Is Kindle Fire too heavy?

UPDATE!!  If you can measure your device's IPS screen, please share with us. Thanks in advance.
See the one below for the old post.

Some smart guys suggested using Weight/Display Area instead to rank. Good point. The following is my update, notice I changed some definitions. W/S changed from Weight/Screen Size=W/S  ===>  Weight/Diagonal Length=W/DL  Just for crude reference due to the lack of some information.

EReaders	Weight (grams)	Diagonal (inches)	W/DL	Rank of W/DL	ISP Screen Dimension (inches)	W/DA	Rank of W/DA
Nook Tablet	400	7.54	53	1	4.5625 × 6.0625	9.3	1
Lenovo IdeaPad A1	400	7.54	53	1	4.56*6a	9.3	1
Samsung Galaxy Tab	380	7.00	54	2	-	-	-
Kindle Fire	413	7.54	55	3	4.56*6	9.6	2
BlueBery Playbook	425	6.95	61	4	3.5*6	9.9	3
IPad 2	601	9.40	64	5	5.8*7.4	14.0	5
Nook Color	449	6.77	66	6	5.8*3.5	10.5	4
IPad 1	680	9.40	72	7	5.8*7.4	15.8	6
HP TouchPad	740	9.40	79	8	5.8*7.4b	17.2	7
Note:
a. No data available, adopts Nook Tablet and Fire
b. No data available, adopts Ipad
*All data may not be acuate, just crude sets, use it for fun.
*Samsung Galaxy Tab IPS Screen data not available.
*The Diagonal lengths in this updated table are calculated from the IPS screen display dimensions
*Many of the numbers are from tabletreaderinfo.com
DA-Display Area
DL-Diagonal Length
W-Weight in grams

Conclusion is very similar to that in the old post except for the rank of Ipad 2 and Nook Color.
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Old post

I believe that many of you have noticed that there are tons of complains about the weight of Amazon Kindle Fire. But I would say I actually appreciate the portability of the Fire brought to me. It is relatively lightweight and I prefer to bring my Kindle Fire instead of HP TouchPad anywhere, and I spend most of my time using Kindle Fire and leave TP at the corner. Let's work out some data before "fighting":
First let's define a parameter  W/S=Weight/Screen Size, which means the smaller the W/S is, the better. Then we calculate W/S (g/in) for some popular ereader tablets:

EReaders	Weight(grams)	Screen Size(inches)	W/S	Rank
Nook Tablet	400	7	57	1
Lenovo IdeaPad A1	400	7	57	1
Kindle Fire	413	7	59	3
BlackBerry Playbook	425	7	61	4
IPad 2	601	9.7	62	5
Nook Color	450	7	64	6
IPad 1	680	9.7	70	7
HP TouchPad	740	9.7	76	8

From the above calculations, we can easily see that Nook Tablet and Lenovo A1 are the winners though the numbers are pretty close among the 7" tablets. HP TouchPad has the worst W/S. It is also impressive that with the big 9.7" screen, IPad 2 even has lower W/S than Nook Color. IPad 2 does a very good job. We also determine that Kindle Fire ranks No. 3 which is not as bad as many complained. Yes, Amazon could have done better to further reduce the W/S by using material Al as used by IPad (Any patent issue? I do not like such kind of patent).

In summary, Kindle Fire does its job and it is not too heavy compared to other similar tablets. I would say again, think in your own way and pick the right tablet which best fits your needs.

What do "Kindle" and "Nook" mean?

Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet

" Kindle " and " Nook " are the brands of e readers for Amazon and Barnes & Noble, respectively. Both manufacturers are book giants-one is the biggest online store while the other is the largest brick and stone one.


Kindle


By definition given by thefreedictionary, kindle has the following meanings:
- To build or fuel (a fire).
- To set fire to; ignite
- To cause to glow; light up
- To arouse (an emotion, for example).

Pretty good meanings, right?
It is probabily given by the branding agency Cronan according to this article: "How the Kindle Got Its Name".  In the same article, it says: "Kindle means to set alight or start to burn, to arouse or be aroused, to make or become bright."
Nook
However does not sme like having such nice meanings as Kindle: 
- a sheltered and secluded place 
- an interior angle formed by two meeting walls
The nook often refers to a comfortable and secluded place to read or have a conversation with someone inside a room, which might be a good explanation of the e reader brand name "Nook" .What I can think is that Nook sounds like "Look" which is easy to pronounce and memorize. Take a "Nook" (look) at a book. Now Nook is meaningful. 

Nook Color v.s. Nook Tablet v.s. Kindle Fire v.s. Lenovo IdeaPad A1

The comparison between these three gadgets can be seen at B & N (who made Nook, always keep this in mind) website.   The link to the comparison.
While this is from B&N and surely it is biased toward nook , it can be a good reference at least the specifications of Nook Tablet.

Nook (tablet) looks like a little nicer than Kindle (Fire). The newly released Nook Tablet is an upgrade of Nook Color with double memory (512MB==>1GB) and double storage (8G==>16GB), the processor is upgraded to dural core 1G from single core 800MHz , and the price is increased from $199 to $249.

Well, from my point of view, I would either get a Nook Tablet [B&N, Amazon] or Kindle Fire, compared to "Fire" which has the same price as the Nook Color (if you can get Color without paying tax, while sometimes you may find $120 or even lower deal of the Color) but Kindle Fire has dual core faster speed processor, it is slightly lighter and smaller than Nook Color.

Another nice comparison  "Kindle Fire vs. Nook Tablet: Which 7-Incher Is Best For You?"
from a third-party can be found at Huffingtonpost.  I would trust this comparison review more than the B & N one.
Update! Apple is going to release its new generation IPAD soon... , will it be a 7 inch one? If yes, the three ones we talk about here will get into trouble.

Now you have three strong candidates when considering the 7" portable and affordable tablets: Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet [amazon] and IdeaPad A1 [amazon].  Which one is your best love? See this concise comparison.

Ref: Pic is taken from InfoGenra

Note: Nook tablet (Amazon, B&N)  is the latest version of Nook, which is the direct competitor of Amazon's Kindle Fire.

Processor comparison between Amazon Kindle Fire and Lenovo IdeaPad A1

There are many reviews which compare these two "Price Killers", if you follow the link I listed on the right side "Kindle Fire v.s. Lenovo IdeaPad A1" , you will find that Lenovo IdeaPad A1 beats Kindle Fire easily except for one important feature-Processor(or I call it heart of the pad).  Though A1 has a list price of $249, from time to time you can find the price tag of Lenovo A1 8G is reduced to the same level as Fire's.

      What is the difference between these two processors? Does this difference matter a lot?  Is it worth to have a weaker processor but possess more other features (cameras,external expansion slot, micorphone, bluetooth, GPS and one more important fact-no Android root needed to get access to Andorid Apps Market)?  It seems that it is a no-brainer question: IdeaPad wins! Before we make this conclusion, we'd better take a deep look at TI OMAP Dual Core (Fire) and TI OMAP Single Core(A1). 

Comparison Chart of CPUs used by Kindle Fire v.s. Lenovo IdeaPad A1

Tablet	Kindle Fire	IdeaPad A1
CPU Model No.	OMAP4430                                      (Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9)	OMAP3622                                 (Single Core Cortex-A8)
Generation of CPU	4th	3rd
Semiconductor technology	45nm	45nm
CPU Speed	1GHz	1GHz
No. Cores	2	1
Graphics processing unit (GPU)	PowerVR SGX540 @ 304 MHz	PowerVR SGX530@ 200MHz
Comments	Fire CPU has Faster speed with better graphic performance

Many users who owe both tablets report little difference is noticed when using the tablets though A1 has only single core.

When coming to the point of making a final choice, other factor has to be considered such as user faith on some certain brand and manufacturer. Both Amazon and Lenovo are big player in business, while Lenovo actually have a much longer history in the delivery of computer hardware and Amazon is sure to be superior to Lenovo in contents.  

My fresh taste of Kindle Fire

I would say it is a great little tablet with excellent value considering its sweet price ( I got it in an even lower price).

• It is not as great as a kindle keyboard or the new 4th generation family as a book ereader without e-ink technology.
• I notice there are many complains about its no physical volume buttons, no cameras, no expansion slots etc.   
• Without the physical buttons is indeed a drawback. What I really want is one button (as the "U" button on Nook Color) which allows you quickly return to the home screen. If it had hdmi port, that would be great.

WebOS v.s. Android v.s. IOS

I would say all the three OSes are great. While I have more experience on the first two.

WebOS:  
Maybe the easiest one to use, even my two year old can handle it without any difficulty. She simply refused me to help her. Has maybe the best soft keyboard. Really like the swipe  feature of WebOS which lets you close unwanted applications in a simple way with just a swipe.

Android CM7:  
My two year old gets confused about it. More apps than WebOS. Easier to install non android market .apk apps with the help of such as AndExplorer. Desktop icons are too small and cannot be changed easily.
 
IOS: 
Looks pretty and cool. Easy to use and have so many apps. Price... TP to me, a better value with WebOS and Android dural systems.