Kindle or Nook?

[KSChris]

Here's an example of an e-ink device



and here's a tablet




Right off the bat, you can see that the tablet has a backlit, color display and the e-ink devices have a B&W, non backlit display. If all your wife wants to do is read ebooks, I'd get an e-ink device like the Kindle or Nook Simple Touch. If she wants to have to option to browse the internet, watch video, and things like that, she's in tablet territory.

That is an old Kindle.

The new ones look like this:




And these are the LCD tablets..

The Nook Tablet:




The Amazon Kindle Fire:

[Schroedingers Cat]

I have a Nook first edition that I have had for almost 2 years. My Wife also has the first edition.

I just recently purchased the Nook Simple Touch with Glow Light

All of them work fine and do what they are supposed to. The Simple touch is nice and light and comfortable in my hand and works well.

I dont think there is all that much difference between Nook and Kindle, if you are just looking to read books. Hold both devices in your hand and see which one is more comfortable. Since you will be holding it a lot, comfort is an important issue.

The Glow Light on the Nook works pretty good. You can use it in low light or no light or turn it off if you dont need it. It is not annoying or intrusive and it is much better than having to attach a separate light to the device. Amazon does not have a built in light (from what I know) so that may help your decision. Although now that B&N did it, they probably will too.

Jim

[Dreaded Anomaly]

I bought the Kindle Touch (e-ink, not the tablet) a few months ago. I have been happy with it so far. They could add a few more usability features, but generally I've found the interface intuitive. I'm usually someone who likes a physical keyboard everywhere, but I have had no problems with the touch-only interface here.

As someone mentioned above, being an Amazon Prime member adds some value to the purchase. I also like being able to sync to various devices with the Kindle app.

I don't have any experience with the Nook, so I can't compare the two, but the Kindle has been a perfectly suitable e-reader for me.

[Jim Schnobrich]

That is an old Kindle.

Yeah. I was just trying to illustrate the main differences between a tablet and a eink device.

[Dave S.]

I love my Nook simple touch, their e-ink device.

Really, there isn't much difference. Nook is more customizable. Kindle has mp3 support and text-2-speech.

For me, the #1 bonus Nook has is being able to walk into the store at any point and get help. Whether it's technical support, or just a question how to use a feature, the guys there will help you out. If it requires a call to customer support, they will call for you and help you cut through all the BS that comes with calling support.

Also, with a nook, if you are in a B&N store connected to their wifi, you can read a large selections of books for free. Newer books too. You can just sit in the store, read a book for an hour a day. Each book is limited to an hour a day, but you could sit for 4 hours, reading an hour of 4 different books.

So while the technical differences are minimal, the fact that there is a brick and mortar store backing up my device is a huge bonus.

[Gunter]

I have a Kindle 2nd Edition and I think it's great. I have an iPad now for tablet type things, but I still use my Kindle when I want to read outside in the sun.

[michealdark]

I haven't checked the Nook store, but the Kindle store has A LOT of DEEP discounts and a lot of public domain books for free. So I'd say Kindle (well, actually I say get the fucking book, but for e-readers I say Kindle)

[Schroedingers Cat]

I haven't checked the Nook store, but the Kindle store has A LOT of DEEP discounts and a lot of public domain books for free. So I'd say Kindle (well, actually I say get the fucking book, but for e-readers I say Kindle)

Nook has all of the Public Domain stuff too.

And every day I get texts with big discounts on books and every Friday they have a free book to download. They have had some really great free stuff too, not just crap books.

Jim

[KSChris]

I actually have both a Nook Simple Touch and a Kindle Touch now.. I bought the Simple Touch last fall, and picked up a Kindle Touch a couple months ago because I had some amazon gift cards and figured what the hell. I've used the Kindle almost exclusively since then.

Really, the only thing the Nook has over it is the bookshelf display for your books. The text-only is disappointing on the Kindle, but that's ultimately a minor thing.

I'm mainly just not a fan of the box-shape of the Nook. It may conform to your hand more, with the rubberized contoured back.. but I feel like it's too wide. I will likely just give it to family, or sell it on ebay or something.

The Kindle Touch is the perfect size and shape. The only drawback, outside of the aforementioned interface display issue, is the smooth plastic back. They could've taken a pointer from the Nook and made it rubberized, but there are cases out there that easily solve this problem.

[Humphrey_Lee]

Just here to throw down two pennies that I love my Kindle Fire and it works extremely well sans a sometimes futzy keyboard and the browser tends to crash on me once a week or so. But, it's also extremely convenient for me because I buy a metric crapton of stuff through Amazon and gladly pay for Prime and whatnot.