Kindle Fire And iPad 2 - A Comparison Review

It's amazing; only two or three years ago the market for tablet and tablet computing really wasn't very big. Indeed, laptops were still the rule, rather than the exception in the fight for market share and then came Apple's first iPad and the landscape shifted. It was more like the landscape turned upside-down as Amazon came after Apple with its own line of tablets called Kindles and Barnes and Noble brought out the Nook.

Here's an even more interesting fact that though Apple shifted the market forever with its iPad, it created an opportunity that others are filling - lower cost devices that are nearly as good. For example, Amazon recently brought out its new Kindle Fire and I've had a chance to put my hands on one and look it over. Apple's iPad is still list priced at US $499. Some users may like the 7-inch Kindle Fire form factor as it is smaller and easier to handle than the larger iPad and other than having both WiFi and 3G access - no big issue in most of the country - and dual cameras, both devices are pretty much the same.

Also I forgot to mention that you are locked into Apple's IOS operating system and its proprietary applications - yes there are lots of them. What this means is that Apple will let you play with Apple devices. The Kindle Fire, on the other hand, can share apps with any Android-based device, Windows 7 devices and any Internet-ready device. So, after using both devices, the user might ask himself why should he spend $300 more for a proprietary device, when an open device like the Kindle does nearly everything the Apple will do and actually has better pixel density (169 ppi versus 132)? Yes, some users may admit the Kindle Fire is smaller - about two inches -- but it also offers the same 16 million colors that the Apple iPad offers.

Like the Apple iPad the Kindle lets you view the image at different angles automatically. It also offers the same type of dual-core 1 GB processor speed, so speed is not an issue and neither is image technology because both of them offer in-plane switching technology (the images move as you move the device). And, after using the Silk browser that is available on the Kindle Fire, which is an open-style browser, would the user want to go back to a proprietary browser like Apple's Safari? It is true that Apple has loosened the fetters a bit on its browser so that you can use it under Windows, but you still need to download additional support software to make it work with your Windows device.

The advantages one might see to the Apple iPad: Its larger display; Dual camera; 3G access capability; Larger internal memory 16 GB versus 8GB for the Kindle Fire - not really an issue as there is automatic switching to a cloud drive for storage.

Maybe for some users the Kindle Fire makes more sense. Okay, the user would have to give up two cameras by not having the iPad, but he is also not locking himself into Apple's closed system. The Kindle Fire also offers background updating and syncing with your library and other choices. Its choices seem to be larger than Apple's librarying. Another item that some users may find important, email, is a non-starter because the it handles your email needs too. It also handles a wide variety of formats including DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, AZW files and more. Finally, it recognizes security formats such as WEP, WPA and WPA2 that our router offers.

For some users considering the type of intuitive touch-screen interface, lighter weight and smaller size (which are more convenient) and very reasonably sized screen, the Kindle Fire may come out on top in comparison, specially if one also considers the price. It's just that the supposed advantages may just not be worth the extra $300 for the iPad when the Kindle does nearly the same thing, only in a smaller package.

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How To Synchronize Apple iPad 2

If you want to synchronize your Apple iPad 2 so you can put some music or videos from your PC, you are at right place. Read carefully and follow the instructions how to synchronize your Apple iPad 2 and PC.

You have a couple ways to make the connection:

• USB cable. Use the cable that comes with your iPad to attach the USB connector to a free USB port on your Mac or Windows PC, and then attach the dock connector to the 30-pin connector port on the bottom of the iPad.
• Dock. If you shelled out the bucks for an optional iPad dock (a regular dock or a keyboard dock), first plug it in to a power outlet. Using your iPad's cable, attach the USB connector to a free USB port on your Mac or Windows PC, and attach the dock connector to the 30-pin connector port on the back of the dock. Now insert your Apple iPad into the dock's cradle.

Synchronizing Your iPad Automatically

Depending on the storage capacity of your iPad - 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB - you may be able to transfer all your computer's iPad - friendly digital content onto the iPad hard drive. If that sounds like the way you want to go, then you can take advantage of the easiest of the iPad synchronizing scenarios, in which you don't have to pay any attention in the least: automatic synchronization. Because you know all the iPad - able content on your Mac or Windows PC is going to fit, all you have to do is turn on your iPad 2 and connect it to your computer.

iTunes opens automatically, connects to your Apple iPad 2, and begins synchronizing. And just for your information, the USB port also begins charging your iPad's battery.

Note that you can't use your iPad while the synchronization is running. However, one of the iPad's nicest features is that you can interrupt synchronization. When the Sync in Progress screen appears, you see the Slide to Cancel slider at the bottom of the screen. If you ever need to bail out of the synchronization to perform some other duty, drag the slider to the right. iTunes cancels the synchronization so you can go about your business. When you're ready to restart the synchronization, click the Sync button in iTunes.

When the synchronization is done, you need to do two things:

1. In iTunes, click the Eject icon beside your iPad in the Devices list.
2. Remove the dock connector from the iPad's 30-pin connector port.

Bypassing the automatic synchronization

Sometimes, you may want to connect your iPad to your computer, but you don't want it to synchronization automatically. For example, you may want to connect your iPad to your computer just to charge it. Or perhaps you just want to use iTunes to check how much free space is left on your iPad 2 or to check for updates to the iPad software.

Whatever the reason, you can tell iTunes to hold off the synchronizing this time only by using one of the following techniques:

1. Mac. Connect the iPad to the Mac, and then quickly press and hold the Option and Mac keys
2. Windows. Connect the iPad to the Windows PC, and then quickly press and hold the Control and Shift keys.

When you see that iTunes has added your iPad to the Devices list, you can release the keys. Note, however, that you don't need to use iTunes to see how much free space is left on your iPad. On the Home screen, tap Settings, tap General, and then tap About. In the About screen that slides in, the Available value tells you how many gigabytes (or megabytes) of free space you have to play with.

Troubleshooting automatic synchronization

So, you connect your iPad to your computer and then nothing. If iTunes isn't already running, it refuses to wake up from its. What's up with that?

A couple things could be the problem. First, connect your iPad 2, switch to iTunes on your computer, and then click your iPad 2 in the Devices list. On the Summary tab, make sure the Open iTunes when this iPad is connected check box is selected.

If that check box was already selected, you need to delve a bit deeper to solve the mystery. Follow these steps:

1. Open the iTunes preferences:
2. Mac. Choose iTunes > Preferences
3. Windows. Choose Edit > Preferences
4. Click the Devices tab.
5. Deselect the Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from Syncing Automatically check box.
6. Click OK to put the new setting into effect and enable automatic syncing again.

Syncing Your iPad Manually When you first connected your iPad to iTunes, the brief setup routine included a screen that asked if you wanted to automatically synchronize certain content, such as music and photos. If you activated a check box for a particular type of content, iTunes configure the iPad to synchronize all of that content.

One fine day, you'll be minding your own business and performing what you believe to be a routine synchronization operation when a dialog box pops up telling you iPad 2 is out of hard disk space. You can handle this in a couple of ways:

1. Remove some of the content from your computer. This is a good way to go if your iPad 2 is really close to having enough space. For example, the dialog says your computer wants to send 100MB of data, but your Apple iPad 2 has only 98MB of free space. Get rid of a few megabytes of stuff on your computer, and you're back in the synchronization business.
2. Synchronize your iPad manually. This means that you no longer synchronize everything on your computer. Instead, you hand-pick which play-lists, podcasts, audio books, and so on are sent to your iPad. It's a bit more work, but it's the way to go if there's a big difference between the amount of content on your computer and the amount of space left on your iPad.

Synchronizing manually means that you handle the synchronization yourself for the various content types: contacts, calendars, e-mail, bookmarks, music, podcasts, audio books, e-Books, photos, videos, and apps. You do this using the other tabs in the iPad window: Info, Music, Photos, and so on.

Removing data from your iPad 2 and replacing it with fresh info

After you know what you're doing, synchronizing contacts, calendars, e-mail accounts, and bookmarks to your iPad 2 is a relatively bulletproof procedure that should happen without a hitch each time. Of course, this is technology you're dealing with here, so hitches do happen every now and then, and as a result you might end up with corrupt or repeated information on your iPad.

Or perhaps you've been synchronizing your iPad with a couple of different computers, and you decide to cut one of the computers out of the loop and revert to just a single machine for all your synchronization.

In both these scenarios, you need to replace the existing information on your Apple iPad 2 with a freshly baked batch of data. Fortunately, iTunes has a feature that lets you do exactly that. Here's how it works:

1. Connect your iPad to your computer.
2. In the iTunes Devices list, click the iPad.
3. Click the Info tab.
4. Select the Sync check boxes for each type of information you want to work with (contacts, calendars, e-mail accounts, bookmarks, or notes).
5. In the Advanced section, select the check box beside each type of information you want to replace.
6. Click Apply. iTunes replaces the selected information on your iPad.

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