Sorry Apple, I’ll be Keeping my Kindle Fire

As you know doubt heard (and it’d be hard not to), Apple released they’re latest iPad to the masses yesterday. Since I’m basically the gadget nerd at my office, I had several coworkers ask me in the last week whether I would be ditching my Kindle Fire for the Retina Display goodness of Apple’s tablet. I wont lie: it’s definitely something I’ve considered. Had Apple released a smaller iPad as well (making it more comparable to the Kindle), you may have just found me in line with all the rest yesterday morning.

But you know what? I might not have as well. I’ve really grown to love my Kindle Fire these past few months, flaws and all.

It definitely helps that Amazon’s tablet has improved substantially since it launched back in November. For starters, the keyboard actually works! This has been a constant source of frustration, especially when I’m trying to use Evernote or Twitter. I can’t count the number of times I’ve accidentally typed a period instead of a space because of the poorly designed keyboard. They seemed to have fixed this issue though (or else I’ve grown accustomed to it). The evidence is before you: I typed this entire post on my Kindle with almost no problem.

The real improvement though has been the apps. When the Kindle Fire was first released back in November, Amazon’s App Store paled in comparison to competing stores like iTunes and the Android Market. There were a few bright spots of course, but especially when it came to games, I could count the number of games worth buying on one hand. Now when I check the App Store, I regularly find new apps and games of the same quality I’d grown accustomed to on my iPod Touch. It still needs some work (as a lot of them are still just blown-up phone apps), but the progress is reassuring.

I also must say that I’m still quite enamoured with the screen on the Kindle. Though I have no doubt that the new iPad has a beautiful screen (if the iPhone 4 is any indication), the display on the Kindle Fire is no slouch. It’s bright and vibrant and very sharp. It doesn’t pack as many pixels as the Retina Display, but it seems pretty dang close to me.

Much to my surprise, it turns out that I do have a place in my lifestyle for an “in-between” device (i.e., more than a phone, but not quite a computer), and the Kindle Fire fills that niche quite well. I still have my nits to pick with the device, but maybe those will be improved with time as well.