- A Quick Update on the Tablet Wars
- Evaluating Apples iPad
- Evaluating Amazons Kindle Fire
- Evaluating Barnes & Nobles NOOK Tablet
- Other Tablets
- Which Tablet is Right for You?
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Which Tablet is Right for You?
Putting the Galaxy Tab and PlayBook aside for the moment, if you’re interested in a tablet for Christmas, you really have three primary choices: Apple’s iPad 2, Amazon’s Kindle Fire, or Barnes & Noble’s NOOK Tablet. Which you choose really depends on how you want to use a tablet.
If all you want to do is read books, watch movies, and listen to music, then either the Kindle Fire or NOOK Tablet is the right choice. With either unit you get a great device for media consumption at an affordable price – the Fire being more affordable at $199, of course. As to which of the two to choose, it kind of depends on which retailer you like best or use most. If you’re an Amazon customer, go with the Kindle Fire; if you’re a loyal B&N purchaser, go with the NOOK Tablet.
On the other hand, if you want to use your tablet for more than just reading books and watching movies, you have to go with the iPad. It’s the only tablet (of these three) that is truly open in its design – which means you have access to all manner of useful and interesting apps from a plethora of developers. You can still watch movies and read books (you can even read Amazon’s eBooks, via the Kindle Reader app), but you can do much, much more. It’s the ideal device for both consumption and creation.
Of course, you pay for that. The iPad, at $499 minimum, is not consumers on tight budgets. But you get a lot for the money, as tens of millions of satisfied iPad users will affirm.
There are other differences between these tablets, some of which might matter to you. The iPad’s larger 9.7” screen makes it easier to use certain types of apps, and just gives you a bigger viewing surface. On the other hand, the smaller Fire and NOOK Tablet units are easier to hold in one hand, and a little lighter, too. The iPad also offers a lot more internal storage for all your apps and books and movies; Amazon (and to a lesser degree, Barnes & Noble) rely more on a cloud computing model to store your stuff on their Internet-based servers. So there’s that.
Table 1 details the major features and functions of the Big Three tablets, plus the Galaxy Tab and PlayBook. It’s actually nice to have some competition out there this season; for the first time, there are distinct differences in price, features, and functionality that can help you choose the tablet that’s right for your needs.
Table 1
|
|
Apple iPad 2 |
Amazon Kindle Fire |
Barnes & Noble NOOK Tablet |
Blackberry PlayBook |
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 |
|
Screen size |
9.7” |
7.0” |
7.0” |
7.0” |
10.1” |
|
Screen resolution (pixels) |
1024 x 768 |
1024 x 600 |
1024 x 600 |
1024 x 600 |
1280 x 800 |
|
Screen resolution (pixels per inch) |
132 ppi |
169 ppi |
169 ppi |
169 ppi |
149 ppi |
|
Screen type |
TFT-LCD color IPS touchscreen |
TFT-LCD color IPS touchscreen |
TFT-LCD color IPS touchscreen |
TFT-LCD color touchscreen |
TFT-LCD color touchscreen |
|
Operating system |
iOS |
Android (customized) |
Android (customized) |
BlackBerry Tablet OS |
Android |
|
Processor |
1GHz dual-core |
1GHz dual-core |
1GHz dual-core |
1GHz dual-core |
1GHz dual-core |
|
Battery life |
10 hours |
8 hours |
11 hours |
7 hours |
9 hours |
|
Number of available apps |
>500,000 (90,000 iPad-specific) |
>16,000 |
“thousands” |
>3,000 |
>1,500 |
|
Web browser |
Safari |
Amazon Silk |
NOOK |
WebKit |
Android |
|
RAM |
512MB |
512MB |
1GB |
1GB |
1GB |
|
Internal storage |
16GB, 32GB, 64GB |
8GB |
16GB (expandable to 32Gb via microSD card) |
16GB, 32GB, 64GB |
16GB, 32GB |
|
Wi-Fi |
Yes (802.11 a/b/g/n) |
Yes (802.11 b/g/n) |
Yes (802.11 b/g/n) |
Yes (802.11 a/b/g/n) |
Yes (802.11 a/b/g/n) |
|
3G |
Yes (selected models) |
No |
No |
No |
Yes (selected models) |
|
Bluetooth |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Front camera |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Back camera |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Microphone |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Accelerometer |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
USB jack |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
HDMI video out jack |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
|
Stereo audio out jack |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
microSD card slot |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
Case color |
Black or white |
Black |
Grey |
Black |
Black or white |
|
Weight |
21.3 oz. |
14.6 oz. |
14.1 oz. |
14.4 oz. |
19.9 oz. |
|
Dimensions |
9.5” x 7.31” x 0.34” |
7.5” x 4.7” x 0.45” |
8.1” x 5.0” x 0.48” |
7.6” x 5.1” x 0.4” |
10.1” x 6.9” x 0.3” |
|
Price |
$499-$699 (Wi-Fi) $629-$829 (Wi-Fi plus 3G) |
$199 |
$249 |
$499-$699 |
$499-$599 (Wi-Fi) $650-$750 (Wi-Fi plus 3G) |