Apple's iPad marks it third anniversary and has sold more than 120 million , but the 9.7-inch tablet of such kind can slice off your budget instantly. Both the latest iPad and Microsoft Surface RT starts at $499, and some branded tablets can cost up to $400 per unit. If you pay significantly less for the 7-inch tablet, how much does a $300 budget can go on?

ASUS Memo Pad Smart and Amazon Kindle Fire 8.9 HD costs less than $300 with 10-inch and 8.9-inch screens, respectively. What kind of features do these tablets offer with cheaper price compared to the iPad, Surface and Galaxy Note 10.1?

ASUS Memo Pad Smart is a standard Android tablet with 4.1 Jelly Bean firmware version, complete with Google apps and something added from ASUS. It has front and rear cameras, 16GB of internal storage, Google Play Store access to more than 700,00 apps, and a fraction of hardware equipped for its large screen.

Kindle Fire 8.9 HD is a popular device similar to its $199 sibling and runs Android OS as well. Amazon buried its own user interface and does not feature Google application. The device has its own-tablet oriented approach, highly curate app store with 50,000 choices, email management, browser, social networking, and runs popular third-party apps and games. Kindle Fire HD focuses on Amazon's vast collection of digital books, music, and videos.

ASUS Memo Pad Smart

Specifications

Amazon Kindle Fire 8.9 HD

10.1 inches, 1280x800 resolution

Screen Size

8.9 inches, 1920x1200 resolution

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

Operating System

Android 4.0 customized

16GB internal, up to 32GB external

Storage

16 or 32GB internal. No card slot

1.2GHz Quad-core

CPU

1.5GHz Dual-core

1GB RAM

Memory

1GB RAM

0.39 inches thick, 1.28 pounds

Thickness and Weight

0.35 inches thick, 1.25 pounds

5MP Primary, 1.2MP Secondary

Cameras

1.3MP Primary. No secondary

More than 5 hours

Battery Life

More than 8 hours

$299.00

Price

$269.00

The battery life is the biggest difference between the two tablets. The test was concluded with settings of rigorous activities, 75 per cent screen brightness, Wi-Fi constantly active for email, and video playback till it shuts off.

ASUS lacks the on-board storage or a cellular variant, but it has an external SD card slot for additional space. Memo Pad Smart can also perform a continuous burst shooting with up to 100 continuous photos. Another problem that may occur to some users is the crash or glitch from the app called BuddyBuzz, a social melding app.

Amazon Kindle Fire 8.9 HD may bug users with ads appearing sometimes on the lock screen or in form of recommended contents on the home screen, though it can be turned off. Another downside is the lack of rear camera and the Silk browser which could be slower on loading Web pages compared to Android browser.

Overall, both devices justify the $300 budget to perform reading, browser, photo capture, social network, email, and multimedia playback.

RELATED STORIES