The announcement of Amazon’s foray into the world of tablets generated buzz even before the official unveiling of the Amazon Kindle Fire. Pre-sales for the Kindle Fire reached over 95,000 on the first day alone. While Apple may not be showing signs of panic yet, consumers can look forward to a drop in price and a race for sales among tablet competitors during the holiday season.
Regardless of the tablet market shake up, the Kindle Fire may be the best tablet at the best price for the average tablet user and in many ways, the Kindle Fire is showing its superiority to the iPad.
Reasons Why the Amazon Kindle Fire May Be Better
Below are 5 reasons why the Amazon Kindle Fire may be better than Apple’s iPad.
1. Drastically Lower Cost
With cheapest iPadgoing for $499 and the Kindle Fire only $199, in terms of cost there’s no comparison. Apple has been able to justify their high cost of laptops and gadgets by offering unique and innovative must-have products. To the average consumer though, the tablet PC just isn’t a must-have accessory.
It’s nice and it’s convenient but there’s nothing that can be done on a tablet that can’t be accomplished just as efficiently on a laptop or smart phone. Amazon pinpointed the intrinsic problem with Apple’s tablet model: The cost doesn’t justify the product. At less than half the price of the cheapest iPad, the Kindle Fire is the clear choice for cost conscious consumers.
2. Superior Size
Coming in at three inches smaller than the iPad, the seven-inch display screen built for the Kindle Fire may seem like a downgrade but for consumers looking for a tablet to take on the go, the smaller screen is an vast improvement. The Kindle Fire is built for one hand play.
Slipping easily into a purse or pocket and at nearly half the weight, the Kindle Fire increases the overly tiny size of a smart phone without getting clunky and obtrusive like the iPad.
3. Addition of Flash
The perennial chink in the Apple armor has been Steve Jobs belief that Flash is archaic and unnecessary for Apple. So despite the cries of Apple lovers to incorporate Flash compatibility into their products, the answer has always been a resounding no.
Regardless of its usability and sustainability, Flash is a welcome addition to the Kindle Fire and one that the iPadcan’t compete with. For video lovers, the use of Flash with the Kindle Fire is a clear winner.
4. Lightening Fast Browsing
The Amazon Silk web browser was built specifically for the Kindle Fire and based off an Android operating system. To get faster web page loading times, Amazon Silk divides the work the Fire needs to do to load a page by relying on the tablet to load small stuff like text and leaving the harder tasks, such as Javascript, to Amazon’s EC2 cloud servers.
The Amazon Kindle Fire will also remember your preferred sites, storing those pre-loaded pages in your cloud for rapid loading. The browsing speeds shown at the unveiling of the Kindle Fire were second to none.
5. Free Amazon Prime Only on the Kindle Fire
Just to sweeten an already sweet deal, purchase of an Kindle Fire comes with a free 30 day subscription to Amazon Prime. Even if you don’t plan on making Amazon purchases, the Amazon Prime membership comes with online streaming access to over 11,000 movies and television shows that can be watched flawlessly on your new Kindle Fire.
For consumers looking for the bells and whistles offered by the iPad, settling for the Amazon Kindle Fire simply won’t be enough. The lack of memory, cameras, and other accessories make Amazon Kindle Fire a stripped down version of the iPadand unsuitable for consumers hoping to create art, music, or spreadsheets from their tablet, but for the casual consumer looking to watch video, browse the internet, and play casual games, the Amazon Kindle Fire is the clear choice.