If there weren't already a sea of tablets to choose from to give to your loved one this holiday season, Amazon released the Kindle Fire November 14th. Already quite popular, it's shaking up the tablet world. Is this tablet right for you? Let's compare it to one of the most popular tablets currently on the market, the iPad2.

Storage Space and Screen Size

Many people use the tablet as their only computer, and as such, need a lot of storage space for movies, photos, and music, not to mention all of the apps available for download. If this describes you, choose the iPad2. The Kindle is only offering up a measly 8GB of storage (my phone stores more data than that) while the iPad2 ranges from 16GB to 64GB. Of course, if you already have an external hard drive, it won't matter how much space the Kindle Fire holds. You'll just have to be selective with what is stored on it for when you travel away from home.

When it comes to storage in the cloud, the Kindle Fire wins. Surf the web using Amazon's Silk browser powered by Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud, stream music, and store content in the cloud. The iPad2 supports iCloud, allowing all content contained on user specified devices to be synched automatically.

As for display, the iPad2 wins this round (if you are looking for a nice, big screen.) The Kindle Fire features a 7 inch display, while the iPad2 measures 9.7 inches. Not bad, if you watch a lot of movies or read books and magazines. However, if you are constantly on the go, you might enjoy the smaller size of the Kindle Fire.

Look Mom, No Camera!

Just about every tablet comes with a rear camera, and most are equipped with a front camera as well. The iPad2 is one of these, but the Kindle Fire has no camera whatsoever. Not a problem if you just want to read or play games, but if you love to snap pictures on the go and share them instantly, you'll probably prefer the iPad2.

Besides being Android-powered (the iPad2 comes with iOS 5), the Kindle Fire doesn't have 3G or 4G Wi-Fi capabilities. This is a big deal, as you will be using it on the go, and won't want to wait forever for a page to load. The iPad2, on the other hand, does feature 3G speeds on AT&T and Verizon networks. Some customers might not mind the slow speeds of the Kindle Fire, but the majority will.

Despite the fact it is smaller than the iPad2, the Kindle Fire's battery life is roughly 8 hours, where the iPad2 boasts 10 hours, even while surfing the web. This can be a big deal when you are stuck in an airport, your flight delayed due to a snowstorm, and you want to keep up with the latest news or play a game to pass the time. That extra two hours can really mean a lot.

Music and Apps

There aren't really many differences on how users can get content onto their tablet. Amazon makes it just as easy as Apple to buy an ebook to read, watch a movie or show from Amazon's Instant Video service, or download a new song from their mp3 store. The iPad2, of course, offer iTunes and iBooks.

It is interesting to note that although the Kindle Fire is Android-powered, it does not support the Android Market. Amazon decided to give users access to Amazon's own application marketplace instead, giving users more valuable content. The iPad2 has the Apple App Store, offering the most apps in one place.

No Comparison

In this author's opinion, you just cannot compare these two devices. Each is designed for a different purpose. The Kindle Fire will be great if you want to read books and play a few games. The iPad2 wins if you are looking for a great computer offering the widest selection of features, better connection speeds, and the biggest choice of apps, music, and movies. Before you buy that special someone one of these two tablets, look closely at what they want it for. That will answer your question of which one to purchase.