e-tablets

[Venus Pax]

Didn't mean to be gone for so long. Thanks for all the responses. I'm considering it more and more.

[LikesShinyThings]

Not because I'm trying to be a naysayer, but since I've read a whole lot of "Yes" here and precious little "No", I feel a need to add a voice of balance...

I love the Kindle in theory. Had one (K2) for a while. Adored the interface, and how it worked. Except (and I may be the only person on the planet who had this problem, though I didn't get that from their [wonderful] support folks)... My Kindle would sporadically (4 times in 4 days right before I ditched it) reboot itself. I would go to turn it on and it would decide "nope, we're rebooting... you can just wait for two minutes". Once it did it in the middle of while I was reading a book. I couldn't take it - I had been trying for an extended period and just couldn't take a piece of hardware with an endless mind of its own. I sold it to my neighbor, who is very happy with it. I went over to the dark side and got a Nook (I don't remember if it is Nook 2 or 3 or what - it was new this early summer, 6" format, WiFi only, 4 week battery life). Of course, part of that was pressure from my husband, who had one of the original Nooks and couldn't be happier.

Note, though, that both of us use our eReaders for just that - reading. No apps. So that doesn't do anything to address OP's desires.

[Thomas]

Not because I'm trying to be a naysayer, but since I've read a whole lot of "Yes" here and precious little "No", I feel a need to add a voice of balance...

I love the Kindle in theory. Had one (K2) for a while. Adored the interface, and how it worked. Except (and I may be the only person on the planet who had this problem, though I didn't get that from their [wonderful] support folks)... My Kindle would sporadically (4 times in 4 days right before I ditched it) reboot itself. I would go to turn it on and it would decide "nope, we're rebooting... you can just wait for two minutes". Once it did it in the middle of while I was reading a book. I couldn't take it - I had been trying for an extended period and just couldn't take a piece of hardware with an endless mind of its own. I sold it to my neighbor, who is very happy with it. I went over to the dark side and got a Nook (I don't remember if it is Nook 2 or 3 or what - it was new this early summer, 6" format, WiFi only, 4 week battery life). Of course, part of that was pressure from my husband, who had one of the original Nooks and couldn't be happier.

Note, though, that both of us use our eReaders for just that - reading. No apps. So that doesn't do anything to address OP's desires.

Amazon has great customer service. I don't know if you ever tried contacting them. It sounds like something they could have helped you with (switching it out because it sounds like a hardware problem).

[Commander Cody]

I would like to have a comparison of Nook to Kindle without the bias. All of the reviews I can find were evidently written by Nook or Kindle. I would like to have one for reading only.

[LikesShinyThings]

Not because I'm trying to be a naysayer, but since I've read a whole lot of "Yes" here and precious little "No", I feel a need to add a voice of balance...

I love the Kindle in theory. Had one (K2) for a while. Adored the interface, and how it worked. Except (and I may be the only person on the planet who had this problem, though I didn't get that from their [wonderful] support folks)... My Kindle would sporadically (4 times in 4 days right before I ditched it) reboot itself. I would go to turn it on and it would decide "nope, we're rebooting... you can just wait for two minutes". Once it did it in the middle of while I was reading a book. I couldn't take it - I had been trying for an extended period and just couldn't take a piece of hardware with an endless mind of its own. I sold it to my neighbor, who is very happy with it. I went over to the dark side and got a Nook (I don't remember if it is Nook 2 or 3 or what - it was new this early summer, 6" format, WiFi only, 4 week battery life). Of course, part of that was pressure from my husband, who had one of the original Nooks and couldn't be happier.

Note, though, that both of us use our eReaders for just that - reading. No apps. So that doesn't do anything to address OP's desires.

Amazon has great customer service. I don't know if you ever tried contacting them. It sounds like something they could have helped you with (switching it out because it sounds like a hardware problem).

Yes, I contacted support... I almost had their number on speed dial. As I said, they were wonderful. I went thru three different units over the course of 6 months (maybe less), and I was still having the same problem, so if it was a hardware problem, it was directly associated with the design. Regardless, I decided it and I were not meant to be together. I moved on, it moved on, and we're both happy.

I'm not trying to disparage Amazon or the Kindle. Lots of people have them and love them. I just had to share a "the Kindle world is not 100% roses" story as a tiny bit of balance. It may be that I give off an aura of "anti-Kindle" (uh oh, that's sounds awfully new-agy, please forgive me). I also know that on the internet you can always find tales of wonderment and joy and tales of horror on the same subject, so obviously YMMV, and I'm very happy for those who have Kindles and have no problems with them.

[LikesShinyThings]

I would like to have a comparison of Nook to Kindle without the bias. All of the reviews I can find were evidently written by Nook or Kindle. I would like to have one for reading only.

I've used both (see above).

For reading, I go for the eInk-only, no color portion on the screen format (eg, the newer 6" Nook with no color, or the second edition Kindle), because those platforms both now have a roughly 4 week battery life with the WiFi off. My husband's original Nook (with the color screen strip at the bottom) can't even go a week without needing recharging, even when he's not using it. If he uses it, I think it is closer to one day before needing recharge. But that's the "old" Nook.

Barring the difficulties I had with the Kindle, I think I actually lean nominally toward preferring it, but I think that is because I liked the hard keypad it had. I found the navigation pad easy to use, and the entire "interface" just fit easily with my personality.

Kindle has a nice feature that you can email yourself (via a specific email addr at Amazon) and they will convert some documents to Kindle format and allow you to download wirelessly. This is a feature I've not seen provided by Nook, and I kind of enjoyed.

Drawback to Kindle, if you see it that way: formats it can read - it's primary eBook format is a custom format. While Nook can read the more common/standard ePub format, the Kindle specifically can not. However, there are often sources for the Kindle format, regardless.

Nifty Nook accessibility: Free book Fridays - every Friday, they have another free book you can download via WiFi (Friday only). Is this a big deal? I wouldn't buy a Nook just because of that. Most of the free books seem to lean toward the romance/"chickflick" type category (going by the descriptions - I can't nearly keep up with reading them all).

There are lots of free books available for either format, though, so I wouldn't let that be a deciding factor.

That's a start. I could probably go on, but I should probably get to work now. :-)

[SewTexas]

the nook can be hacked to the android interface (I believe it's the nook? ) Shiny, I've not heard of anyone having the problem with the reboot problem, that's a shame, typically they will either send you a new one or give you a big discount on a new one. I can say that when my first one died, they very quickly replaced it. there are converter programs out there so that you can get books in one format and convert them to the format you need, however typically you can get the book you want in the format you these days. I regularly read on my kindle, my phone (occ) and my computer (kindle app), I prefer my kindle if I'm going to read for a long time, it's easier on my eyes, that e-ink is nice and flat). Personally, I would buy kindle because of the Amazon CS...anytime I have an issue they take care of it, wether it's talking me through a reboot or helping me replace my first kindle or replacing a camera (different arm but still amazon)

[hpcatx]

I've not heard of the above described problems with the Kindle. We have quite a few between our household and our extended family and everyone really likes them -- from the computer savvy to the novices.

There are plenty of free (public domain) books on Amazon's platform, as well as the ease of use factor, battery life, and customer support. Amazon also offers tools for self-publishers to convert their stuff to the Kindle format and they will contact existing publishers to let them know what you want in electronic format. I'm not sure what the battery life will be with the Fire, but I'd wait to read some real reviews. Often times, the initial reviews are from folks already enamored with the product before they even get their early release versions, so they're not the most accurate.

With what I've seen to date, this first version of the Fire is really just going to be a supped up Kindle with a new browser (breaks up the some of the rendering load and pushes it to their servers, for faster loading; also means all your content goes through their pipes) and video capabilities. I wouldn't look to it in lieu of an Android or iPad tablet yet, even if it's got Android under the hood like the Nook and hooks into Amazon's Android Marketplace. I've heard rumors that forthcoming models in the Amazon production pipeline will be more robust and they seem to have a decently short product iteration time.

Other factors to consider is how integrated with Amazon are you already? As with other readers, Amazon's book formats are proprietary, so factor that in. (One reason I like the Kindle over the Nook; while B&N is making a valiant effort, who knows when they'll go the way of Borders.) Do you have an Amazon Prime account already, etc.? Overall, if you were looking to put me on the spot to make a recommendation, I'd say hold off until you get more feedback on the Fire or hear more about what they might be releasing shortly thereafter, but definitely consider an Amazon device over the B&N Nook.

Hope this helps!

[Commander Cody]

One comparison I read stated that the battery on the Kindle could not be replaced and with the Nook it can. I know that the battery in anything may have a long life, but none last forever. Is this a point to consider?

[Thomas]

One comparison I read stated that the battery on the Kindle could not be replaced and with the Nook it can. I know that the battery in anything may have a long life, but none last forever. Is this a point to consider?

I wouldn't. If you buy a replacement battery kit, it should come with a tool to help you do so, and the company's website should have a video showing you how.
I just did a quick search, and the first result is a 4 minute video showing how: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxKqr3t35HM

[hpcatx]

One comparison I read stated that the battery on the Kindle could not be replaced and with the Nook it can. I know that the battery in anything may have a long life, but none last forever. Is this a point to consider?

I wouldn't be concerned about an internal, fixed battery. From the vantage point of several, heavily-used Kindles, we've never had issues with the batteries degrading and not holding very long charges. The batteries last for weeks, if you turn off the antenna (easy to toggle) when not downloading content. If it's a Kindle Fire, the extra screen power needs and web browsing sessions may make it more of an issue than the reader only versions.

[n5wd]

Put me in the Nook (specifically, the Color Nook) corner.

I bought my wife a Kindle 2 when they first came out - she loved it for the time it worked well, then about 13 months later it started the re-boot-at-will problem, then died. Kindle replaced it (had the extended warranty) without question. So can't fault them for that.

Fast forward to this last summer, when she's scheduled for a knee replacement, and going to basically be homebound for a few weeks. There was a book that she wanted that wasn't available from Amazon (one of the rare few), but the public library had an e-copy. Kindle doesn't do E-Pubs, or at least very many different formats.

Enter the Color Nook. Liked hers so much, I got one for myself. Still use the Kindle format books on my iPhone, occasionally, but most of my reading is now on the Nook, either public library loans or from B&N.

Two things that Amazon has more of than B&N is self-published small publishers. That, and a lot of "free" books (teasers and first editions of series). B&N has a way to go in that regard, but I understand that they're supposed to be opening up a self-publishing bookstore soon.

Oh - if you DO get the Color Nook, you have a pretty decent web browser built in, as well as mail functions built in. Understand the 'Fire' is supposed to browse the web, too, but haven't played with one, yet.

Wayne

[Barbi Q]

My mom loves her Kindle and it works as good at the pool as the living room.