Kobo Arc vs Amazon Kindle Fire HD: Specs comparison

Kobo recently entered the Indian market with three eReaders and a tablet. The new 7-inch tablet dubbed Arc is Android-based and priced at Rs 11,999. A couple of months back, Amazon dropped the price of the 7-inch Kindle Fire to Rs 11,999. This means, the Kobo Arc directly competes with the Kindle Fire 7.0.  We’ve put both tablets in the ring for a specs face off, to see who emerges as the winner (on paper).

Kobo Arc

7-inch Arc from Kobo

Kobo’s Arc tablet sports a 7-inch HD display with a pixel density of 215ppi. It isn’t exactly light weight at 364grams. Under the hood, it is powered by a dual-core TI OMAP processor that is clocked at 1.5GHz with 1GB of RAM. The rated battery life is up to 10 hours, but we can confirm only when we get our hands on the device and perform the battery test. On connectivity front, one will find Wi-Fi, but the device doesn’t support Bluetooth. It has 1.3MP front-facing camera, while a rear camera has been given a miss.  

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Amazon Kindle Fire HD

Top selling Kindle

The 7-inch Kindle Fire HD is one of the popular devices from Amazon, and recently faced a price cut in the Indian market, making it all the more lucrative. It sports a display just like the Kobo Arc with similar pixel density of 215 ppi. However, it is slightly heavier than the Arc at 295 grams. It is also powered by a TI OMAP processor, but clocks at a lower 1.2GHz. The tablet supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. On the camera front, it is no different than the Arc and comes equipped with a 1.3MP front-facing camera.

| | Weight | 395 g | 364 g | | Sensors | Ambient light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope | Ambient light sensor,
accelerometer | |   |   |   | | Processor | TI OMAP 4460
dual-core at 1.2 GHz   | TI OMAP 4470, dual-core at 1.5GHz | | RAM | 1GB | 1GB | | OS version out of the box | Android 4.0 | Android 4.0 | | On-Board Memory | 16GB/32GB | 16GB/32GB/64GB | | Memory card Support | No | No | | Rated battery life | Over 1 1 hours | Up to 10 hours | |   |   |   | | Wi-Fi | 802.11 a/b/g/n | 802.11 b/g/n | | Bluetooth | Yes, with A2DP support

| No | |   |   |   | | Primary Camera | No | No | | Secondary Camera | 1.3MP | 1.3MP | |   |   |   | |   Online Pricing (In Rupees) | Rs 11,999 | Rs 11,999 (Rs 9,999 festive offer until November 3, 2013) |

Verdict:
It’s no secret that Amazon’s Kindle Fire runs on a heavily skinned version of the Android OS. Similarly, Kobo also appears to have customized the UI considerably. Kobo recommends and also lets users discovers new books from its own Bookstore. However, in terms of content, Amazon has an upper hand over the other.

Coming to the specs, both tablets are equipped with similar displays featuring 215ppi, but the Kobo Arc is slightly lighter than the Kindle Fire HD. It also gets a faster processor. Amazon offers 16GB and 32GB models, while Kobo adds the 64GB variant too. It should be noted that both devices do not support microSD card slot for additional storage. On the battery front, Amazon promises to offer an hour or two more than Kobo. However, this can be confirmed only after conducting battery tests on the devices. Kindle supports Wi-Fi as well as Bluetooth, while the latter goes missing in the Arc.

All in all, the Kobo Arc and Fire HD appear to be on the same page in terms of the specs, at lest on paper. The Kobo Arc is available at a discounted offer of Rs 9,999 until November 3. Which one would you pick?