Kindle vs. Nook Color?

RockinTheRedDog

RockinTheRedDog

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I searched but couldn't find a thread about this.

I've been thinking more and more about getting a Kindle. My fiance has one and I read one of the Dresden Files books on there and loved it. The e-ink is really just like paper and found the whole experience simple and easy.

Yesterday I played around with the Nook Color in B&N and was really blown away. Vibrant screen, touch interface was responsive plus it can do email internet if you need it to. I've never wanted an iPad before (tried it and was not impressed) but the Nook Color seems to do the bare necessities that I would need to do without opening my laptop. Plus, using Calibre from what I've read, I could put all DRM free books that my fiance has, on the Nook if i'm not mistaken.

My only worry is battery life. I know that the Kindle's battery lasts a while, especially if you keep the WIFI off. What about the Nook Color? I'd be using it everyday on my train ride to/from work.

I know that Amazon is coming out with a tablet next month. From what i've read, it's pretty much like the Nook Color so who knows, my choices might switch between Amazon Kindle Tablet and Amazon Kindle. Just looking for everyone's thoughts on each!

Thanks! :bouncy:
 
I'd definitely wait to see what Amazon's tablet looks like. Having said that, I love my Kindle to death. I've read more books in the last month than I've read in the last couple of years. Like you said, my favorite two things are the battery life and the e-ink. I read a ton outdoors and the sunlight that makes my phone all but unusable makes the Kindle even easier to read.

But yea, I'd wait.
 
I have never used a Nook but I have a Kindle and an iPad.
I can read the Kindle for hours and never have any problem. If I look at the iPad for a few hours my eyes start to hurt.
You can use Calibre to put DRM free books on your Kindle as well.
The battery life of the Kindle is great as well, I can read 2 or 3 books before I need to recharge.

If you are just using it to read books, the Kindle is hands down the best choice.
 
netflix is coming to the nook colour "soon" while the Kindle Tablet thingy will likely only use some Amazon streaming service. That's a big sway for me.

I've got the regular wi-fi only nook and absolutely love the thing.
 
[quote name='nasum']netflix is coming to the nook colour "soon" while the Kindle Tablet thingy will likely only use some Amazon streaming service. That's a big sway for me.

I've got the regular wi-fi only nook and absolutely love the thing.[/QUOTE]

Hmm interesting. Yeah, I read an article on TechCrunch that the Amazon Tablet will use all Amazon related services, including the streaming service.

I played with the regular nook wifi. Not bad but I didn't like the feel of it for some reason.

Definitely going to wait to see what happens in the next couple of months.
 
I own the Nook Color so I can speak on it personally. If you use it just for reading and stuff, you can probably get maybe a few days out of it. Depends on how many hours a day you read on it. Charging takes about 2-3 hours but it does comes with a USB AC Adapter or you can do direct USB charging.

Now here is the advantage of the Nook Color. With a little work you can throw a full Android distro on a micro sd card and you can turn it into basically a full on working Android tablet. Since it's off the SD card you wont be doing anything to hurt your system. Keep in mind though this will turn your battery life into 2-3 hours max if you go this route but if your looking for a got to have app for Android you can do it. Plus if you want to go back to the regular nook firmware just turn off the tablet and remove the SD card.

Basically I can sum up the Nook vs Kindle. The Nook Color is great if you need to check your e-mail, browse the web or you want a cheap android tablet (with putting a full on Android distro on a SD card), but if all you are going to use it for is reading (and you don't need a backlit screen), just get a Kindle. That screen is way better for reading.

Also before you do anything, wait on the Amazon tablet.
 
[quote name='Sir_Fragalot']I own the Nook Color so I can speak on it personally. If you use it just for reading and stuff, you can probably get maybe a few days out of it. Depends on how many hours a day you read on it. Charging takes about 2-3 hours but it does comes with a USB AC Adapter or you can do direct USB charging.

Now here is the advantage of the Nook Color. With a little work you can throw a full Android distro on a micro sd card and you can turn it into basically a full on working Android tablet. Since it's off the SD card you wont be doing anything to hurt your system. Keep in mind though this will turn your battery life into 2-3 hours max if you go this route but if your looking for a got to have app for Android you can do it. Plus if you want to go back to the regular nook firmware just turn off the tablet and remove the SD card.

Basically I can sum up the Nook vs Kindle. The Nook Color is great if you need to check your e-mail, browse the web or you want a cheap android tablet (with putting a full on Android distro on a SD card), but if all you are going to use it for is reading (and you don't need a backlit screen), just get a Kindle. That screen is way better for reading.

Also before you do anything, wait on the Amazon tablet.[/QUOTE]

Now that's pretty sweet! Thanks for the info!
 
You forgot to mention that the Kindle gets crazy good battery life because e-ink drains so little of the battery.
 
If you just wanypt to read books ( just twxt, no pictures etc.) then go with the Kindle. E-ink is easier on the eyes and battery life is amazing.

If you want to do more than that then go with the NC or another tablet.

Personally I have a Kindle 3 and an ipad 2 and use both daily. Kindle is for reading novels, iPad gets used for reading newspapers and magazines, surfing the net, checking e-mail, reading and marking up PDFs of scholarly research articles for work, accessing my google calendar, playing games etc.

So it's just a matter of what you want to do on whether a tablet or e-ink reader is better for you. And if you read a lot and also want all the other function, then getting both types of gadgets like me may be the way to go if you can afford it.

Personally, the Nook Color didn't interest me as I don't want a tablet with smaller than a 9.7" screen as a I read a good bit of 8.5x11" documents on my iPad and the screen is already a tad small (often have to go landscape and read half page at a time).
 
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I own a Nook color and I also bought one for my girlfriend. I rooted both of them and put 16GB micro SD cards in them (they already have 8GB of internal storage, if I remember correctly).

The Nook color is an awesome device. The screen is absolutely beautiful and the 7" form factor makes for a great e-reader but also a great tablet. I had reservations at first because I thought the difference between my Droid X and the Nook color wouldn't make a huge difference, but it really does.

My girlfriend reads regular books on it and she's read more books on it in the few weeks she's had it than she has in the past six months. She has the Kindle app along with the Nook software so she can check both places and get the cheapest price on a book she's interested in. She's read up to around 5 hours straight on it and had no problems with eye strain.

I've been using mine to read a lot of comics and to browse the internet in the living room. It is awesome for bringing up game guides when I'm playing PS3 or Xbox on the couch.

The best part is you can buy recertified ones from the B&N Warehouse on eBay for under $200 with free shipping. They look brand new as they've been meticulously checked for any issues and they have a one year warranty. I think if you buy them brand new they are $250, so the difference of getting a recertified one can pay for a large micro SD card and a nice case for it.

The only complaint I have so far is that it can't easily connect to an ad hoc wifi connection (i.e. broadcast from my phone). There's a workaround for it, but I haven't tried it yet.



[quote name='Sir_Fragalot']Keep in mind though this will turn your battery life into 2-3 hours max if you go this route but if your looking for a got to have app for Android you can do it.[/QUOTE]


In my experience with the two rooted Nooks in our house, we get around 8+ hours of tablet style use out of them with wifi on (if you turn it off, it will extend battery life). Much much more if you're just reading and turn off wifi. For an example, last weekend I used my Nook all day while watching college football. It was pretty much non-stop use browsing various forums, monitoring scores on ESPN, playing Angry Birds, and reading comics. I plugged it in when it dropped to 20% battery after playing with it for around 7 hours.

It is also my understanding that you can overclock the processor and it lengthens battery life while boosting performance due to a drop in voltage of the processor. Haven't tried that out yet though.
 
[quote name='RockinTheRedDog']How do you read comics on the Nook rooted? Through Android Comic Book Viewer?[/QUOTE]


Yeah, I use ACV most of the time but sometimes I use Perfect Viewer if I have issues with a file. You can use the touch controls to scroll through pages, but I actually use the volume buttons because the way I hold it makes it easier to go to the next page that way.
 
I bought a kindle with special offers just for the special offers. So far I've received a $5 off a $10 purchase, some junk food coupons and free books :cool:
 
OP, there are also cheap tablet solutions in the pipeline like the Lenovo A1($250) that has offline GPS as well as the Blackberry playbook rumored to go the way of the HP Touchpad with a fire sale. That along with the soon to be announced Amazon Kindle and new Nook.

I would wait a couple months before I buy a tablet, but if you really want one now, I would pick up a Nook refurb when they go on sale for like $150(they were on sale last week for that price) or less...that is unless you can get a Touchpad first...heh
 
This is a dumb question but does the Nook have a digital ink screen like the Kindle? Or does it light up like a regular tablet computer?
 
got the kindle here. i use a program called calibre to get articles from major news sources every morning at 6.

every morning i wake up, i connect my kindle to my PC and calibre transfers all news into it. i get washington post, new york times, economist, wsj for free.

im only doing this so i can answer any economic related questions during interviews... graduating next spring.. hopefully it all pays off
 
[quote name='Xevious']This is a dumb question but does the Nook have a digital ink screen like the Kindle? Or does it light up like a regular tablet computer?[/QUOTE]

Nook Color is a small android tablet with a backlit LCD Screen.

Nook Touch is e-ink touch screen.

Original nook was non-touch eink screen with a little lcd touch screen strip below it.
 
Hmm my wife is going to have to have surgery on her arm in about a month. I've got my rooted nook color. What's the cheapest you can get a kindle at?
 
[quote name='kube00']Hmm my wife is going to have to have surgery on her arm in about a month. I've got my rooted nook color. What's the cheapest you can get a kindle at?[/QUOTE]

i bought my kindle from craigslist. $80, 3rd gen with 3g, non special offers one.

otherwise its like $179 before taxes.. for the same thing

you'll probably find plenty of 2nd gen kindles with 3g for $50 on craigslist too
 
[quote name='Clak']Yeah, just get whatever you want for an e-reader, the A1 will be out soon for $200 if you want a cheap tablet.

http://www.androidcentral.com/hands-lenovo-ideapad-a1[/QUOTE]
I'd pick this up in a hot second, but the $200 8 gig version isn't going to be released in the US. The funniest thing about it is that this version was officially released in China and retails for about $400 USD. There's something seriously wrong with that.
 
[quote name='giantqtipz']i bought my kindle from craigslist. $80, 3rd gen with 3g, non special offers one.

otherwise its like $179 before taxes.. for the same thing

you'll probably find plenty of 2nd gen kindles with 3g for $50 on craigslist too[/QUOTE]

Kindle prices are down now kind of since they have more options available.

Price options for buying new are:

$114--wifi only with special offers (ads on the home screen and screen savers, not while reading).

$139--wifi only

$139--wifi and 3G with special offers

$189--wifi and 3g

The cheapest is the wifi only with special offers (ads on the home screen and screen savers
 
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