3  Next >