Amazon Kindle Fire vs Google Nexus 7. Which is better?

Last year, Amazon shocked the gadget loving world when they debuted the Amazon Kindle Fire, small form factor computer tablet with a 7" screen, 8G of storage and the ability play games, read books and playback movies on demand. Amazon offered all of this for the small form factor price of less than $200(US).

Kindle Fire- Not bad at all.
(amazon.com)

At first, Amazon barely broke even on each Fire sold and made a bet it would make a profit from apps, movies books and other items purchased from Amazon itself. Now, the parts used to make the Fire have dropped in price and Amazon is actually making a modest profit on each Fire it sells plus the app store money it banks every day.

The Nexus 7- Looking good.
(pocket-lint.com)

Not to be outdone, Google has now put its Nexus 7 on the market to compete with the Fire. Same size screen, but with the guts of its more powerful, and larger (10.1") competitors that allows it to process video, audio and other data more quickly. The Nexus 7 also has a better screen with higher definition and uses the latest iteration of the Android operating system called "Jellybean". Plus, Google sells the Nexus 7 for the same low price as the Fire- $200.

Uh-oh. two competitors for the exact same price? This looks like a battle royal of 7" tablets! How do you, as a consumer, make a smart buying decision when choosing between these two mini-tablets? Which one is the better choice? Which one is best for you and finally, which one should you buy?

Wired.com has compared these two tablets and has the scoop on both and what they offer to customers looking for a quality experience in the smaller tablet form.
Go there now to read the article and decide for yourself.

Oh- one more thing...

Rumors are strong in the computer world Apple will soon introduce a 7" tablet of their own. A mini-iPad would really cause a ruckus and turn the market on its ear.

Things are heating up! Stay tuned...

Google Nexus 7- The Kindle Fire starts to feel the heat.

In the beginning, there was the Kindle Fire. It cost $200 and delivered the kind of experience that made it a runaway bestseller. It could do all kinds of light duty computing- more than enough for most people who weren't looking for the high-zoot power of an Apple iPad (or the high-zoot price either).

Well, it took awhile but competitors are starting to appear in the marketplace to challenge the Fire for a prime place under the tree next Christmas. This week, Google introduced the Nexus 7, a small form tablet sized like the Fire and priced like it too- a mere $200 for a 8G version ($250 for the 16G). The screen is 7" inches across and is as thin as an iPhone.

If my wife is reading this, here is my hint for Christmas.
(google.com)

The Nexus 7 can do most of the things other tablets can do like display ebooks and magazines, play movies and install more than 600,000 Android Apps from the Google Play market of apps. But, The Nexus 7 comes with the next generation of the Android operating system called Jellybean that boasts features like Google Now and 10 hours of e-reading and web browsing (but "only" 8 hours of HD video).

But does it seems that 8G or 16G may not be enough to store books, music, apps and the other ephemera required to make the tablet experience satisfying? No worries- the Nexus 7 uses "tons of free" (Google's words) cloud storage to hold most of your data so you never have to worry about running out of space for all of your Grateful Dead bootleg tapes or having to pick only a few of your favorite Scooby Doo episodes. Now, you can keep them all ready, as much as you want, whenever you want.

The good news is you can preorder now and get $25 of Google Play credit to add the apps of your choice and be the first on your block to get what looks to be the start of a beautiful friendship. Go to Google's announcement here for a better look at all the specs, accessories and the preorder page so you can get your Nexus 7 by the end of July.

Want to read a review of the Google Nexus 7? Cnet.com has both a video and text review here. 

The ball is now in Amazon's court. We know there's a new Fire in the works and you can be sure the next year is sure to be interesting for the winners.

Winners? Sure. You know, people who buy these things like you and me.