Few people will argue with the assertion that Amazon's Kindle Fire and Apple's iPad are amongst the leading devices in the tablet computing niche. Being that they are manufactured by two different companies with different game plans, the two devices are naturally different in several fundamental ways. That sets the stage for the Kindle Fire vs. iPad comparison, as people try to figure out which of the two is a better device.
The iPad first appeared in the year of 2010, whereas the Kindle Fire was announced towards the end of 2011. Prior to the announcement of the Kindle Fire, the name "Kindle" was synonymous with "e-book reader", as all the previous Kindle versions were purpose-built e-book readers. What Amazon did with the Kindle Fire was add functionality to the basic Kindle, so that the device could serve as a full-fledged tablet computer at a similar price.
The fact that both devices have full tablet computing functionality is what sets the stage for this comparison of Kindle Fire vs. iPad. Most people, who undertake the comparison endeavor, know how the devices compare in terms of computing power, storage space, application hosting capabilities, and cost.
Computing Power
It is hard to make a meaningful Kindle Fire vs. iPad computing power comparison, because of the fact that both devices are powered by 1 GHz dual core processors and that they both come with 512 MB of memory. Both devices seem to be capable of doing things at decent speeds. Still, the fact that they are based on different operating system platforms means that their equality in terms of processor power and RAM doesn't always translate into equality in task execution speeds. There are tasks that the Kindle tablet seems to be capable of performing faster and vice versa, although the differences are barely noticeable.
Storage Space
The iPad offers choices between the 16 GB version, the 32 GB version, and the 64 GB version. The Kindle tablet, on the other hand, comes in one version alone: the 8 GB version. Thus, if we are to conduct a comparison based on storage space considerations alone, the iPad wins hands down. To be fair to Kindle Fire, most people are likely to find that the 8GB it offers is more than enough for their needs, especially given the fact that only 3GB is set aside for apps with the remaining 5GB being available for storage of content such as movies, books, music and so on.
Application Hosting Capability
Kindle Fire can host and run all applications developed for an Android platform, because it is a tablet computer powered by the Android operating system. The iPad, on the other hand, runs Apple's proprietary iOS platform. The iPad's superiority in terms of storage space translates into capability to host more apps. On the other hand, the fact that the Amazon Fire is based on the open source Android operating system means that its users have access to more free apps.
Price
In terms of prices, the iPad is substantially costlier than Kindle Fire. Yet it would be unfair to conduct a Kindle Fire vs. iPad cost comparison based on the bare figures. It is because whilst the iPad is costlier, there is also no denying that it offers more in terms of storage space and other things. The Kindle tablet may seem cheap, but it is designed in such a way that its users have to pay for most of the content they enjoy on it, meaning that they may end up spending more in the long run.
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