Amazon Kindle Fire HD

With the release of the Kindle Fire HD, Amazon’s stunning success in the tablet world may already have spiked – at least according to the great majority of reviews. In top-level media critiques (i.e. the New York Times, Gizmodo, even early customer reviews at Amazon.com itself), the Fire HD has gotten average scores. This tablet improves on the very popular Kindle Fire, but not enough to impress most in comparison with the Google Nexus 7.

As an eBook-first device, those potentially interested in this device will be checking out the “HD” LCD screen first. Happily, this is where Amazon has seemingly invested the most effort in improving. The 1280 x 800px resolution boosts the Kindle Fire HD right to the top of its class in this area and is suitable for playing high-definition video of up to 720px.

The Kindle Fire HD generally anticipates the theoretical Apple iPad Mini in design, though with dual rear speakers. The processor in the Fire HD is a 1.2 GHz dual-core OMAP 4460; not quite the fastest or most powerful chip out there, but performance is fine with most standard functions. Operating system is a custom-made Android 4.0 OS.

A bit of a downside in the Kindle Fire HD – a major turn-off in many reviews posted – are the weight and thickness of the thing. At 103 mm (0.41”), the 7” version is somehow thicker than the superior-of-resolution 8.9” edition. Weighing in at 394 grams (just under 0.9 lbs), this heavyweight works against its own primary purpose, i.e. reading and eBook.

But still – Tablet2Cases isn’t sure why the Amazon Kindle Fire HD has such a blah reputation. Sure, it’s a bit bulky. Sure, the Apple iPad Mini will blow it away in functionality. On the other hand, the Fire HD’s reasonable price and good functionality well outweigh the negatives. And eBook-first tablet users will need no further encouragement.