Kindle Vs. Nook

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CoalCracker

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Guys and Gals,

Looking to buy an e-reader for my girlfriend for xmas. Not sure on which one to get so I am looking for some insight from owners. Also, if you have one, list if you have the wifi only or the 3G and which you would recommend.

Thanks!
 
I bought my wife the Nook and she is quite happy with it.

Does your GF go to B&N much? If so, go with the Nook. B&N let's you read any book for free for 1 hr per day and has weekly free books that you can download (in store download, but you keep it permanently).
 
She has two B&N within about 10 minutes from her. We were in there on saturday and I was looking at them.
 
My wife has had her kindle for almost 3 years and loves it. Although it has been a pain in the ass at times being Canadian, trying to get around all the safe guards they put in place to keep us from having it.
 
I bought my wife the nook and got her the 3G version. She loves it. The convenience of downloading a book whenever she finishes her previous read is awesome for her. As well as the feature of reading for free in B&N for an hour a day.
 
I have a hard time spending 50 extra just for 3G. I am setting up WIFI at her house so she will have wifi. Most places have wifi now anyways. Don't think she would be anywhere reading that wouldn't have wifi. Leaning towards the nook so far.
 
The good news is that everyone I've talked to recommends the one they own. So from that perspective, she'll like whatever you get her.

I bought the Kindle. It just worked better for my needs. I love the keyboard and had a hard time getting used to all the swiping and poking of the touchscreen during the Nook demo I did at the store. Some people really like that though. The Kindle does have the Pearl screen these days which is noticeably superior to both the Nook and my Kindle 2 screen. It's supposed to refresh faster, too but I didn't notice a difference compared to mine.

The 3G comes in handy for me. I'm not sure about the Nook, but the Kindle has a web browser that can browse sites that are mobile-friendly (sites that aren't might work or might not). If you already have 3G internet on your cell phone or laptop, I can guarantee you you'll never use it on the Kindle.

I don't know anything about Nook's customer service but I can't gush enough about Amazon's. My wife and I both own a Kindle 2. My 5-way knob broke (probably why they redesigned it for the Kindle 3) and with only about 5 minutes of phone time Amazon overnighted me a replacement with a pre-paid mailing label to send the old one back some time within 30 days. They said that they've covering the 5-way knob past the warranty period since it's been a high-failure issue so call if I ever have a problem with it again.
 
The good news is that everyone I've talked to recommends the one they own. So from that perspective, she'll like whatever you get her.

.

Along those lines, I really like my Kindle, The 3G is very convenient. Not only download a book anywhere but check e-mail, do google searches.
 
I had the original Nook and liked it. However, I found myself on my iPhone more often, so I sold it and bought an iPad. Now that there is a color touch screen Nook, it's a very enticing option.
 
She's an Occupational Therapist and rarely checks email or surfs too much. I think I'm leaning more towards the Nook wifi.
 
The key factor for me would be which one allows you to upload PDFs to it.
 
I have had the Kindle 3G for about a year now and love it. Just downloaded The Compleat Meadmaker.
I also have the Kindle app on my Droid and I like the way they sync back and forth.
Never even looked at a Nook, so, no input there.
 
All this reading I'm doing about these is making me want one. I can get all the brewing books in one spot.. Still trying to convince my cheap ass to spend the money on the 3g. My buddy swears you need 3g... I'm just not convinced.

Can you get magazines on them too or just books?
 
bought my wife the new kindle... up until they released the new one i was pro nook, but the new one lured me over. She loves it, we couldnt justify a need for 3g at all so its just the wifi version. We tried hard to come up with a scenario where she would need to download a book but didn't have wifi available near... its hard to not find a place with wifi anymore.

coalcracker... look at the new nook color if you are interested in magazines, etc.
 
I have heard really bad things about the color Nook. Because it is color it does not use the e-ink technology. This means that the screen looks more like a computer screen then an ebook screen. Disadvantages are: much harder on your eyes (imagine reading a book off of a computer screen), harder to see in outdoor lighting (there are suppose to be settings to help minimize but not completely), shorter battery life. I think if you want a color screen you are better off going with an iPad. If you are really just looking for an ebook for novels and the monochrome screens won't affect your reading then you are better off with the non-color nook or Kindle if you so desire.
 
All this reading I'm doing about these is making me want one. I can get all the brewing books in one spot.. Still trying to convince my cheap ass to spend the money on the 3g. My buddy swears you need 3g... I'm just not convinced.

Can you get magazines on them too or just books?

I definitely recommend the 3G. Not everywhere you go will have WiFi, and some spots charge to use their WiFi. If you happen to be on vacation, or you are able to read novels at work like my wife, and no WiFi, you can easily download another book. For $50 I felt it was definitely worth it. My wife could easily download using our WiFi connection but she is not always at home and her job has no wireless. So it was a great value add for her.
 
I got my wife a Kindle last month, 3G cuz she refuses to believe free wifi exists outside our house...

My buddy got his wife a Nook because it supports some public library eBook format, and I guess the Kindle doesn't...yet. Kindle did just add 14-day lending to other Kindle readers, which the Nook has had a while, so they're now equal in that regard.

I cannot believe how crisp, high contrast, and non-glare her Kindle screen is.
 
Kindle 3 WiFi-only here. Bought 2 months ago.

Kindle is great. Not one single hiccup with the thing. I've read several books on it. I am not even vaguely interested in email or web access with it, so I'm super happy with WiFi. In fact, I leave the WiFi off all the time to conserve the battery (which lasts a long time... I've only recharged it once or twice since I got it and I read on it every night.)

Although she lives near a B&N, the point of the thing is to avoid going to the bookstore (IMO). I love the Amazon site for 1) reviews and 2) "people who liked this also liked..." That stuff helps avoid wasting time with a bad book.

One more thing: I hate to be fatalistic, but the brick and mortar stores are doomed. With Circuit City gone, Blockbuster on the way out, one might guess the future for book stores. Amazon is way, way ahead with internet book delivery.

Here's a pic of mine, with the BJCP Guidelines on it (BJCP site has a Kindle version of the doc downloadable).

P9180003.JPG
 
^^ Sold on it. Thanks Passed and others. That explanation is what I needed. BJCP helped too on possibly selling it on me too. She will probably not use email or web on it. Strictly reading.
 
I forgot to mention, I successfully surfed some pr0n on her Kindle (pics not vids of course).
+1
 
haha I like my pron as much as the next guy. However, looking at pron on a Kindle seems like a bit of a problem. LOL Although I would probably do it just so I can say I did.
 
I heard today that the battery life on the Nook is 6 hours while the battery life on Kindle is 14 days. Can anyone confirm the Nook battery life?
 
No, that's way off. Because of the smaller color touchscreen area, the nook's battery is shorter, but it still gets 7-10 days.

Check out this review from CNET: http://reviews.cnet.com/e-book-readers/barnes-noble-nook-3g/4505-3508_7-33786175-2.html

To get the best battery life, you can put the device in Airplane mode--which shuts off both with 3G and Wi-Fi connections--and set the color LCD to turn off after 10 seconds. According to Barnes & Noble, using the wireless very sparingly can get you 7 to 10 days of battery life without having to recharge, which falls a few days short of the Kindle's best-case-scenario battery life estimates of approximately 14 days. In our tests, with sporadic wireless connectivity, we weren't able to use the Nook for a week without recharging. We managed around 4.5 days, though we'd expect that if you did a lot of hanging out in Barnes & Noble Caf�s, streaming books via Wi-Fi, you'd have to recharge even sooner.

On a positive note, if you were concerned about battery life (on a long trip, for instance), you could opt to buy an extra battery. Unlike the battery in the Kindle, the Nook's battery is user replaceable.
 
I can't answer any nook questions, but I can comment briefly on the Kindle's keyboard.

I rarely use it. The only part that is useful for me is the little square "mousepad" on the right, and the Home / Menu / Back buttons. These all let you move around to your various books and other contents on the device. Also, by just using that mousepad thing, you can move a cursor up through the text and get definitions of any word in the text. A simple definition will pop up over the text, or you can jump into the much bigger Oxford Eng Dict definition by clicking.

The keyboard lets you enter notes into the text. It also lets you (quite easily) search the entire text for any word or phrase you want. Further, if you browse the amazon site for new books, you can do that from the Kindle, and this keyboard would allow you to do some searches there.
 
So how come the nook doesn't have a keyboard and the Kindle does. Is the Nook's touch screen?

Yeah, the touch screen takes the place of a keyboard for the Nook. It's really just personal preference to which you like better. When I was demoing the Nook, I got annoyed at the touchscreen. The swipe-to-turn-pages was cool but the menus could only be as big as the touchscreen and I felt like I was swiping and poking way too much just for basic menu navigation. But it's not like the Kindle's keyboard doesn't have its own clunkiness issues. My biggest gripe there is that there's this huge keyboard with a very limited number of keyboard shortcuts on it. Unless I'm poking around on the internet, the only things I use the keyboard for are placing bookmarks (Alt-B), page searches, and word searches.
 
I'm an avid reader. Been so all my life. I can't remember reading any book, since childhood, that had color.

So, why color in the Nook? I'm not saying color is bad, but how is it used?

reading magazines, and technical books with color illustrations/diagrams.

and the color Nook is new...the black and white one has been around a while.
 
I got my wife a Kindle last month, 3G cuz she refuses to believe free wifi exists outside our house...

My buddy got his wife a Nook because it supports some public library eBook format, and I guess the Kindle doesn't...yet. Kindle did just add 14-day lending to other Kindle readers, which the Nook has had a while, so they're now equal in that regard.

I cannot believe how crisp, high contrast, and non-glare her Kindle screen is.

I heard today that the battery life on the Nook is 6 hours while the battery life on Kindle is 14 days. Can anyone confirm the Nook battery life?

So how come the nook doesn't have a keyboard and the Kindle does. Is the Nook's touch screen?

I just got the "Second Generation" Nook about a month ago. The reason really came down to me being a cheapskate. Our library has EPUB books, which work with Sony e-readers, other readers, and Nook, but NOT Kindle which is Amazon.

I've read about 10 books on it, and I love it. I've taken it on planes in my purse, and was able to only take a carry on because I wasn't hauling three books or more- I'm an avid reader and I read about three books per week.

I didn't get the color, as I wanted just a basic e-reader.

The first generation Nook was sort of "buggy"- our library loans a couple, and I just didn't like it. The Second Generation is much smaller with a touch screen, and it's very much nice.

I like the clarity of the screen, the weight, and the simple use. The battery stays charged a long time- I've charged it twice but I've found that if you turn off the wi-fi, the battery lasts much longer (and no reason to have it on if you're not using it). I never actually got lower than about 30%, but I wanted to have it charged up when I traveled so I charged anyway.

The cost was $139, with free shipping. Barnes and Noble online has "free book Fridays" and lots of free books all the time so I have quite a few books on it. Some of the free books are very good choices- and some are not. The nice thing is our library lets you borrow four books at a time, as well as place a hold on three, so I've never been at a loss for reading material!
 
Ended up getting her the Nook. She loves it! I was thinking about getting one, however now I'm looking at an Ipad. I don't read outside and there are a few other things I would like to do with it. May get an Ipad for really cheap. I'll know more tomorrow.
 
Ended up getting her the Nook. She loves it! I was thinking about getting one, however now I'm looking at an Ipad. I don't read outside and there are a few other things I would like to do with it. May get an Ipad for really cheap. I'll know more tomorrow.

The only reason I would get something else is to browse HBT while reading! :D

I'm actually glad I can't do anything except read and download books on my Nook, because I spend too much time online as it is.

I just went to Amazon and bought a decent case and a new little book light, as I read in bed every night.

I'm really happy with the Nook, and just got another library book today on it.
 
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