Amazon pits Kindle Fire HD vs. iPad Mini
A splashy and not-so-subtle presentation on the Amazon.com home page makes it quite clear which tablet's the better one, in Amazon's own estimation.
- 30 years experience at tech and consumer publications, print and online. Five years in the US Army as a translator (German and Polish).
Amazon is understandably partial to its Kindle Fire HD. And it surely wants you to feel the same way, especially given the splashy arrival of a new kid tablet in town.
The e-commerce giant with the tablet business sideline today spruced up its home page with a big, blatant comparison of the Kindle Fire HD against the iPad Mini, unveiled just days ago by Apple. There's no mistaking the conclusion Amazon wants to leave in your mind, what with the supersize typeface proclaiming "Much More for Much Less." That would be the Kindle Fire HD, of course.
In Amazon's estimation, it's pretty much all about the visuals. (Well, and the price tag, too.) The "stunning" display of the Kindle Fire HD has "30% more pixels" than the iPad Mini and its "standard definition, low-resolution" display. The pixel count, Amazon helpfully makes explicit, is 216 per inch for the Kindle Fire HD, 163 per inch for the iPad Mini.
To bring things off the spec sheet and more into your living room, Amazon comes right out to say that its tablet lets you "watch HD movies and TV." The iPad Mini? Not so much, Amazon declares. The Kindle Fire HD also has the advantage in speakers and Wi-Fi, according to its maker.
Amazon provides a link that lets you "shop now" for the $199 Kindle Fire HD, but the e-tailer provides no such service for the $329 iPad Mini. (The prices are shown in large type, lest you miss the big differential.)
For a more complete comparison, and one with less of a vested interest, I would point you to a very thorough rundown done by my colleague Jessica Dolcourt, which also throws Google's Nexus 7 in for good measure: "iPad Mini vs. Google Nexus 7 vs. Amazon Kindle Fire HD."
Just the other day, Amazon, while reporting its rather troubled third-quarter earnings, declared the Kindle Fire HD to be its best-selling product. Meanwhile, the urge to buy the iPad Mini seems to be a strong one, as shipments for some models slipped to 2 weeks within minutes of the Apple device going on sale.
