How they compare: Kindle Fire vs. Nook Tablet

The challenge

Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet are two leading contenders of the new 7-inch tablet frenzy. Both devices were released in subsequent days in November 2011. In fact, Barnes & Noble announced its Nook Tablet in reply to Amazon’s hyped up Kindle Fire tablet. The 7-inch Android tablets are primarily meant for eReading and consuming audio and video contents. They are not full-fledged tablets, indeed. We can just call them as just color and multimedia versions of Nook and Kindle eReaders. Here we take Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet for a detailed comparison that will help you stumble on the best tablet:

Kindle Fire vs. Nook Tablett

Comparison Attributes

Screen

Both Nook Tablet and Kindle Fire have 7-inch displays. Fire features a 7-inch IPS TFT active matrix display with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels at 169 ppi. You have touchscreen capability with the screen, thus eReading becomes a blissful experience on Fire.

Meanwhile, Nook Tablet is up with a more advanced 7-inch VividView color touchscreen with the same resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels and pixel density of 169. The IPS2 display along with anti-glare protection makes Nook Tablet outclass Kindle Fire, its chief rival in stores.

Winner: Nook Tablet.

Software

Both tablets play on the same Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Amazon earlier stated that its Kindle tablet would come with Android 2.2 Froyo. But when came in, Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet have Gingerbread as the firmware. The tablets are preloaded with Android Market and many incredible apps for eReading and content streaming. Both Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet support on-demand video services like Netflix, Hulu and Pandora. Besides them, the devices are with lots of Google features and others.

Winner: Draw.

Price

Amazon Kindle Fire has grabbed media headlines with its pretty attractive price tag of mere $199. Of course, with a goal to compete with iPad, Amazon has priced its tablet as small as possible. But unfortunately Barnes & Noble does not follow Kindle Fire in pricing. Nook Tablet has a price of $249, i.e. $50 better than its major rival on market. Customers always go for a device with small price even getting ready to compromise with some hardware shortfalls.

Winner: Amazon Kindle Fire

Battery life

Amazon ensures 7.5 hours of battery life for video playback for its Kindle Fire. Meanwhile, Nook Tablet works 9 hours and 15 minutes with a single recharge. Indeed, Nook Tablet has a robust battery life than Kindle Fire.

Winner: Nook Tablet.

Target Audience

Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble wish to sell their new tablets to eReaders, who want to enjoy some music and video along with reading. The companies have designed tablet versions of their eReaders in a way customers can enjoy music and movies along with eReading.

Amazon is the first company to coin up the idea of a multimedia tablet. Later, Barnes & Noble copied Amazon to roll out its Nook Tablet. However, you have more rich contents on Kindle Fire because it is from the world’s largest online vendor of both books and digital contents. Nook Tablet has relatively fewer contents on its Barnes & Noble store.

Winner: Amazon Kindle Fire

Winner

The ultimate winner of the comparison is Kindle Fire. The device has a small price and its supports Hulu, Netflix and many others. Compared with Nook Tablet, Kindle Fire wins with its cheap price and large content sources. These are actually two most significant things that should attract tablet costumers.

The Verdict

Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet got realized in the middle of November 2011. Amazon released Kindle Fire on November 25 and Barnes & Noble uncovered Nook Tablet on the very next day. The competition has just kick-started in the industry. The devices are worthy solutions for eReaders, who can stream thousands of books and read. Besides, they can watch movies and listen to music with the tablets’ ability to support audio and video files. Low price, less weight and beautiful display make the tablets look wonderful.