The Amazon Kindle 3G Vs the Barnes & Noble Nook - Who Will Win the Holiday Shopping War?

If you have been considering an e-book reader for yourself or as a gift, the choice between the Amazon Kindle 3G with Wi-Fi and the Barnes & Noble Nook will be a tough one. The reviews show that both products are terrific e-Readers but it is the differences and your personal preferences that will make your decision. Priced at $189 for the Kindle 3G and $199 for the Nook your decision will be based on your choice of features.

Both units have 6 inch diagonal E-Ink electronic displays, with 600 x 800 pixel resolution. The weights are comparable, the Kindle at 10.2 ounces and the Nook at 12.1 ounce. And the actual unit sizes are 8″ x 5.3 for the Kindle and 7.7″ x 4.9 for the Nook. Both have an internal memory of 2GB but the Nook has an expandable micro SD slot which would only be necessary if you think you need to store more than the 1,500 books that the 2GB will hold.

Battery life is also similar, 10 days or 7,500 page turns, with the wireless off. And both completely recharge between 3.5 and 4 hours. Both units can be used as an MP3 player, the Kindle with built in stereo speakers and the Nook with built-in mono speakers. Both also have headphone jacks.

Here is where your preferences will make the difference. The Amazon Kindle has a keyboard at the bottom, it does not display in color but has a 16-level gray-scale that does a great job with images. The Barnes & Noble Nook has a color touch screen at the bottom. So do you prefer typing on a keyboard or touch screen?

And here is the big one - the Kindle 3G with Wi-Fi uses Amazon's Whispernet through Sprint's 3G high-speed data network for U.S. wireless coverage. No charge involved. And there is expanded coverage available if you are traveling internationally. The Nook has free wireless via AT&T, and free Wi-Fi in all Barnes & Noble stores. If you intend on down loading books while traveling service from these providers would have to be available.

The Kindle has an additional feature, Text-to-Speech. You can switch from reading a book to listening to it with the audio book reader. You can enlarge the print with both units. The Kindle's screen is less reflective than the other e-book readers which eliminates the problems that reading off a screen in the sunshine can create. The Nook's screen is ranked better than most of the competitors but not better than the Kindle. Where will you be reading?

So here we are. What are your preferences? What type of keyboard, and whose wireless carrier do you prefer. Both the Kindle 3G and the Nook e-Book readers have great reviews and thousands of books available. Good luck with your choices and happy shopping.

To see more of my reviews and suggestions for holiday gifts please visit: http://expectthedream.blogspot.com

Amazon Kindle Vs Barnes and Noble Nook

With so many new electronic gadgets coming out, many consumers are confused about the difference between similar devices. The explosive popularity of e-book readers particularly raises the question of which is best. For under $200, the two most prominent are Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook. Although other readers are available, these two being from large companies, have monopolized the market in their price range. The recent challenge of the iPad has opened the door to tough competition, but if you just want a small, light weight and affordable e-reader, Kindle and Nook still hold great appeal.

E-readers are more than just a fad. More and more, people are turning to e-readers as a replacement for their printed counterparts. No more ink on your hands or having to bring in the paper when the weather is bad.

Having come out first, Amazon Kindle has several advantages over Nook. Kindle has a real keyboard and is easier to navigate than Nook. Moreover, Kindle has crisper text for easier reading, weighs two ounces less and even outlasts the battery life of Nook by four days! The Kindle screen is also well suited for reading even in bright sunshine.

Despite these great features, Kindle is not without its limitations. If you're a big gamer for example, Nook would certainly be a better way to go. Moreover, Nook provides more free options and allows e-book sharing among friends for 14 days. Nook is also a good alternative to the significantly higher priced iPad. Although even Nook cannot compete with all of iPad's features, at well less than half the price, it provides a good value for those looking beyond basic e-reader functionality.

Both Kindle and Nook support a wide range of e-books. Although Amazon Kindle still supports more, both provide great entertainment and a means for exercising your brain more than television.

In the end, what it really comes down to is personal preference. While some may prefer the extra bells and whistles and slightly more slender feel of the Nook, others will go with the easier reading and superior navigation control of the Kindle. Although Nook may outdo Kindle in the gaming department, for true e-book reading, Kindle still out-shines its closest competitor.

Robert Haskell is a contributing author and manager of consumer affairs for http://www.officesalesusa.com and http://www.worldatfocus.com/.

Barnes & Noble Nook Vs Amazon Kindle - Which is the Best eReader?

Amazon's Kindle eReader has been the leader, at least in the US, of the eReader market since the introduction of Kindle 1 in 2007. Sony has held 2nd place with 30 - 35% of the market.

But now there is a new kid on the block. In October '09 Barnes & Noble announced its nook eReader that sold out on pre-order within a few weeks.

The nook is revolutionary primarily in its looks. It will be hard for your average gadget boy/girl to see one and not develop a serious craving. But does this mean that the nook is the best thing since the printing press for bookish boys and girls?

Let's look at and compare some of the features of the nook and the Kindle eReaders.

For the most part reading on the nook's e-ink screen is very similar to reading on the Kindle eReader's e-ink screen. Both eRreaders use the same or a very similar reading screen.

What is dramatically different, and what in fact attracts many people to the nook eReader is the small LCD touchscreen under the e-ink screen. On the Kindle, navigation is accomplished by using the chicklet keyboard and the 5-way controller. The controls for the nook are mostly accessed through using the LCD touchscreen.

The nook's touchscreen is also used for browsing books in your library or for selecting books to purchase from Barnes & Noble over the wireless connection. A virtual keyboard is available on the LCD screen for typing.

The nook's color LCD screen looks really nice and would seem to be a very desirable feature, but there are problems with the software implementation, which we will get to in a bit.

Connectivity:

The Kindle eReader has a 3G wireless connection through AT&T for the Kindle Global, and Sprint for the Kindle 2. Amazon calls its wireless service "Whispernet". Using Whispernet, you can usually purchase and download a book within a minute or less. You also can use the somewhat clunky but functional browser to access the internet, check email, research your reading on Wikipedia, even access another online ebook store than Amazon to purchase and download books, etc. With Kindle Global you also have access to the Kindle store in many other countries besides the US, though you have to pay a surcharge for downloading a book on the Whispernet outside of the US.

The nook eReader has both a WiFi connection and a 3G AT&T wireless connection. The difference is that the nook's connection can only be used for purchasing and downloading books from Barnes & Noble. No internet, no Wikipedia, you cannot use it to connect to another online ebook store and purchase books.

The nook's WiFi connection will be useful if you carry your nook eReader into a B&N store as it will download coupons and special offers to your eReader. You can also use the WiFi to browse ebooks while in a B&N store, but you can only read each book for a maximum of one hour in a 24-hour period. These in-store features are not yet fully implemented so we don't yet know how useful they will prove to be.

Sharing

One of the nook eReader's features that received a lot of press coverage is the ability to lend your ebooks to friends. Unfortunately, this feature is not as great as first thought. For one thing, publishers must opt in to let their books be loaned. Some have said they will not allow this. Also there are restrictions: you can only loan a particular book once ever, and only for 14 days. While a book is loaned out you cannot access it on your own nook.

The Kindle does not at this time allow this type of lending. However, you can share ebooks with up to 6 (it can vary by title) Kindles that are registered to the same account. This works well for multi-Kindle families. It is even possible to set up a reading club with your Kindle owning friends if you feel comfortable sharing a single credit card to register your Kindle eReaders to.

Other Features

One nice feature that the nook eReader has is a user replaceable battery. The Kindle's battery is hardwired in and therefore will need to be sent back to Amazon for replacement ($60). Amazon says that even after 500 charges (ten years or so) these batteries will still hold 80% charge, so this may not be an issue for most people.

The nook also accepts an SD card for additional storage. The Kindle only has its internal storage, but that is enough to hold around 1,500 books, so this may also not be an issue for you.

A nook feature that has not received any official Barnes & Noble acknowledgment is the ability to borrow ebooks from your local library if they use Overdrive's digital distribution service. To do this you need to install Adobe Digital Editions on your computer and use that to sideload the ebook onto your nook. You can borrow an ebook from the library for 14 days, after which it will be automatically deleted. You cannot renew library ebook checkouts. To find out how useful this feature will be in your case you should check your local library website. Most libraries do not have a large catalogue of ebooks yet. Kindle does not support borrowing library ebooks at this time

The eBook Stores

No matter how attractive the hardware, an eReader's primary purpose is to read books. Since today's eReaders tend to be tied to proprietary DRM formats for current titles, you want to make sure that the hardware that you choose is backed up by the best ebook store(s).

The nook's primary ebook supplier for DRM'ed ebooks will of course be Barnes & Noble. You can also purchase DRM'ed ebooks from other online sellers that support Adobe Digital Editions. The nook is also compatible with non DRM'ed EPUB and PDF format.

With Kindle you will purchase most if not all of your DRM'ed titles from Amazon's Kindle store. Kindle also uses a few other formats for non-DRM'ed ebooks such as MOBI and PDF. Public domain ebooks are also available for the Kindle eReaders. I suspect that at some point Amazon will also have to allow EPUB compatibility for the Kindle, as there is increasing pressure for this.

Many people disparage the Kindle's being locked into Amazon's ebook store for DRM'ed ebooks. While this may be true to a large extent, the fact is that the Kindle store has more titles available than B&N and all of the online stores selling ADE format ebooks put together. In most cases Amazon's prices are less as well, although Barnes & Noble has been trying to match their prices.

If you primarily read books on the current best sellers lists you will likely be able to find these available in most formats at similar prices. The more off the beaten path your reading is however, the more likely you are to find what you are looking for at the Kindle store.

So Which eReader is Best - Kindle or nook?

If the nook eReader had not been rushed to market to make the holiday 2009 season, and if Barnes & Noble had waited until they had the software ready and the bugs worked out, then I would say that the nook would have been a very close second choice and maybe even equal to the Kindle.

In fact, the nook at present is crippled by its faulty release version software and unless B&N gets it fixed in a timely fashion the nook will be leapfrogged by the next Kindle release. Barnes & Noble has said that they are working around the clock to update the software and fix the current nook problems; and to their credit they have released a couple of updates as of this writing. However there are still lots of bugs and the nook is slower than the Kindle, which will be distracting when you are trying to immerse yourself in that next great book. In its present state the LCD screen does not play well with the e-ink screen and can be very frustrating to use.

Also, I prefer the Kindle store. My reading tastes may be different than yours however, so I would suggest you make a list of books you want to read and make a price and availability comparison between the Kindle store and B&N's offerings. Higher ebook prices can add up pretty quickly.

The Kindle's ability to connect to the internet and Wikipedia, etc. is also not to be underestimated.

I think that the nook eReader has the potential to be a great eReader and possibly equal the Kindle, but it is something of a gamble buying one now and waiting to see if Barnes & Noble can get all of the glitches fixed in time and also match the Kindle store's offerings.

For more ebook reader news and reviews, please visit me at http://www.findebookreaders.com