Kindle Fire HD vs Nexus 7 - Which one has a better reading screen?

[lhgrappler]

We are choosing between Kindle Fire HD (which I will probably root, or sideload stuff) & Nexus 7.

These will be the kids tablets primarily used for reading ePubs, also used for movies while traveling.

My understanding is that the screen & sound is better on the Fire HD, but hubby is leaning towards Nexus.

Has anyone had their hands on both?

Thanks

[Teknikal]

Nope I did recently buy a Nexus 7 though and the sound thing is true the built in speaker is probably worse than my smartphones but even with that it's great for the price.

I'm lucky enough to have a good bluetooth speaker I can use and prefer headphones most of the time so I'm not effected very much.

Might be worth bearing in mind Google has a new Nexus 7 lined up for release shortly although I think the original is still very capable hence me buying one.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by lhgrappler

We are choosing between Kindle Fire HD (which I will probably root, or sideload stuff) & Nexus 7.

These will be the kids tablets primarily used for reading ePubs, also used for movies while traveling.

My understanding is that the screen & sound is better on the Fire HD, but hubby is leaning towards Nexus.

Has anyone had their hands on both?

Thanks

Reading ePUBs is possible on Kindle Fire HD, but not out of the box.
Fire HD originally is a media consumption platform for Amazon content.
For eBooks, this means Amazon azw, not ePUB.
You can circumvent this by rooting, sideloading apps and such.
Not too complicated, but still needs some "tuning".
Nexus 7, on the other hand is a truly open Android tablet.

Personally (I have them both) I prefer both (7" and 8.9") Kindle Fire HDs.
But that's because Amazon is my main source for eBooks and I don't watch movies or play games on either...
If all the other stuff is important to you, I'd tend towards Nexus 7. Being Google, you can rely on the newest updates for the OS and 100% compatibility. For a rooted tablet, with each New update you have to bother again.

But on the other hand:
Speakers on Kindle Fire HD beat Nexus 7 by far.
To me, external speakers are a compromise at best. Why go for a mobile unit and then take tons of external stuff with you?
For the display, I don't really see a difference.
If that's a criteria, why not go for the "real" HD Kindle Fire HD 8.9 instead?

[tomsem]

Overdrive Media Console can be had from the Amazon Appstore for the Fire. You can side-load ePub files to it (DRM free ones). Of course there are better ePub apps but you have to side load those.

[tomsem]

In any case, I would wait a few months. Fire HD and Nexus will be 'obsolete' and you can be sure both screens will improve over the current models.

[lhgrappler]

Well... we ended up buying one of each (we got good deals on each of craigslist) I might post a comparison after I get to play with them more

Originally Posted by tomsem

In any case, I would wait a few months. Fire HD and Nexus will be 'obsolete' and you can be sure both screens will improve over the current models.

I think that can be said of pretty much anything electronics based these days. We also needed these ASAP because the ones we were using were lost & the other broke.