Nov. 7, 2013, at 7:05 PM ET
Wilson Rothman / NBC News
Amazon’s Kindle Fire HDX comes in 7-inch and 8.9-inch models.
On Thursday, Amazon Began shipping the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HDX. On paper, and in person, the thing is impressive. It’s as thin as an iPad, Air, and unlike its Predecessors (and its 7-inch sibling), it comes with two cameras, one on the front and one on the back. Anytime you save money on electronics, there’s a chance you’re losing features, but even at $ 379 – $ 120 less than Apple’s newest flagship tablet – the big HDX has a lot going for it.
The screen is key: Though it diagonally measures nearly an inch smaller than the iPad Air’s, its “widescreen” aspect ratio That means it’s longer and thinner, Which is good for movies. In fact, movies on the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HDX are the same exact size as movies on the $ 499 9.7-inch iPad Air, so if you watch movies Mainly, there’s no size advantage for the bigger, costlier iPad. Movies look terrific on both, with smooth action and uniform brightness and color at any reasonable viewing angle.
Wilson Rothman / NBC News
The Origami cover, sold separately, seems neat, because it folds up into a sturdy stand. However, it’s so bulky it quickly Becomes a detriment.
Another benefit is the screen pixel density. Both the Kindle Fire and the iPad HDX Air are what Apple calls “Retina” screens – the pixels are so small you can not really see them. But the Kindle’s pixels are significantly smaller than the iPad Air’s – 339 pixels per inch versus 264 ppi. The result small not matter when viewing a video, but it is noticeable when looking at black-and-white text. Reading is where the HDX beats the iPad Air, and not just because of the pixel density: There’s a slight weight advantage – 13.2 ounces vs. 16 ounces – and the battery on the HDX will run a long time when reading is the primary function.
That’s not to say that the HDX has better battery life. In fact, in the most brutal testing, watching high-definition action movies streamed over Wi-Fi, Kindle Fire HDX neither could outlast its Apple-made competitor, Which best it tended to be at least an hour. If you consume a lot of media on tablets, you will not hate the battery life on either HDX, but you will not brag about it either.
The main feature that’s unique to the larger Kindle Fire HDX is the back-facing camera. (The $ 229 7-inch just has a front-facing cam for video chat.) Since it’s an 8-megapixel camera, you might think it takes better pictures than the iPad Air’s 5-megapixel camera. In truth, it’s a trade-off: I see better sharpness and lower noise on the HDX camera, but see better color reproduction from the iPad, not to mention hints of sly Software Magic That cover up the fact That the iPad image is lower in resolution. Which photos do I like better? The iPad’s – but hey, what are you doing taking pictures with a big old tablet anyway?
Wilson Rothman / NBC News
The larger $ 379 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HDX can match or beat the $ 499 iPad Air in some respects, Including taking pictures and enjoying books and movies – Amazon books and movies, that is.
The strangest Kindle Fire HDX disappointment for me is the Origami case (sold separately for $ 50 to $ 65). Amazon made a big deal out of this at launch, and it is neat how it folds into a sturdy stand. But using it doubles the thickness of the tablet, and makes it a lot heavier, too. And while the case has a fun gimmick – push the tablet up with your thumbs to expose the camera, and photo app launches – it’s just makes the whole package even more awkward. Besides, when you slide the tablet back down, the screen does not return to your previous app.
Another issue I had was ergonomics. The power and volume buttons are on the back on both the 7-inch and 8.9-inch HDX And ??that makes for some real awkwardness, especially when I’m in vertical mode – basically anytime I’m reading. Maybe I need to train myself to close the cover instead of pushing the power button, but I’m the kind of guy who pushes the “Door Close” button in elevators, so until I mellow out, Amazon Should make its buttons more intuitively accessible.
(Note: I have not been able to test a key feature HDX Kindle Fire, the second-screen experience, which lets you control movies playing on your TV. As yet, it is not available on any devices, but Amazon says it will soon be ready on the PlayStation 3 and some Samsung Smart TVs, with support for the Xbox and other devices Following.)
Wilson Rothman / NBC News
The larger 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HDX has a back-facing 8-megapixel camera That engages automatically when you slide the tablet upwards in its case. (The 7-inch HDX does not have a back-facing camera.)
As I’ve said in the past, the decision to buy a Kindle tablet is a decision to center your experience around books and movies, with the occasional game and a bit of e-mail and Web browsing. Amazon, Which runs on a modified Android operating system, did build in new Exchange support, and I was able to test out corporate emails – but you’d never choose this over other devices for managing your life. Not when an iPad does a much better job.
For that matter, there’s still no touching the iPad’s app catalog when it comes to both diversity and performance – That many apps exist on both operating systems run better on iOS, and only very recent changes to Android That will help close gap. And that does not even count the core apps That Including Apple’s now with every iOS device: iPhoto, iMovie, Garageband, Pages, Numbers and Keynote.
While the HDX – either the 7-incher or the 8.9-incher – may be no match for the similarly sized iPad, its lower cost and much-improved user experience does make it an irresistible second tablet.
If you love Amazon, that is.
The retailer has not released the user numbers on its $ 79-per-year Prime service, but Prime is really a prerequisite for owning a Kindle tablet because of its high-quality video stream of unlimited. It’s feasible to conceive of someone spending $ 229 or even $ 379 on a Kindle-branded tablet without the intention of using it with the Kindle books and Amazon video-on-demand, but I doubt there are very many people like that. Even the HDX’s delightful Mayday button – Which brings up a live customer support staffer who can troubleshoot issues quickly, and even guide you through the tablet interface – is not so much spreading the gospel of the Amazon but preaching to the already-converted.
Wilson Rothman is the Technology & Science editor at NBC News Digital. Catch up with him on Twitter at @ wjrothman, and join our conversation on Facebook.
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