Auberge Akilisso Technology

The world’s largest online retailer, Amazon.com Inc., unveiled its all-new tablet on September 28, 2011. The tablet is called the Amazon Kindle Fire and will be available in the US market on November 15, 2011. A lot of buzz has been generated since Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos, made the announcement.

Apple’s iPad has single-handedly dominated the tablet PC landscape since its launch in early 2010. With so many tablets being launched since 2010, the question always arises as to how these new tablets stack up against the market leader, the Apple iPad 2.

We have seen many top tech companies launch their own version of tablet PCs like the Samsung Galaxy, Motorola Xoom and RIM’s Blackberry Playbook, to name a few. However, none of these competitors have been able to significantly impact Apple’s domination in the tablet PC arena so far.

At first glance, looks like the Amazon’s all-new tablet will pose a significant challenge to the iPad 2, especially that it’s priced at $199 compared to Apple’s iPad 2 price of $499. However, a closer look at the specifications and features is required to help determine which tablet is right for you. Having said so, let’s take a close look at the pros and cons of the Amazon Kindle Fire.

Operating System: the Amazon Kindle Fire runs on a customized version of Android 2.3 OS, whereas, the Apple iPad 2 runs Apple’s iOS 4.3.1. Without getting too technical, these two operating systems are comparable, with a few differences. However, with the combination of the new cloud-accelerated split browser, Amazon Silk, the web experience on the Kindle is expected to have an advantage in terms of speed and performance.

Amazon Silk Browser: as briefly mentioned above, Silk is a cloud-accelerated internet browser that is exclusive to Amazon’s Kindle Fire. In simple terms, this innovative web browser does all the heavy lifting through Amazon’s remote servers, thereby using less resources of the Kindle Fire device. This not only helps in the tablets speed and performance, but also conserves battery life.

Processor: the Kindle Fire uses the TI OMAP 4 dual-core processor, whereas, the iPad 2 uses Apple’s A5 dual-core processor. Both the processors have a speed of 1 GHz, therefore, they are quite comparable in terms of speed.

There are tens of thousands of Android applications available in the marketplace so choosing just 10 of the best apps is a very difficult job. However, we’ve gone through hundreds of different apps and compiled these top 10 Android apps that you can’t live without.

Handcent SMS

The default Android messaging app is ok, but Handcent SMS is better. Way better. You can customize the layout of your messages, view the messages in conversation format, password protect your messages and spell check messages before you send it. This should be the first app that you install!

BetterKeyboard

Just like the Android messaging app, the keyboard app is also ok, but BetterKeyboard lives up to its name by being miles better. With true multi-touch ability, proximity correction and a number of skins available; once you go Better you’ll never go back.

Snap Photo Pro

Sack the default Android camera app and splash out 99 cents on this little beauty. Snap Photo Pro lets you take multiple shots at a click of a button which is great for catching natural expressions, a digital stabilizer which is useful if you have shaky hands, a digital zoom and there are multiple digital filters you can apply to the photo.

RingDroid

When it comes to pimping out your Android a unique ringtone is essential. RingDroid will let you edit MP3 files and slice out that catchy chorus or the really cool intro. Eye of the Tiger intro anyone?

Launcher Pro

The ultimate dashboard management app. Launcher Pro gives you 7 home screens to fill up with widgets and customize to your delight. It has super smooth scrolling between screens and can even handle 3D graphics for that extra cool look.

Norton Mobile Security

It’s a scary world out there folks but Norton acts like your personal body guard defending your phone from intrusions and malware. It can even remotely disable and delete data if you ever have your phone stolen so those filthy thieves can’t extract any personal data from it.

Angry Birds

We know that everyone is going crazy about Angry Birds and there is a good reason for it! This very simple game will draw you in and before you know it your morning commute won’t last nearly long enough as you play the ever harder levels to defeat the greedy piggies.