After purchasing the Apple iPad 2 a month
ago and the Kindle Fire a week back, I thought I would surf the net and see
what others say about both the devices. I was astonished to find that majority
users prefer the iPad to the Kindle because I personally love my Kindle more
and tend to depend on it all the time. In fact, I am now thinking of getting
rid of my Apple tablet gifting it to my Dad who never has tried a tablet before.
Here is why I prefer Fire over Apples!
Apple iPad 2
Apple may have revolutionized the world of
touchscreen handhelds the moment it launched the iPhone in 2007 and
subsequently the iPad in 2010 but its latest offering, the iPad 3, does not
sway me one bit. Why? See what I faced with the iPad 2.
My Biggest Concern With Apple I Pad 2
Nobody told me that Apple does not have
flash compatibility before I purchased it. This is a big problem for me because
I love browsing websites with a lot of interactive content. Maybe it’s just me
but no flash meant that I was left with mostly text and picture mode browsing on
the iPad. For reading and pictures, why should I be paying nearly $400?
Another thing that bugged me a lot was that
my tablet kept lossing connection to the WiFi network all of a sudden and the
worst thing is that if I was in the middle of watching a movie on it, I would
never realize this. While, I do not face this situation frequently, for some
reason, it keeps happening every time I download a lot of data on it. Maybe the
OS needs an upgrade.
The final problem that I have with it is
the weight. Why does it have to weigh so much? I am not a frail person but I like
things that I can carry around easily.
What I Adore About The I Pad 2
Apple iPad 2 Safari browser is definitely
the fastest among tablets with pages loading as fast as 3 to 5 seconds. This
helps a lot if I am in a desperate hurry to find a local restaurant number from
the internet.
Another excellent feature of the iPad is
its touchscreen. Apple really knows how to make touchscreens responsive to the
slightest pressure. The large screen does help a lot. Because of the
touchscreen I find it easier to navigate through my music files, videos and
magazines. Oh! before I forget, the magazine reader is one of the best I have
seen in tablets but it does take sometimes a little longer to load these
applications even though they are inbuilt.
Processor speed and a fine tuned OS are
probably the biggest plus for the iPad 2 but all the above pros for the iPad
still does not justify spending so much on a tablet that I mostly use indoors
or as a book reader.
Note:
I
have no qualms with the camera as a tablet is not even designed for taking pictures.
If you complain about its camera then you should not even be looking at a
tablet. Spend that money instead on a good DSLR and click yourself onto Flickr.
Also, the screen does bloat a bit with grains but this is to be expected since
it is a touchscreen.
Amazon Kindle Fire
Ok, I must say that before I purchased the
Kindle, I had no wish for another tablet because I was perfectly happy with my
iPad, however, its low cost (I spent just Rs. 10,000, approximately $200 on it)
swayed me into buying it. The moment I started using the Kindle Fire, I felt
many things missing but the more I started delving deeper into the tablet, I
found it a better deal than the iPad.
My Biggest Concerns With the Kindle Fire
Getting on with this comparison, I found
hardly anything wrong with this device. For me the screen was, not small,
rather cosy because now I had something that I can carry around without feeling
burdened. Moreover, lack of full HD is not an issue because with just 7 inches
and 1024 X 600 resolution, any movie, even in mkv format, looks amazing. Plus,
this saves a lot of battery power for me. Nevertheless, there were two problems
that irritated the hell out of me.
First, the touch interface is obviously
lacking. Amazon had to cut costs somewhere to get it down to $200 and it shows
with the touchscreen as it constantly nags me saying, “That was a small swipe.
Do you mean to tap? Try Again”. When in a hurry to pull up a file, it tends to
increase. Now that I have had it for a week, I have learnt how to get around
it.
Second, the browser speed is slow even with
Amazon’s heuristic reading protocol that is supposed to read cloud results for
global Kindle searches and speed up my browser loading time. Maybe, it is the
fact that flash player support is enabled in the Kindle but its still not as
fast as I would like it to be.
What I Adore About the Kindle Fire
Again, the weight, size and compactness are
what make it simply adorable for me. The Kindle Fire may be lacking in speed,
processing power and space but it more than makes up by providing a good enough
media service. I do not understand why people keep saying that the online store
from Amazon is crap because I loved the huge collection of apps found there.
Another thing that I cannot stress enough
on is the way it reads ebooks. Its size makes it easier to flip through pages,
read and search ebooks. After all, isn’t that the reason why one would get a
tablet?
Movies are great to watch on it and even
though it lacks external volume controls, I found that once I got used to the internal controls and menus, things started to
clear up.
Note:
I have no qualms about the pre-installed
software that Amazon hardwires into the device such as Facebook, IMDB etc,
because for me they hardly take up any space and I tend to use them a lot.
Moreover, lack of proper parental control does not bother me as I am still
single! The WiFi connection sometimes breaks off unexpectedly and requires a
manual reboot of the interface but it happens much less than with the iPad, so
no worries here.
Final Words
The price of the Amazon Kindle obviously
means that shortcuts were taken but for the cost of procuring the Fire, it sure
does pack hell of a punch. The iPad 2 is obviously better in many respects but
only if you depend on it for your livelihood. Business users shall appreciate
the functionality of the iPad but for home users like me the Fire is cheaper,
smaller, lighter and better.
Author Name : Maino (That's the name I go by on all guest blogs)
Author Description: Maino loves writing about tips, tutorials and news on Android tablets