Amazon Kindle Fire vs. iPad 2
Amazon published this Kindle Fire vs. iPad 2 page shortly after its announcement on September 28, 2011. I thought it was just a temporary promo, but it turns out that Amazon is still pushing it heavily.
It’s interesting that the quotes under “What People Are Saying” aren’t linked to their sources (Gizmodo, Extreme Tech, Ars Technica, Forbes/Mobiledia). Maybe it’s because all of them are simply reactions to the Fire’s specs and price after the announcement, not reviews from anyone who actually used one. By those standards, I could have been quoted along with them that day:
“The Fire will be the first Android-powered tablet to sell in meaningful volume… It’s definitely going to compete with the iPad” — Marco.org
…but the context is far less effusive.
Why hasn’t Amazon updated the page with actual reviews since the Fire’s launch? Surely they can find some positive ones.
Anyway, the main attraction of Amazon’s Kindle Fire vs. iPad 2 page is the big comparison table. Other people’s feature-comparison checklists always leave out factors that are important to me, so I made my own additions that Amazon is welcome to include on their page:
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Price
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$199
$300 less than iPad 2
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$499
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Volume Buttons
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No
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Yes
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Stability
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Needs Improvement
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Very Stable
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Home Screen
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Frustrating
That was a small swipe. Did you mean to tap? Try again
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Easy
Tap an app to open it
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Magazine Reading
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Infuriatingly Awful
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Pretty Good
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Netflix
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Poor
No HD, no complete full-screen viewing, poor stability, and no convenient way to adjust the volume during playback
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Very Good
HD-quality streams, stable app, volume adjustable via convenient buttons
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Available Apps
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Not A Lot
And mostly crap
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A Lot
Critically acclaimed apps and award-winning games
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Web Browsing Speed
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Amazon Says It’s Faster
Reviewers disagree
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Everyone Else Says It’s Faster
They must be fanboys
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Overall Speed
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Frustratingly Sluggish
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Very Fast
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Syncing Music And Videos From Your Computer
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Only Manually
And 6 GB is really small
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Automatically with iTunes
16–64 GB sizes available
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Available Cases And Accessories
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Very Few
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Tons
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3G Data
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Not Available
Isn’t everyone always on a Wi-Fi network?
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Available
$129 extra plus $15/month for 3G service
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Automatic Shutoff Feature
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Yes
Sleeps automatically when idle or if you rest the bottom edge on a table or your pants or pretty much anything
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Yes
Sleeps automatically when idle or when a supporting case is closed
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Your Kids Can Charge Whatever They Want To Your Credit Card
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Yes
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Configurable
And all purchases require your password
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Fun
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Only If You Hate Life
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Yes
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Delightful
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You Will Want To Throw It Out The Window
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Yes
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