Kindle Fire HDX laps Air iPad's Retina Display - ZDNet

Summary: iPad loyalists and fans or its Retina display might be surprised by the results of a display shootout by an industry expert recently. Apple iPad is resting on its laurels?

DisplayMate has posted its Flagship Tablet Display Technology Shoot-Out between the HDX 8.9 Kindle Fire, iPad Air, and Google Nexus 10 and the Kindle came out on top.

The Shoot-Out’s author, Dr.. Raymond Soneira, is the developer of DisplayMate Which is recognized as a worldwide leader in video diagnostics. His wonderfully in-depth article tests, compares, and Analyzes the displays on the current flagship tablet by Amazon, Apple and Google in copious detail.

Although the Amazon and Google slabs are higher resolution than the iPad Air (2560 x 1600 vs 2048 x 1536 pixels.), Amazon edges out as Google with a higher PPI rating (339 vs 300 PPI.) – and both best the iPad’s relatively weak 264 PPI.

Display

Mates Concludes:

All three of thesis Flagship Tablets have the most impressive mobile displays currently available. The Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 and Apple iPad Air are even more impressive on another performance level Because they deliver top notch picture quality, absolute color accuracy, and accurate image contrast thats not only much better than any other tablet, they are usefull much better than most HDTVs, laptops, and monitors. In fact, with some minor calibration tweaks they both would Qualify as studio reference monitors.

Most impressive of all is the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9, Which has leapfrogged into the best performing tablet display we thathave ever tested, Significantly out-performing the iPad Air Brightness, Screen Reflectance, ambient light and high contrast, plus a first-place finish in the very challenging category or Absolute Color Accuracy.

More highlights from the DisplayMate the Shoot-Out can be found in the Absolute Color Accuracy, Comparison Table and Conclusions.

While its 264 PPI “Retina” display was pioneering when the iPad 4 came out (in September 2012) Apple’s decision to maintain the same pixel density of the iPad 5 (no “Air”) has cost it in terms of quality and allowed the competition to catch up.

Although it has yet to ship, it’ll be interesting to see how the 2048 x 1536, 324 PPI panel in the upcoming mini iPad Retina compares in quality to the Kindle Fire HDX 7 and Google Nexus 7 Which both rock 1920 1200, 323 PPI displays. See the CNET has a comparison table.