Gadgetory

what's up prized by fans i'm brian Tong in the 7-inch tablet has proven to be a sweet spot for price and size so we're facing off to 199 dollar rivals it's a prize five-foot out between the updated nook HD and the kindle fire HD our judges for this fight our senior editor Eric the tank man Franklin senior editor Donald taco taco bell and myself reeling a ding dong will take all three judges blind stores and average them out to the nearest tenth of a point the final prize fights for will be an average of all rounds using the same system let's get it on round one is designed the nuke HD brings one of the more original tablet designs with a plastic bezel frame that's wider on the sides and their signature ergonomic rubberized backing that's more comfortable to hold it feels much lighter in weight compared to the kindle fire HD but the nook HD s biggest win is its 1440 x 900 resolution that's the best for any 7-inch tablet in the market now the kindle fire HD brings a more standard design with rounded corners and a rubberized backing with an accented stripe amazon's 1280 x 800 resolution is still very good for a screen this size and we like physical volume buttons but they're so flush here that I found myself looking for them many times the nook HD gets a 4 and the kindle fire gets a 3 next round is controls and user interface the nuke HD takes a step back when it comes to the UI wheel of a physical home button but this feels like multiple interfaces stacked on top of each other with a carousel on the top a customizable home screen with widgets but then you go to your library to see all your different media content there and you still have access to notifications and your settings there's a little too much going on here all at once and it feels like a mix of a nuke Kindle and Android interface jumbled together as one now the fire HD brings a really refined and simple UI for people who want to just access their content and nothing else you can add your favorite apps and content to the carousel there's a row dedicated to your different media content to jump directly to you'll have the pulldown menu for your settings and notifications and related content or trending topics that change depending on the app in the carousel now it's still a limited interface and that's a blessing for some users but occurs for others who want any real customization the kindle fire HD takes this round with the 3.7 and the nook HD gets a 3 after averaging two rounds the note case V has a slight edge next round is features both 16 gig tablets bring Wi-Fi Bluetooth cloud storage support multiple user accounts and are running their own versions of Android but each bring some unique features now the nook HD is still the only major 7 inch tablet with an expandable micro SD card memory slot but its biggest change is that it's now opened up the entire Google Play library with access to apps games and its entire media library and it's really a game changer for this device that it's never had before plus you guys can always just hack this thing and turn it into an open android tablet now the kindle fire HD brings a front facing camera and unique features like x-ray for books and movies that brings you more relevant information alongside your content and whispersync that syncs your location in a book or how far you've seen in a movie across multiple devices it may not be the sexiest thing to talk about but there are real parental controls here and Amazon's free time sets time limits on kids usage plus its biggest feature is its content library for amazon prime members live sistah free movies TV shows books and music content and that's a big deal if you're a prime member but the bummer is Amazon's google play store is overseen by amazon and limit your app selection it's just not the pure Google Play experience the fire HD features are great if again you're a prime member but not everyone is still there's a lot to like on both platforms so we're calling this a tie at four points apiece next round is web browsing and multimedia the nook HD software update also raised its game making Google's Chrome the default browser is still the best mobile browser even without flash and we found it to be faster loading than Amazon silk browser while bringing all of chromes benefits but let's talk about that screen and when watching movies the nuke HD clearly separated itself with sharper image quality and better color reproduction movies really look great on this device and make you say wow wow the kindle fires silk browser is still solid but there's no more flash support video quality looked very good but it doesn't match up to the nuke HD s and the biggest advantage comes with its dolby digital speakers that are the best research on any tablet to date both tablets stand out here but it's the nook HD and its superior screen that get the edge with the four and the fire HD gets a 3.7 so after averaging four rounds the note KC has pushed its lead the two tenths of a point the final round that decides it all is performance it would be a stretch to call these top performers because they both have sluggish moments with their interfaces and they just aren't on the level with other higher-end tablets on the market the nuke HD excels with better gaming performance that even best the Nexus 7 in our 3dmark graphics tests plus it also offers the best looking movies on a 7-inch tablet the fire HD is no chump but it just doesn't stand out as much now in our own cnet video playback drain test the nuke HD gave us seven point three hours of video playback with Wi-Fi turned off and the kindle fire HD gave us five point three hours of battery life but increased to 6.6 hours when using Amazon Prime streaming day-to-day battery use will always fluctuate depending on usage so in the final round the nook HD gets a 3.3 and the fire HD gets a 2.7 so let's average out all five rounds and in a battle between these two rivals the latest software update to the nook HD makes all the difference and it takes this prize fight 3.7 to 3.4 and is your prize fight winner now the decision still isn't clear cut because if you're someone that truly lives in the Amazon ecosystem the kindle fire HD makes sense for you and we're expecting a refresh soon but it's the evolution of the nook HD that has convinced our judges it's a new man but it also might be too late with new 7-inch tablets on their way i'm brian Tong thanks for watching I will catch you guys next week for another prize fight