Amazon and Apple have both launched new editions of their tablets, in time for the holiday shopping season.
Apple launched the iPad Fourth Generation (iPad 4), also known as the iPad with Retina Display earlier this month while Amazon launched their Kindle Fire HD 8.9" in October, which consists of a larger tablet compared to the standard Kindle Fire HD.
But as the shopping season gets underway, perhaps which tablet would be the best present?
Size and Weight:
The Kindle Fire HD 8.9" (inches) is measured with a length of 9.45-inches, width of 6.46-inches, and a depth of 0.35-inches. The iPad 4 features a length of 9.50-inches, width of 7.31-inches, and a width of 0.37-inches.
The iPad 4 weighs more than the Amazon tablet with 1.44-lbs to 1.25-lbs.
Display:
The reason why the Amazon Fire HD 8.9" tablet has the "8.9" next to the name is because it represents the size of the screen. The screen has a pixel resolution of 1,920x1,200 with 254 pixels per image (ppi).
The iPad 4's Retina Display screen is larger with 9.7-inches and a pixel resolution of 2,048x1,536 and 264 ppi.
Internal Storage/Memory:
The two tablets share many similarities but one notable difference.
The Amazon and Apple tablets do not offer a microSD card slot and offers 16GB and 32GB internal storage models with 1GB of RAM. The difference, however, is the iPad 4 has an additional model of 64GB.
Wireless Connectivity:
The Kindle Fire HD 8.9" and iPad 4 share Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth, and USB accessibility.
Camera:
There are major differences when it comes to the photography and video spectrums of the two tablets.
The iPad 4 features a rear-facing camera with five-megapixels, 2,592x1,944 pixels, and a front-facing camera with 1.2 megapixels.
The Kindle tablet does not offer a rear-facing camera. A front-facing camera is available for the Amazon tablet and with 1.3-megapixels.
For video, there is no video recording for the Kindle Fire HD 8.9" but the iPad 4 does with 1080p for the rear-facing camera and 720p for the front-facing camera and both records in 30 frames per second.
Operating System:
Apple has their latest iOS 6 operating system included in the iPad 4 while Amazon utilizes the Android operating system version 4.0, known as the Ice Cream Sandwich. Apple is familiar with the Android as it is the operating system used in rival devices by Samsung.
Chipset:
Apple has also implemented their new A6X chip, which according to Apple Inc. Vice President Phillip Schiller, runs twice as fast compared to previous iPads. The Kindle Fire HD 8.9" uses the TI OMAP 4470 which Texas Instruments tout it as "The highest levels of processor performance and lowest power consumption."
Colors:
The tablets are available in black, but the iPad 4 also offers white.
Price:
The Kindle Fire HD 8.9" has a price tag of $299 for the 16GB model and $369 for the 32GB when selecting Amazon's "With Special Offers" option. Without the special offers, the prices increase to $314 for the 16GB model and $384 for the 32GB model.
The iPad 4 has a starting price of $499 for the 16GB model, $599 for the 32GB model, and $699 for the 64GB model. However, those prices are for the Wi-Fi only iPad 4. Apple also offers the Wi-Fi with Cellular version, which sees prices increase to $629 for the 16GB model, $729 for the 32GB, and $829 for the 64GB model.
For the comparison of the Microsoft Surface vs. Kindle Fire HD 8.9, click here.
For the iPad 4 vs. Microsoft Surface, click here.
For the iPad 4 vs. the original iPad, click here.
For the iPad 4 vs. iPad 3 specs, click here.
For the iPad Mini vs. Kindle Fire HD, click here.
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