Apple iPad mini, the Kindle Fire HD and the Google Nexus 7 are all jostling for consumers' affections, with sales of tablets set to reach record highs.

Apple has turned its attention to the slightly smaller screen. The 7.9-inch iPad Mini has Apple's attention to style and detail behind it, but it certainly isn't the only slate of this stature that's worth considering, especially with the Mini's stepped-down processor and screen resolution.

When you line up the specs and the intangibles, which tablet has the upper hand: Is it the iPad Mini, the Asus-made Google Nexus 7 (an original Android 4.1 Jelly Bean device), or the Kindle Fire HD?

Display:

Tablets are all about content consumption and so the screen is important. The iPad Mini has a bigger display than its Android rivals at 7.9 inches, but a lower resolution at 1024 x 768 pixels. Both the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD sport 7-inch displays with a 1280×800 pixel resolution. But it should be noted that most of the difference in resolution comes from their aspect ratio. Both the Nexus 7 and Fire are widescreen, while the Mini has a more square-like 3:4 aspect ratio 

Design:

The iPad Mini is slightly taller than its competitors, but it is also slimmer and lighter. It's one of the most comfortable and well-built tablets we've ever used. The Kindle Fire HD is the widest, thickest, and heaviest of the bunch, to a fault. The Nexus 7 actually has the lowest width, making it easiest to hold with one hand, but it is still quite weighty. Despite the larger screen, the iPad Mini has a thin bezel and a slim form factor that makes it very portable.

The rubberized, dimpled backing on the Nexus 7 is good for grip, but the aluminum construction and the light weight of the iPad Mini make it more comfortable to hold and better looking than the plastic and glass Kindle Fire HD or the Nexus 7. When it comes to design and feel it is our favorite.

Specs:

Performance is fairly similar across the board, despite the use of different innards, though the Kindle Fire lags behind in overall speed. For watching movies, playing games, running apps, and web browsing you should have a good experience on all three, but the Nexus and Mini stand a leg ahead.

The Kindle Fire HD and the Nexus 7 only have front-facing cameras, so if you want to take photos, the iPad Mini is the obvious choice, but who buys a tablet for taking photos?

The Kindle Fire HD is Bluetooth enabled (see Amazon for features content) and Amazon claims that the dual antennas and MIMO support make the Wi-Fi up to 40 percent faster than the competition. If you do a lot of content streaming then that could prove important.

Ultimately, the choice in tablets is always a personal one with no one-size-fits-all winner. Still, it is hard not to put the Amazon Kindle Fire HD at the bottom of the pile with the iPad Mini and Google Nexus 7 at the top.

The iPad Mini is the clear choice for anyone wanting the Apple experience, with the extra price well worth it for access to iPad apps. For those who love the openness of the Android, the Nexus 7 has a bit more power and a lot more options available than the ad-supported Kindle Fire HD. But the one area where the Kindle Fire HD wins out is with the 8.9-inch version, which has a really great price tag compared to the size and the features. However, it may end up being at that awkward size that loses the portability of the 7-inch tablets without gaining the elbowroom of the 10-inch tablets.