Google Nexus 7 Vs Amazon Kindle Fire HD: Who will win the 7-Inch Tablet Throne?

Last year, when the original Amazon Kindle Fire was released in the International market, it became the only popular item in the tablet market category after the hottest selling Apple iPads due to its competitive price strategy.

In 2012, with the launch of the new Kindle Fire HD, the online retailer now seems to have new rivals in the arena including Apple, Samsung and others. One of them is Google-branded Asus-made Nexus 7, which has been debuted by the Android creator recently in the tablet battleground enthrusted with the latest Jelly Bean OS. Both the tablets are bold and beautiful and fall under the same 7-inch display category carrying similar price tags. While, Nexus 7 has already been rolled out for pre order in India, Kindle Fire HD will still take some time to enter the market. Hence, when the former debuts in India, which one out of the two slates will you prefer to hold – Google Nexus 7 or Amazon Kindle Fire HD. Read on the specs comparison between the duo and decide.

Form Factor: While, both the tablets boast the same 7 inch IPS capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels (approx. 216 ppi pixel density), they are different when it comes to dimensions. However, reportedly, Amazon has been playing up the 'glare-reduction' on its model.

Nexus 7 carries a dimension of 198.5 x 120 x 10.5 mm and weighs at 340 grams, on the other hand, Kindle Fire HD boasts a dimension of 193 x 137 x 10.3 mm and weighs heavier, that is around 395 grams.

Processor: Google Nexus 7 scores high in this section as it is equipped with a Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset, quad core 1.3 GHz Cortex A9 processor and ULP GeForce GPU.

Against that, Kindle Fire HD has a TI OMAP4460 chipset, dual core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor and PowerVR SGX540 GPU.

Operating System: Well, of course Nexus 7 has the latest Android Jelly Bean OS including outstanding features like Project Butter, richer notifications, a new Voice Search feature, re-sizable widgets, Android Beam, Google Now, improved camera and more.

In comparison, the Kindle Fire HD is flavored with the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. But the software features also include Amazon’s extensive media libraries of ebooks and music, which is missing in the former.

Camera: Nexus 7 sports a 1.2MP front camera, however, Kindle Fire HD has a slightly better 1.3MP front camera which is supplied with a Skype app. At the same time, both the tablets lack a rear camera.

Storage: Nexus 7 comes in 8GB and 16GB versions, both with 1 GB RAM while Kindle Fire HD will be available 16GB and 32GB versions and 1GB RAM. But both the tablets miss an external micro SD card slot for expandable memory.

Connectivity: On the connectivity front, Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD have features including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi features and micro USB 2.0. However, Google's tablet offering scores more as it has the NFC (near field communication) technology on boardthat Amazon's device lacks which will Nexus 7 owners share data wirelessly over short distances.

Battery: Nexus 7 packs a 4,325 mAh Li-ion battery, which will offer 300 hours of standby time while Kindle Fire HD is loaded with a battery, which the company claims will provide 11 hours of backup to the tablet.

Price: When it comes to pricing, both Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD are priced at similarly at $199 in the US market. In India, the Nexus 7 is available for Rs 17,000 and the price of the Amazon tablet is still not known, however analysts predict that the Kindle Fire HD would also come in the same range as the Google slate.

Verdict

Both being budget tablets from major manufacturers – to decide on which tablet to buy would be tough for many. However one can settle with either buying Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire HD based on these points.

New Kindle HD will come with bigger storage options than the Nexus 7, and also Amazon claims a better battery life, further, the Kindle slate also includes HDMI output.

In contrast, Nexus 7 has a GPS (and other sensors), and the biggest selling point – it runs on the latest version of Android 4.1. On the other hand, Kindle Fire HD is flavoured by a customized version of 4.0 that will restrict access to the Play Store, which means access to some apps will be limited.

Hence, for those of you who love the Amazon cloud, and require a 32GB of storage, Kindle Fire HD would be the right choice for you, for all others Nexus 7 tablet will completely serve your purpose.

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