Kindle VS Nook Review , Which Is The Best Ebook Reader?
If you’re trying to choose best ebook reader between a nook and a kindle, perhaps I can help. My wife and I bought a nook, a kindle 2, and a kindle DX this summer ereader comparison, just days before the kindle 3 was announced. After using them intensively for a few weeks, we returned them and pre-ordered two kindle 3′s, which we have been enjoying for two months now.
We’ve each read a lot of books and newspaper/magazine articles on our kindle 3′s and are very happy with them. First, reasons why we prefer the kindle over nook: Page refresh speed , Kindle 2 was twice as fast as nook, Kindle 3 is slightly faster yet. However, I read a whole book on the nook and didn’t find page refresh to be so slow as to be annoying. You get used to it, and automatically develop the habit of pressing the page turn button a second before you need it. Navigation speed , Here is where the kindle has a huge advantage.
Moving the cursor around the screen (e.g. to select things) is way, way, way better on kindle than nook. When you use the rocker button (on kindle 3, or the joystick on kindle 2), the cursor moves almost immediately. In contrast, when you use the “virtual rocker button” on nook’s color touch screen, there’s a noticeable lag before the cursor moves. Plus, just to get to the cursor control on the nook, you have to turn on its color touch screen (which is normally off when not in use, to save battery power). This adds to the lag time.
Screen contrast , You’ve seen Amazon’s claims that the Kindle 3 e-ink has 50% better contrast. I can tell you, it makes a difference, particularly in low light conditions, when you have to strain a little to make out the not quite as dark characters on Kindle 2 and Nook. When lighting is not ideal, it’s much easier and more pleasant to read on Kindle 3 and Kindle DX than on Nook or Kindle 2. Battery life , The nook’s color LCD touch screen drains its battery quickly – I could never get more than 5 days out of a charge. We got at least 7 days or more on the Kindle 2, and the Kindle 3 uses a battery with more capacity than Kindle 2′s battery.
My wife and I each get at least 3 weeks of battery life between charges (we keep wireless off about half the time). Weight , Nook weighs about 3 ounces more than the new Kindle, and you can really feel the difference. Without a case, Nook is still light enough to hold in one hand for long reading sessions without fatigue. But in a case, Nook is a heavy sucker and wears you out after a while. I found myself taking Nook out of its case when I was reading Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest. The new Kindle 3 is so light, even in a case, my wife and I find it comfortable holding in one hand for long reading sessions. Reasons some people might prefer the nook: In-store experience , If you need help with your nook, you can take it to any barnes and noble and get a real human to help. You can take your nook into the coffee shop section of your local B&N store and read any book for free for up to one hour per day.
When you take your nook to B&N, some in-store special deals and the occasional free book pop up on your screen. User-replaceable battery , After a year or two of moderate use, the battery will start to lose its ability to hold a charge. Nook’s battery is user-replaceable and relatively inexpensive. To replace Kindle’s battery, you must ship your Kindle to Amazon. Amazon’s customer service told me that they ship you back a DIFFERENT kindle (though the same model as yours) with a new battery inside. I really don’t like this, at all. ePub and loaning e-books , Nook uses the ePub format, a widely used open format. Amazon uses a proprietary ebook format. Many libraries will “lend” ebooks in the ePub format, which works with nook but not kindle.
Nook owners can “loan” ebooks they purchased to other nook owners for up to two weeks. You can’t do this with kindle. Nook’s color LCD touchscreen , This could be a pro or con, depending on your preferences. It makes nook hipper and less drab than kindle. Some people enjoy using the color LCD to view their library or navigate. I did, at first. But after two weeks of use, and comparisons with my wife’s kindle, I found the dedicated buttons of the kindle easier and far quicker to use than the nook’s color touchscreen. I also found the bright light from the color screen distracting when I was trying to read a book or newspaper (though when not in use, it shuts off after a minute or so to conserve battery).
A few other notes of both product : MP3 player , I’ve used it on the Kindle 3, and it has less features than a first-generation ipod shuffle: no way to select a specific track to hear, let alone see the name of the currently playing track. Web browser , The browser on Kindle 3 is easier to use than Nook’s browser, particularly when navigating. But neither is really very good, most people will probably use their e-reader’s browser only in a pinch. PDF support , Viewing PDFs is better on Kindle 3 than on Kindle 2 or nook, but still not that great. You have to zoom in on part of the page and pan around to read the page, which is slightly cumbersome; this is less an issue on Kindle DX, because of the DX’s much bigger display. Graphics in my PDF documents don’t usually display correctly on Kindle, and sometimes
Kindle can’t even open the PDF file if it has certain kinds of graphics. I imagine the only worthwhile use of Kindle’s PDF compatibility would be if you’re trying to read an e-book that comes in PDF format, provided it was pre-formatted for reading on a device with a 6″ display. Of course, you can convert many PDF documents to Kindle’s native format (you do this by attaching the PDF document to an email that you send to a certain address). So as a conclusion, Nook and Kindle each offer their own advantages.
We like the nook’s user-replaceable battery, compatibility with ePub format, and in-store experience. But we strongly prefer Kindle 3 because its performance is far zippier, it’s screen is easier to read, and its smaller and lighter so it’s more portable and more comfortable to hold in one hand for long reading sessions. If you don’t have wifi at home, you should probably get the 3G model, otherwise you’ll have to take your kindle to a wifi hotspot every time you want to download a book or newspaper.
If you do have wifi at home, you can probably survive without the 3G ebooks readers version. What about when you’re away from home? If you read ebooks while traveling, just load up your kindle with a few ebooks before leaving home. It becomes an issue if you subscribe to a daily periodical on your Kindle, like the New York Times; then, it’s handy to have 3G so that you continue to get your new issues every day. Yet, wifi hotspots are popping up everywhere – many of them free – so 3G connectivity is less and less a necessity for many of us. And, 3G coverage is not universal – I have two sets of relatives I see regularly who live in areas where 3G coverage is spotty; but in both of those towns, the hotels I stay in have free wifi, so I’m covered.