Apple iPad 5 (iPad Air) vs Kindle Fire HDX 8.9: Specs, Release Date, Price, and Features Comparison Review

Now that Apple has officially introduced the fifth-generation iPad, also called the iPad 5 and now given the new name iPad Air, the new tablet will soon come into the marketplace crowded by competitors running Android.

One of the most recently introduced of those is the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX. Its 8.9-inch model has a competitive display and processor, so let's take a look at both to see how the new iPad Air stacks up.

Display

The iPad Air still has the 9.7-inch display that previous iPads featured, with an IPS LED touchscreen, which now has a resolution of 2048 x 1536p.

That's a huge increase in screen resolution, but, at 264 pixels per inch, it still doesn't out-display the leading Android tablets, one of which is the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9-inch. The Kindle Fire HDX features a smaller LED IPS 8.9-inch screen, but draws a mammoth resolution of 2560 x 1600p, leading to a pixel density of 339ppi.

Power and Battery 

The iPad Air uses Apple's new 64-bit A7 chip, which we first saw introduced in the iPhone 5s. Apple doesn't give the clock speed for this new chip, but it's sure to be a leading processor for the next generation of tablets, especially running apps created for the 64-bit architecture.

To give you an idea, Apple at its special press event said that the 2013 iPad Air runs eight times as fast as the original iPad. The new iPad Air also comes with the M7 coprocessor that runs motion-related hardware without engaging the main processor.

Meanwhile, the Kindle Fire HDX comes with one of the fastest 32-bit ARM chips for Android machines on the market: the quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 with Adreno 330 graphics, clocked at 2.2Ghz with 2GB of RAM.

It's hard to tell which processor will immediately feel faster - or if, at that speed, you'd even notice a difference between the two. That said, Apple is leading the charge into mobile 64-bit computing, with Samsung among one of the other Android giants fast behind, so the iPad Air may turn out to be more future-proof.

Apple also doesn't give specifics about the capacity of their non-removable batteries, and neither did Amazon. However, we do know that the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 is expected to get about 12 hours of mixed use, just edging out the iPad Air's 10 hours.

Size

Size is very important for tablets. Both Apple and Amazon know this. Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 is very size-conscious, with dimensions of 9 .09 x 6.22 x 0.31 inches and weighing only 13.19 ounces.

However, consider that the 8.9-inch screen is bound to weigh less than a full sized tablet. The iPad Air, which is a full-sized tablet weighs one pound - making it the lightest full-sized tablet in the world, according to Apple. It's thinner too, at 0.29-inches, and even with its 10-inch (diagonal) screen, the iPad Air is just 9.4-inches tall by 6.6-inches wide.

 That's nearly the size of the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 with a screen that's over an inch larger.

Camera and Storage

Though you should never use a tablet to take a picture (it's so awkward), the iPad Air comes with a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, which is capable of shooting 1080p HD Video. The front has a 1.2-megapixel camera that shoots 720p HD video for FaceTime.

The Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 out-shoots Apple's latest tablet with an 8-megapixel camera on the back and the same 720p Video capability on the front-facing camera sensor.

The Kindle Fire HDX comes with either 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of internal storage, and no microSD expansion, which can't match the 128GB internal storage-capable iPad Air (that is, if you have the money for that model). Both feature their own respective custom cloud services for online storage, so whatever model you get isn't necessarily the only amount of storage you can use.

Other Features

Amazon introduced something of a "killer app" for the Kindle Fire HDX: MayDay. At a touch of a button, you have 24/7 live-chat video customer support on Amazon's new line of Kindle Fires, which is something that Apple doesn't feature (though their Apple Care customer service is highly rated).

What does Apple have to offer as far as bonus features? First off, the Apple brand, which comes with an ecosystem of devices and systems that work with the iPad Air, including Mac OS X Mavericks, Apple TV, and the iPhone 5s, to name just a few. Apple is also making its software suites iLife and iWork free with any new hardware purchase.

Release Date and Price

The WiFi-only Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 has been available for pre-order for a while, but its release date is November 7. The LTE version of the Amazon tablet will only be shipping on Dec. 10.

The iPad Air is launching post-haste, with all models going on sale on Nov. 1. It will cost more than the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 though. For the 16GB iPad Air, you'll pay $499. For the LTE version, the price goes up to $629 for the base model, and can push close to a grand if you want the 128GB LTE variant.

The Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 costs only $379 for the base-model WiFi-only version, with the LTE variant priced at $479. To give you an idea of the overall price structure, for less than the basic 16GB LTE iPad Air, you can get a 64GB LTE Kindle Fire HDX.