I own 2 Kindle Fires—a first generation, and the latest most expensive 4[SUP]th[/SUP] generation. I have never owned an IPad or used one, so I can’t speak about that. But I will say that YouTube has a video that compares the KindleFire to the IPad, so you may want to search for that and watch it. According to the techie guy that did the comparison, the IPad has superior sound, but the Kindle Fire has a superior display. My new Fire has stereo speakers and is quite loud. I think the most important thing is to determine what your own personal needs are when choosing between the two.
My first generation Kindle did not have enough storage space, so when I bought the new Fire, I made sure to purchase the maximum 64GB. I wish that the Kindle would accept an SD card, but it doesn’t. I love my Kindle Fire. I use the older one as an alarm clock and to let my Grandson “read” books and play his apps. There are some very educational apps available for him. One of the things that I love about my new Kindle Fire is that it has the ability to mirror to my TV. It communicates with my Roku, and I am able to watch DroidTV wirelessly using it. Droid TV is an amazing app that works like a DVR. I download shows to the Kindle and then mirror them to the TV. DroidTV costs $39.99 per year, and there are a lot of great shows to watch—Game of Thrones, True Blood, Reign, Shark Tank, Who Do You Think You Are?, etc.
I use my Kindle all the time. I search the web with it, check email, and can watch Netflix, HuluPlus, Crackle, HBOgo, YouTube videos, and PBS. Every Day I can take advantage of the Free App of The Day. One of my favorite apps was a Free App. It is an Audubon Society’s Bird Watching app. It has great birdsongs. I also have a digital library membership and I check out Kindle books and audio books using my Fire. I can read in bed at night and change my settings so that I don’t disturb my husband. I can change the fonts to a larger size. I can bookmark pages. I like to look up vocabulary words when I read, and it does that for me. I like that I don’t have to flip the pages when I read. Instead I just swipe the screen. It has a front-facing and a rear-facing HD camera. I play all sorts of games on it. I check the weather each day, and I have a moon-phase app that I love. It is an MP3 player, and I use that with ear-buds and it sounds great. When I am cooking, I like that I can look up recipes and use my Kindle easily while I am cooking. It is small and portable and very lightweight. It is great to be able to stick it in my purse and pull it out in a waiting room. If you want 4g, it is available when you purchase your Kindle. I also have 2 laptops and a desktop computer, so I wasn’t looking for another computer. I truly wanted a compact, lightweight pad that was the size of a book. The Kindle Fire was a good choice for me.