Kindle Fire HD 7 Review vs iPad mini & Nexus 7 + Best Deals

Kindle Fire HD 7 Review of Reviews by Wireless and Mobile News

The  Kindle Fire HD  is an enhanced version of Amazon's last year's top holiday seller the Kindle Fire. This year, Amazon has added some improvements that make a cheaper iPad mini alternative for many, especially families. We distilled several reviews to find the consensus that although the Kindle Fire HD is consistently rated excellent and a great value for Amazon Prime members, there are a few trade-offs.

• Best-Liked Features:  great colorful screen, Amazon media content, excellent speakers, easy-to-use, parental controls
• Least-Liked Features:  sluggish sometimes, lack of apps, comes with advertising, no power adapter(USB is included) and lacks GPS.
• Overall Average Ranking: 4 out of 5.
• Network:  Wi-Fi (dual band) with dual antennas and MIMO.

After compiling several reviews, we found that the trade off is between hardware and software for deciding if you want the Kindle Fire HD .The hardware is top notch, but not top of the line. The software is geared towards the Amazon family with first rate parental controls and ease of use.

Hardware

Let's look at the hardware. The hardware specs of the  Kindle Fire HD   include, dual-core processor, 7" 1280x800 screen,  Bluetooth, micro-HDMI port, Front-facing camera,  dual Wi-Fi antennas with MIMO.  The micro-USB cable is used for charging, there is no wall adapter.

Reviewers found that the enhanced Wi-Fi is goes several feet further than the Nexus 7 and is excellent if you have 5GHz router. The stereo speakers produce excellent sound.

Software

Amazon has taken Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and enhanced it with its own features geared for easy media consumption, buying on Amazon and families. The over all interface looks like a carousel or magazine rack with these software features:

• X-Ray for books is a useful index of characters, terms and details.
• X-Ray for movies allows real time access to Internet Movie Database about the movie you are watching.
• Immersion reading with audio books, when the audio book plays, you can read the test on the screen
• Whispersync across devices, if you stop reading on the Kindle Fire HD, you can continue on your phone or computer.
• Amazon Silk browser, optimized from Amazon servers is reportedly not as fast as Chrome.
• Kindle Fire  is the only tablet with Amazon's Prime lending library, allowing you to read many books for free if you're a Prime subscriber.
• The pre-loaded email app worked fine however contact apps only work with Google and Skype not Facebook.
• Amazon Prime One Month Free includes unlimited  TV and movie streaming. After that it costs $79 for year and offers free shipping.
• FreeTime - this allows parental to control how long  kids use apps, books and games. It filters content for each child. Kids cannot exit Kindle FreeTime without the Parental Controls password. It blocks web browser, Amazon buying, stops location, disables social media disables GameCircle , and requires a password to turn on/off wireless connectivity.

The bottom line on the Kindle Fire HD is that with its media ecosystem  ease of use and carousel of software make it a great buy when you use Amazon Prime and are a regular book reader.  The  Kindle Fire HD costs $199 when you allow ads on the lock screen.BUY 

If you are technically adept and like power, you may prefer the Nexus 7 .  If you are already part of the Apple family and money is not an option, you will prefer the iPad mini.  Here are some comparisons below.

Kinlde Fire HD Compared to iPad Mini:

• Kindle Fire HD features 30% more pixels and 33% more pixels-per-inch than iPad mini.
• You can't watch HD movies  and TV on iPad mini
• The iPad mini is thinner and has a bigger screen than the Kindle Fire HD.
• Kindle Fire has dual-stereo speakers dual Wi-Fi antenna & MIMO, iPad mini doesn't have MIMO.
• Kindle Fire has front-facing camera only, while iPad mini has dual cameras.
• The iPad mini is more expensive and move expansive app ecosytem.

Kindle Fire HD Compared to Nexus 7:

• The well-reviewed Nexus 7 is pure Google, Android 4.2, NFC,  has a quad-core processor and no HDMI out port.
• Kindle Fire HD excels as eBook reader but Google Play apps have to be sideloaded.
• The Nexus 7 Chrome browser can be synched with computer/Android Chrome browsers.
• Amazon customer service has been lauded for replacements and help.  While Nexus 7 customer service has been a problem.

Last year, the most popular $199 tablet was the kind Kindle Fire.  This year, the  Kindle Fire HD (BUY ) and Nexus 7 BUY offer two different user experiences.  The iPad mini at $329 is priced higher but with its own Apple mystique. (BUYING TIPS)

The cheapest way to buy the Nexus 7 is through Walmart where the 16GB model for $199 as well as the 32GB ($249) model available for free store pick up from Walmart.