iPad Challengers: The Kindle Fire HDX and Nexus 9 – Barron’s

February 14, 2015

Apple AAPL 0.4902736043017555% Apple Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq ^USD127.08 0.62 0.4902736043017555% /Date(1423864800167-0600)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 51441967 AFTER HOURS ^USD127.23 0.15 0.11803588290840415% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 2830252 P/E Ratio 17.012048192771083 Market Cap 740208992462.307 Dividend Yield 1.4793830657853322% Rev. per Employee 2153110 More quote details and news » AAPL in Your Value Your Change Short position 's iPad rules the roost in tablets, with a 28% market share, and in our opinion, it's still the best such machine by a wide marg in.

But iPads are not for everyone, and two worthy alternatives to consider are the Nexus 9 tablet, from Google GOOGL 0.9432061683851944% Google Inc. Cl A U.S.: Nasdaq ^USD551.16 5.15 0.9432061683851944% /Date(1423864800000-0600)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 2248840 AFTER HOURS ^USD551.2 0.04 0.007257420712678714% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 120275 P/E Ratio 27.19709455525181 Market Cap 374399664123.714 Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee 1228170 More quote details and news » GOOGL in Your Value Your Change Short position (ticker: GOOGL) and phone maker HTC, an d the Kindle Fire HDX seven-inch from Amazon.com AMZN 1.2355171408118355% Amazon.com Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq ^USD381.83 4.66 1.2355171408118355% /Date(1423864800288-0600)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 3426783 AFTER HOURS ^USD382.7 0.87 0.22785009035434617% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 48286 P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap 177315737509.797 Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee 577469 More quote details and news » AMZN in Your Value Your Change Short position (AMZN). Both run Google's Android operating system.

Kindle Fire HDX, left, and the Nexus 9

Kindle Fire HDX

Price: $ 214
Features: Wi-Fi, 32 gigs of storage memory, seven-inch screen, no ads
Website: Amazon.com

Nexus 9

Price: $ 479
Features: Wi-Fi, 32 gigs of storage, 8.9-inch screen, access to Google's application store
Website: Google.com

Many tablets run Microsoft MSFT 1.8101647714086795% Microsoft Corp. U.S.: Nasdaq ^USD43.87 0.78 1.8101647714086795% /Date(1423864800294-0600)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 39062944 AFTER HOURS ^USD43.87 % Volume (Delayed 15m) : 1201943 P/E Ratio 17.548 Market Cap 359900046042.1 Dividend Yield 2.8265329382265785% Rev. per Employee 728656 More quote details and news » MSFT in Your Value Your Change Short position (MSFT) Windows, but their design is a bad marriage between clunky tablet and underpowered laptop, so they aren't worth considering.

One of the Android tablets' chief appeals is price. The Kindle Fire with 32 gigabytes of storage costs $ 199, plus an extra $ 15 if you want to remove ads. The Nexus 9 with 32 gigs and an 8.9-inch screen is $ 479. In contrast, an iPad mini 3 with just 16 gigs of storage is $ 399, and a like-equipped iPad Air 2 starts at $ 499.

Thirty-two gigs is the absolute minimum you need, so these should be considered base prices for the tablets; there are plenty of models for as low as $ 99, but their electronics are poor.

Both the Kindle Fire and Nexus 9 did very well at playing videos and videogames, browsing the Web, and reading books and PDF files. The Kindle Fire has a decent Qualcomm QCOM 0.6961216081829805% Qualcomm Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq ^USD70.88 0.49 0.6961216081829805% /Date(1423864800467-0600)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 7742851 AFTER HOURS ^USD70.85 -0.03 -0.04232505643340858% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 307328 P/E Ratio 14.735966735966736 Market Cap 116920812422.473 Dividend Yield 2.37020316027088% Rev. per Employee 861470 More quote details and news » QCOM in Your Value Your Change Short position< /span> (QCOM) processor; the Nexus 9, a top-of-the-line Nvidia NVDA 0.04484304932735426% NVIDIA Corp. U.S.: Nasdaq ^USD22.31 0.01 0.04484304932735426% /Date(1423864801949-0600)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 7516931 AFTER HOURS ^USD22.22 -0.09 -0.4034065441506051% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 235218 P/E Ratio 19.57017543859649 Market Cap 12126309896.4875 Dividend Yield 1.523980277902286% Rev. per Employee 531506 More quote details and news » NVDA in Your Value Your Change Short position (NVDA) Tegra chip. And both have at least two gigabytes of RAM, and so they smoothly switch between applications.

The Kindle Fire doesn't use Google's application store, so its apps universe is smaller than the Nexus'. Both machines' biggest drawback, however, is a bland and not very ergonomic industrial design. They simply don't fit the hand nearly as well as an iPad.

For the moment, Apple (AAPL) has a solid lead in quality. But tablets like these will keep proliferating because they're "good enough" for many users.

E-mail: editors@barrons.com