Kindle Fire HD 2 vs Kindle Fire HD: Specs, Release Date and Price Reviewed - Is the 2013 Kindle Fire An Upgrade?

Amazon just announced its 2013 Kindle Fire HD lineup, along with the new high-powered Kindle Fire HDX. The company plans on launching a "new" Kindle Fire HD, also called the Kindle Fire HD 2, at the same price as last year's Kindle Fire HD (NB, this is not the HDX, but rather the second generation Kindle Fire HD - i.e. the Kindle Fire HD 2). Is there any difference? And if so, is it worth the revamp?

Display

For a fair comparison, we'll look at the 7-inch model of both the Kindle Fire HD of 2012 and this year's new 7-inch Kindle Fire HD.

The Kindle Fire HD of 2012 cost about $140, and for that, you got a decent HD resolution of 800 x 1280p on the 7-inch screen. That means it had about 216 pixels per inch: not a flagship spec, but decent for a budget tablet.

The new Kindle Fire HD 2 (2013) was just recently announced, and it sports the exact same display. No improvement on resolution or ppi count - what you get this year is what Amazon offered last year. Of course, it's the same price, but you'd expect maybe a 1080p HD touchscreen, given the fact that those are pretty common to tablets now. 

Power (Battery and Processor)

The Kindle Fire HD of 2012 offered "up to" 11 hours of mixed use, with a few hours more if you're just reading. The new 2013 Kindle Fire HD 2 actually undercuts its battery life, giving you up to 10 hours of mixed use.

The reason for the lower battery life on this year's 2013 Kindle Fire HD 2 is probably that Amazon has upped the processor's power, but only slightly. As opposed to the 1.2GHz Texas Instruments dual-core processor, the Kindle Fire HD 2 carries a dual-core processor, clocked to 1.5GHz. The 1GB of RAM spec stays the same across both years.

Is it worth it to lose battery life if you're only getting a tiny bump in performance - especially when a 1.5GHz dual core processor will still feel pretty slow compared to the current generation of competitors? Probably not.

Size

The new Kindle Fire HD 2 does offer a slight improvement over the 2012 Kindle Fire HD, when it comes to portability. With the same 7-inch screen, the Kindle Fire HD 2 has dimensions of 191 x 128 x 10.6 mm and weighs 345 grams, compared to the Kindle Fire HD's 193 x 137 x 10.3 mm dimensions and 395g weight. Still, the new Kindle Fire HDX weighs less than both of these tablets and carries a much better screen and provides way more power.

Other Features

Both Kindle Fire HD models have the Amazon-customized Android, though the Kindle Fire HD 2's "Mojito" is built on a newer version of the mobile OS, offering some of the newer features of the Google-built operating system, as well as better content management and faster access to apps.

Both 7-inch Kindle Fire HD models are WiFi-only, so if you want the LTE version, check out the more expensive 8.9-inch tablet.

Amazon is actually downgrading a few of the Kindle Fire HD 2's hardware features, compared to the 2012 Fire HD. The new Kindle Fire HD does not come with an HDMI port for an easy-cabled connection to an HDTV. The Kindle Fire HD 2 also dispenses with the USB 2.0 port in favor of the less convenient microsUSB port.

Finally, the only internal storage models of the Kindle Fire HD 2 7-inch are 8GB and 16GB, as opposed to last year's 16GB or 32GB storage options (no Amazon tablets have microSD card slots for extra storage, but Amazon offers free cloud storage for all Amazon content).

Release Date and Price

Of course, last year's Kindle Fire HD has been out for a year, and is priced in some retailers for just over $100. With the new Kindle Fire HD 2 models coming out, expect to find the 2012 Kindle Fire HD for a good price soon.

The new Kindle Fire HD 2 is available now from Amazon, costing $139 at its base price. That's with Amazon's special offer, which includes ads on your lock screen. Without, it costs $154. And that's for the 8GB version - half of the storage of the 2012 Kindle Fire HD at the same price.

Final Conclusion

Very rarely do we come across a second generation of electronic devices that, on the whole, is worse than its previous generation. But we do sometimes, and you just saw the evidence: the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD 2 (2013) is not worth the same price as the 2012 Kindle Fire HD, which you'll find new or used for less, anyway.

Agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments.