@AndroidBasha's Blog: ASUS

Showing posts with label ASUS. Show all posts

Jan 11, 2013

February is always the most exciting month of the year for mobile phone fans, as it's when the entire phone industry has a big, boozy party somewhere in Europe and shows off the new phones and tablets it'll be launching over the spring and summer.

MWC 2013: What to expect

By: Unknown on: Friday, January 11, 2013

Sep 10, 2012

It may be turning heads, but the Amazon Kindle Fire HD falls short of the Google Nexus 7 killer that some people would like it to be... As our Amazon Kindle Fire HD vs Google Nexus 7 shows, there are certainly some significant areas in which the former moves past its 7-inch rival, However, there are other key areas which it absolutely does not exceed expectations and they remain potentially important to a big swathe of tablet buyers.

Speedy

The first problem for me is the dual-core processor in the Kindle Fire HD 7; the Google Nexus 7's Tegra 3 is a quad-core affair and it helps make the tablet an absolute dream to use, The Nexus 7 remains one of the most responsive devices on the market, flitting between apps and games effortlessly, multitasking with aplomb.

Although having a dual-core processor has been justified by some companies as more efficient in a mobile device (something which is a hot-ticket conversation in mobile phones at the moment), I think many people would trade a couple of hours life for a big boost in top end performance.

The Kindle Fire HD does, of course, give you a big chunk more storage for your buck, doubling up at both price points - and that's definitely a big bonus, with 8GB feeling paltry given the size of HD content... But for many, it's not the reason to buy Amazon that it will be billed as.

Weighty problem?

Weight-wise, the Nexus 7 is pretty much perfect for one handed use; any heavier and it would feel uncomfortable, So it remains to be seen what the (admittedly small) bump in heaviness does in terms of comfort – it's something that needs time to be, ahem, weighed up.

But then we move on to the operating systems and I can't help but feel it is there that the Nexus 7– for me at least – lands the crucial blow... I get why Amazon has taken Android 4.0 and made it more suitable to its target audience, namely people who buy stuff from them.

It's why the tablet costs as little as it does: Amazon swallows a portion of the cost in the knowledge that you later deposit pots of cash in its virtual registers by buying films, music, books, apps and physical goods from it.

So you would expect to be shoved in the direction of its shop regularly and firmly - but its competitor, although not shy about pushing you to its own Google Play store, is less in your face about it.

The Google tablet is running the beautifully designed vanilla Jelly Bean 4.1, has more apps, more freedom and, you would assume, is going to receive future updates to Android sooner than Amazon's tab.

Data

Of course, you don't get the Kindle books or breadth of material that you get with Amazon, but you can run the Kindle app and Google Books should you desire.

In truth, the thing that would massively improve both tablets is a mobile data version, bringing the joys of 3G or 4G on the go.

And if the rumours are right, the Nexus 7 3G is on the way; and that could tip the scales even further towards Google in the 7-inch market.

Kindle Fire is Defiantly NOT a Google Nexus 7 Killer

By: Unknown on: Monday, September 10, 2012

Sep 9, 2012

Amazon held an event last weekend to announce their very anticipated new line of Kindle Fires, as well as a new Kindle with backlit display. Being that the Nexus 7 recently came out, it was very clear that they’d need to step their game up in order to compete and that they definitely did.

They also announced an 8.9 inch version, but that’s for another post. This post is all about comparing the Kindle Fire HD and Nexus 7 and seeing who comes out on top. When it comes to the display, they both clock in at 1280×800 pixels. The difference though is that the Kindle Fire HD’s display is an IPS panel that is laminated to reduce glare and provide better viewing at angles. In that respect, Amazon wins.

Quite obviously, the Kindle Fire HD is running Android, but with Amazon’s own skin on top of that. What’s great about the Nexus 7 is the fact that is comes with a stock version of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Because the Kindle’s interface is locked down, we have to hand it to the Nexus 7 as far as software is concerned.

Although the Nexus 7 features a quad-core processor whereas the Kindle Fire HD does not, it doesn’t feature stereo speakers with Dolby Audio. Also, the Kindle Fire HD comes with dual-band, dual-antenna WiFi which means far better WiFi performance, and comes with 16GB storage at $199 instead of just 8GB with the Nexus 7. There haven’t been any side by side performance comparisons yet, so it’s hard to tell in that department.

Quite frankly, they both seem pretty nice as far as hardware is concerned. Amazon claims that the Kindle Fire HD can get up to 11 hours of battery life which is a little more than the Nexus 7. At the end of the day, it’s kind of a tough call. While the Nexus 7 has a quad-core Tegra 3 and is running stock Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the Kindle Fire HD comes with double the storage at both the $199 and $249 price point.

If you’re looking to buy a 7 inch Android tablet here soon and want a stock Android experience, I suggest going with the Nexus 7. However, if you’re a big time Amazon customer and want more storage, the Kindle Fire HD doesn’t look too shabby. It’s also worth mentioning that it’ll be no time before the Kindle Fire HD is rooted and you can install Android 4.1 anyways.