Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Kindle Fire vs iPod Touch 4th gen

I'm a sucker for gadgets, and I think touch screens are cool which is how I ended up with a Kindle Fire (original) and an iPod Touch.  I already had an iPod Touch, but I thought it might be nice to have a larger screen and try out android.  I also wanted to have another gadget because half the time my iPod is being used by my husband or kids.  I'm in the process of deciding which of the two devices will be my primary device and my husband will use the other one.

I know a lot of reviews compare the Fire to the iPad, but this doesn't make sense to me since really, the Fire is closer to the iPod Touch. The price point is similar on the 8 gig model of the two devices.

iPod Touch
  • better touch responsiveness
  • more apps
  • brightens/darkens screen automatically
  • buttons for volume
  • camera (but I don't use much, so this is isn't really that big of an asset)
  • microphone (same as camera)
  • light and fits in a pocket 
  • can organize apps into categories on the device
  • better parental controls
(original) Kindle Fire
  • bigger screen
  • fewer apps, although most of the apps I'm most interested in are available
  • can display Amazon videos
  • requires 2 hands to use (at least for me, my wrist starts to hurt if I use it one handed for too long)
  • flash - this means I don't need a special app for facebook or twitter, I can use the web one, also pbskids seems to work just fine
  • tabbed browsing 
  • searching the Amazon app store makes more sense than itunes to me (i.e. you can sort by price)
  • the screen is also big enough to make using web-based google calendar useful
  • can see more text at once in an e-book
both have
  • netflix
  • basic email (gmail and hotmail are painless to set up)
  • music
  • words with friends
I'll probably add more information as time goes by. I haven't decided yet which I like better.  I definitely prefer watching videos on the Fire because the screen is bigger, but in terms of portability, the ipod touch wins.



3 comments:

Usemeplz said...

I prefer iPod, for me it is more comfortable and habitual..

Anonymous said...

Soooo..... Which one? I am looking at buying one for each of my girls as a Christmas gift, for my 9 and 12 year old. What do you suggest for those ages?

rcstanley said...

Either one would work. My children use both of mine.

Choose a kindle fire if:
- device will be used for reading a lot (ipod's small screen can't hold much text at once)
- you already have a lot of amazon content
- your child misplaces things easily (easier to find because it is bigger)
- web browsing (bigger screen is nice)

Choose an ipod touch if:
- you have a lot of itunes content
- your child's friends have ipods
- your child wants the latest apps (fire usually lags behind in what apps are available)
- portability is important (ipod fits easily in a pocket)
- your child will be easily frustrated by an occasional interface hiccup (on the fire,you occasionally have to tap twice)
- your child wants to do lots of photo / video / skype (camera is much better on ipod touch)