iPad Mini 2 vs Amazon Fire HD 7 Review: Price, Specs, Features Comparison

By Virnelli Mercader, Christian Post Contributor Friday, January 02, 2015

The iPad Mini 2 is the compact version of the iPad Air. Compared to other iPad tablets, this device has the lowest price, but still retains the power and performance one can expect from Apple devices. On the other hand, those looking for a good tablet with a lower price than the Mini 2 might consider taking a closer look at the Amazon Fire HD 7. The Amazon tablet has been touted as one of the best value-for-money devices, but can it really perform as well as the iPad Mini 2?

Design:
The iPad Mini 2 is identical to its predecessor, but is slightly thicker and heavier to accommodate a larger battery for the high resolution screen. The device measures 7.87 x 5.3 x 0.29 inches and weighs 11.68 ounces. It comes in silver and space gray.

The Amazon Fire HD 7 looks and feels like a miniature version of Amazon's premium Fire HDX line. It measures 7.05 x 5 x 0.4 inches and weighs 11.9 ounces. The Fire HD 7 is available in cobalt, black, citron, white, and magenta.

Features:
The iPad Mini 2 has a 7.9-inch screen with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 and a pixel density of 324ppi, resulting in sharp visuals and detailed images. However, the Fire HD 7's 7-inch, 1280 x 800 pixel display also provides rich colors and details, but the colors may not be as accurate compared to images and videos viewed on the Mini 2.

The iPad Mini 2 has a 1.3GHz Apple A7 processor, the same speed as the processor in the iPhone 5s and it runs on the Apple iOS7. Meanwhile, the Fire HD 7 packs a 1.5GHz quad-core MediaTek processor and runs on the Android-based Fire OS Sangria.

The Fire HD 7 is probably one of the most kid-friendly tablets around as it has Amazon's FreeTime interface, which allows adults to create separate accounts for up to four children, making this a good tablet to share with the whole family. The iPad Mini 2 doesn't have this, so make sure to check your settings so the kids don't mistakenly use your credit card to buy loads of apps.

When it comes to apps, the Apple Store is unbeatable when it comes to content, so one can pick and choose from a wide variety of apps for the iPad Mini 2. The Fire HD 7 can only access the Amazon Appstore, but it contains almost the same popular apps that can be found in Google Play, though probably not the same amount of apps.

One of the Fire HD 7's faults is probably its internal storage, which is only 8GB. It also lacks a microSD card slot to allow for expansion. While the iPad Mini 2 also doesn't come with a microSD slot, it's available in either 16GB or 32GB options

Price:
The Amazon Fire HD 7 costs $140, while the iPad Mini 2 costs $299 for the 16GB model and $349 for the 32GB variant.