The Amazon Kindle Fire HD

In the Kindle Fire HD, Amazon took its popular ebook reader and attempted to turn it into a media tablet. It was meant to compete with the likes of the iPad Mini and the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 Android devices. It was certainly cheap enough to compete with the latter and the choice of two screen sizes, the 7 inch and 8.9 inch, meant there was a choice that was suitable for virtually everybody that might be interested in parting with their hard earned cash for one.

The screen is something that Amazon has really been bigging up, claiming it to be better than the screens of all its rivals. It certainly has the numbers to back up this claim with the larger of the two models proving the pick of the pair – it has an impressive 254 pixels per inch. Whether you are reading an ebook, as is traditional with this family of devices, or you are browsing the Internet you will appreciate the extra pop that comes from these pixels.

In terms price you should expect to pay about £160 for the 7” and £230 for the 8.9” screen. Unless you require the smaller version for some reason or the £70 difference is a deal breaker for you then we would opt for the bigger of the two devices. Not only does it have the better screen but it packs slightly more punch with a dual core 1.5GHz processor. The 7” version only offers dual core 1.2GHz. The difference isn’t massive but there are considerably more powerful devices out there and you will, eventually at least, start to find apps that may struggle.

One criticism that we would have with the Kindle Fire HD, from our own perspective, is that its User Interface (UI) appears a little too basic. Think Xbox 360 dashboard rather than PC laptop screen. Where the Nexus and the iPad will give you an experience that is akin to owning a laptop you should expect to concentrate almost solely on the content when you fire up the Kindle Fire HD. This may not be a bad thing for everybody, of course.

Internet access is pretty impressive on the devices. Apparently Amazon servers will deal with the majority of the work that you do which means that, when you log on to the Silk web browser you will enjoy faster browsing. It’s not lightning quick but it’s certainly not sluggish either and you should find the design of the browser to be comfortable, whether you are a regular user of Internet Explorer, Chrome, or Firefox on your laptop or PC.

Where the Amazon KindleFire HD really excels is in its presentation of media, and that shouldn’t come as a surprise if you’re seriously considering buying one. You will not find access to a better library of content, for a start off, and the content that you already own or have rented is quickly and easily accessible. It is instantly obvious that this is where the hearts of the manufacturers truly lay and if you’re looking for a good quality and affordable media tablet then this is it.