iPad mini vs Kindle Fire HD vs Nexus 7 – specs comparison

iPad mini vs Kindle Fire HD vs Nexus 7

Amazon boasts that Kindle Fire HD is better than iPad Mini and not many doubt Asus Nexus 7 probably is. Let us take a closer look at what makes these tablets better than the rest of the pack and which one is better for you.

iPad Mini is the latest comer and the biggest one at that. With 7.9-inches Mini offers the biggest real estate, but the lowest pixel resolution (1,024 x 768). 7-inch screen on Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD offers much sharper 1,280 x 800 pixel resolution. Both Nexus 7 and Fire HD have 216 ppi pixel density, while iPad Mini falls to 162 ppi. Apple felt that it had to maintain the same pixel resolution as the iPad 2 to enable most of the apps working and looking great on 7-inch factor. Apple also argues that because of the larger screen users will actually get 67 percent more surfing area (in landscape mode).

Both Asus Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire HD tablets are 0.4-inch thick, whereas iPad Mini is only 0.28-inch thick. iPad mini also parts itself on weight. While Nexus 7 weighs 12 ounces and Fire HD 13.9 ounces, iPad mini keeps the weight down to 10.9 ounces.

Both dual-core A5 processor running things on iPad Mini and quad-core Tegra 3 ticking on Nexus 7 are formidable cpus. TI OMAP 4460 that powers Fire HD has been shown to be slow performer in benchmark tests. Apple chips have always performed well with lower core count and clock speeds and more often than not matched to android counterparts. How well will iPad Mini do in benchmarks remains to be seen though.

iPad Mini LTE version clearly kicks ass when it comes to connectivity. Nexus 7 and Fire HD are still WiFi only tablets. Google Asus Nexus 7 does come with NFC connectivity while the other contenders do not. GPS is available on iPad Mini and Nexus 7, while Kindle Fire HD lacks it. Micro HDMI out in Fire HD makes it stand out as iPad Mini may have an adaptor to lightning connector and Nexus 7 does not have one.

In camera comparison iPad mini is a true winner. They all have 1.2MP front facing camera for skyping and such but iPad Mini also has 5MP rear facing camera. Battery is best in Nexus 7 tablet lasting 10 hours and 37 minutes. Kindle Fire HD has a 7 hour power pack, while Apple promises 10 hours for iPad mini.

Here is a table comparing the specs of Apple iPad mini, Amazon Kindle Fire and Google Nexus 7 courtesy of PCmag:

Apple has the largest selection of apps currently sitting at 703,189 apps in App Store. Google has 551,873 android apps, while Amazon simply can’t compare. iPad Mini has popular and intuitive iOS while Android 4.1 Jelly Bean os of Nexus 7 is smooth and well liked. iPad Mini clearly wins with pure amount of apps available, although not all are optimized for tablet format. Android also has a solid selection of tablet optimized apps, while Amazon Fire HD with its highly customized android os has meager Amazon app selection in comparison.

Finally let’s talk about price. iPad mini starts at $329, Nexus 7 at $249 and Kindle Fire HD beats them all with lowest $199 price tag.

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