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!