Kindle Fire HD and Google Nexus 7 were all the rage before the iPad mini mind-boggled all IT users with the promise of a cheaper Apple tablet. Although basically in the same category as Kindle Fire HD and Google Nexus 7, Apple decided to go premium with the price for a tablet that isn’t in fact all that great or cost-effective for a 7-inch tablet. That leaves those of you looking for a practice and budget-friendly tablet with two choices Kindle Fire HD and Google Nexus 7.

The 8.9-inch Amazon Kindle Fire HD features 4G LTE Wireless connectivity, an Imagination PowerVR 3D Graphics core, dual-band, dual-antenna WiFi and a 1.5GHz OMAP4470 dual-core processor. The 1920×1200 HD display on Amazon Kindle Fire HD features a “polarizing filter and anti-glare technology for rich color and deep contrast from any viewing angle”. It is the largest screen you can get from a low-cost tablet.

Amazon Kindle Fire HD tech specs promise 40% faster downloads and streaming.

The 16GB Wi-Fi Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9” sells at $299.00 but there’s also the much cheaper 7” inch version that sells for $199.00.

The battery life for Amazon Kindle Fire HD is close to 11-12 hours.

Google Nexus 7 was the first tablet with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean that convinced people there is promise for this OS. Although it is smaller than the Amazon Kindle Fire HD, the Google Nexus 7 is believed to be the device that gives the most bang for your buck right now. Google’s Nexus 7 features a 7-inch IPS LCD high res screen and a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset, making it the fastest small tablets in the market. You will have access to all of Google’s services by default (Maps, Google Drive, Gmail etc) and 700,000 apps from Google Play Store.

Nexus 7 with Chrome as the default browser runs 30% faster in web browsing mode.

Battery life on Google Nexus lasts about 10 hours.

For another $50, you can buy the 32GB Nexus 7 with a 3G antenna.

Reviews for Kindle Fire HD and Google Nexus 7 have been praising their tech specs and agree, for the most part, that these are great tablets you can get for under $300. Sure, there are lots of other devices in the budget tablet market, but for the moment (at least) those released by Amazon and Google offer the best price-quality ratio.