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iPad Mini (non-retina) or 7" Kindle Fire HDX?

dmk1974

dmk1974

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Sep 16, 2008
2,514
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Amazon just put up the 7" Kindle Fire HDX for cyber Monday for $179 (16 GB version...$40 increments for 32 and 64). I also have a first-gen iPad Mini on order from Best Buy (cost $318 w/tax, but got a $100 BB GC along with it) and was planning to give it to my wife.

While the iPad is better app-wise, for her light e-mail and heavy Facebook/Pinterest, reading, and watching Amazon Prime Videos, is the Kindle a better buy than the iPad Mini? Would save me $40 and the Kindle is faster with a better screen. Thanks!
 
I have a Fire HDX 7 and it's awesome. I ordered it after having tried to get a decent rMini 3 times. At £169 now in the UK it's amazing value and an excellent tablet. Screen as good as the rMini and it's blazing fast. Dead easy to side load any apps not on the Amazon App store.

I have a final rMini due today and if it's still not great in terms of screen the Kindle will rule. And I'd say it's a much better bet than the original Mini which I also had and sold recently.
 
Dlanod said:
I have a Fire HDX 7 and it's awesome. I ordered it after having tried to get a decent rMini 3 times. At £169 now in the UK it's amazing value and an excellent tablet. Screen as good as the rMini and it's blazing fast. Dead easy to side load any apps not on the Amazon App store.

I have a final rMini due today and if it's still not great in terms of screen the Kindle will rule. And I'd say it's a much better bet than the original Mini which I also had and sold recently.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I'm interested in your comparison to the rMini as well (I have one and love it). For my wife, just really trying to decide on if a HDX with the beautiful screen is worth it compared to the lower-res "old" iPad Mini.
 
I have a iPad 2, Fire HD 8.9", Nexus 7 as well as a Fire HDX 7" and I have to say I really like it! $ 179.00 is a GREAT deal for this excellent hardware!!
 
EdwardC said:
I have a iPad 2, Fire HD 8.9", Nexus 7 as well as a Fire HDX 7" and I have to say I really like it! $ 179.00 is a GREAT deal for this excellent hardware!!
Click to expand...

Wow, with that selection, how do you decide which one to pick up and use? ;)
 
"Wow, with that selection, how do you decide which one to pick up and use?"

I leave the Nexus in my car for work ( Firefighter with lots of spare time on the job :) ) the 8.9" HD is for renting movies due to the nice perfect size screen, the HDX is for watching TV and hanging out on the couch and the iPad was given to my son, couldn't stand looking at the display after being spoiled by the high res displays on the others. I have all the same apps as I used on the iPad and have enjoyed all of the great deals on books that Amazon offers as well. Hope that helps......Ed
 
I have the mini retina and the Fire HDX. I pretty much prefer the mini for everything. I find the email client and browser just awful on any Kindle.

But if you are a big user of Amazon services, you can't go wrong with the HDX.
 
dmk1974 said:
Amazon just put up the 7" Kindle Fire HDX for cyber Monday for $179 (16 GB version...$40 increments for 32 and 64). I also have a first-gen iPad Mini on order from Best Buy (cost $318 w/tax, but got a $100 BB GC along with it) and was planning to give it to my wife.

While the iPad is better app-wise, for her light e-mail and heavy Facebook/Pinterest, reading, and watching Amazon Prime Videos, is the Kindle a better buy than the iPad Mini? Would save me $40 and the Kindle is faster with a better screen. Thanks!
Click to expand...

how did you get the first gen ipad mini with a gift card from best buy???
 
Being able to read pdf's in portrait mode is important to me. That's reason enough for me to prefer the mini, with its 4:3 aspect ratio and 7.9 inch screen. The Nexus 7 display is about an inch narrower, and I doubt would work as well.
 
Dlanod said:
I have a Fire HDX 7 and it's awesome. I ordered it after having tried to get a decent rMini 3 times. At £169 now in the UK it's amazing value and an excellent tablet. Screen as good as the rMini and it's blazing fast. Dead easy to side load any apps not on the Amazon App store.

I have a final rMini due today and if it's still not great in terms of screen the Kindle will rule. And I'd say it's a much better bet than the original Mini which I also had and sold recently.
Click to expand...

Got mine very quickly from Tesco delivered to my local store last week and £30 off.

No problems with it whatsoever except I find it a little disappointing compared to my Air. It just looks a bit dull, no Wow factor. Many posts here have mentioned the screen difference between the two iPads and I can only agree.

I've just ordered the 7" Kindle Fire HDX from Amazon as they have a £30 off one-day special on today. I had the original HD until last week and quite liked it. Very vibrant screen and I believe the HDX is even better. May keep both!
 
With these newer HDX models, is there any way to access the icloud.com site via the Silk browser? Would love to be able to see my calendar that is currently shared on iCloud across my wife and kids Macs and iPhones.
 
PhoneI said:
I have the mini retina and the Fire HDX. I pretty much prefer the mini for everything. I find the email client and browser just awful on any Kindle.

But if you are a big user of Amazon services, you can't go wrong with the HDX.
Click to expand...

I use Chrome and Inomail on my HDX. It's a doodle to side load apps.
 
Nexus 7 over the Kindle. Worth the extra bucks and you get GAPPS and full android store.

There are issues with some 7" HDX screens, not so with the 8.9. Do the homework on Amazon and read reviews if you become interested.
 
Hdx 7 is an outstanding unit and value-best screen for text

In support of the 7 inch hdx it's the best screen I have ever seen. This coming from someone who tried a hdx 8.9 and just bought two Airs and two rminis for the family.
For reading text with white background it's absolutely the best I have seen. Everything else out there is very close but the hdx 7 beats them. It uses the most advanced technology with blue led backlighting- read the displaymate review for more information.
I am tempted to get one just for reading in bed. It does not stream video as well as the apple products. I am an amazon kindle book consumer but we'll entrenched in the apple ecosystem so I went with apple products. I would say the kindle hdx is a better reader than the kindle paperweight.

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EdwardC said:
I have a iPad 2, Fire HD 8.9", Nexus 7 as well as a Fire HDX 7" and I have to say I really like it! $ 179.00 is a GREAT deal for this excellent hardware!!
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. Best screen for text on the market bar none!
 
mtntrance said:
In support of the 7 inch hdx it's the best screen I have ever seen. This coming from someone who tried a hdx 8.9 and just bought two Airs and two rminis for the family.
For reading text with white background it's absolutely the best I have seen. Everything else out there is very close but the hdx 7 beats them. It uses the most advanced technology with blue led backlighting- read the displaymate review for more information.
I am tempted to get one just for reading in bed. It does not stream video as well as the apple products. I am an amazon kindle book consumer but we'll entrenched in the apple ecosystem so I went with apple products. I would say the kindle hdx is a better reader than the kindle paperweight.

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Couldn't agree more. Best screen for text on the market bar none!
Click to expand...

I feel like I'm trapped in Apple's ecosystem. This product seems great. But none of my hd videos purchased on iTunes will work on this, right?
 
AppleRobert said:
There are issues with some 7" HDX screens, not so with the 8.9. Do the homework on Amazon and read reviews if you become interested.
Click to expand...

I swung by my local Best Buy yesterday and compared the 2013 kindle HD 7", HDX 7". and HDX 8.9". The HDX 7" had an annoying blue haze along the long edges. The HD 7" actually looked pretty sharp too and didn't seem slower (just slightly thicker and heavier). The 8.9" HDX had no screen issue and was really sweet. But for $379, I'd rather spend the extra $20 and get an iPad mini retina.
 
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