Kindle, Kobo or Nook? Help please

Dave_C_2

I have a Kindle touch. e-ink display with wifi. Here's a quick list:

PROS

• Wifi makes downloading books easier - no need to connect to pc other than to charge and register. Default on new kindles.
• Can read in direct sunlight, tablet users were struggling on the sunbed
• One charge lasted 2 weeks on holiday with the wifi off
• Lots of free or 20p books to choose from before going down the calibre route.
• Me and wife both have kindles on one Amazon account and we can share books, Amazon designed it this way.
• We have bought bestsellers as well. Mostly cheaper than Tesco.

CONS

• Too easy to buy books from Kindle store, but I can give them up any time I want.:)
• Locked into Amazon format and we can't "borrow" library books. I think the Kobo will do this.
• It's an e-reader, so no games or apps.
• Internet a bit poor but it works with patience (touch only).
• The Kindle paperwhite looks great. Can't speak for battery life or readabilty in the sunlight.

Dave

lil.smartie

I have a nook color, use it for facebook email etc as well as books. The screen can be changed to white on black & is fine outside like this I'd guess any of the tablet e-readers can do this so don't exclude them on that basis.
Kindle = Amazon content
Nook = Barnes & Noble content

not exclusively but easy access to these and more complex to get other content on there!

Tablet with nook app & Kindle app = best of both to a certain extent!

Kate

Pont

I was always old school (like the feeling of a book in my hands) until my sister visited a couple of years ago with a Kindle. Became totally convinced it was brilliant!

Roll on a year and my daughters bought me a Kindle for Christmas - loved it!

Roll on 6 months and my sister visited again armed with a Nook! Way better, clearer, games, movies etc., and I thought hmmm - serious upgrade to my Kindle.

Roll on 2 months and I bought my daughter a Kindle Fire HD for her birthday. She is able to do all that the Nook does and more (skype etc) - I want a Kindle Fire HD now!

Btw, sister with Nook also wants a Kindle Fire HD!

jm2926

I've just replaced my kindle keyboard 3G with a kindle Paperwhite wifi only model. It's fantastic with the built in light, has improved search and touchscreen.

I use calibre on my pc to add books to it, which works well. Occasionally buy from Amazon but not often, mostly cheap/free titles.

barbarawright

macman wrote: »

Kindle will lock you into Amazon's proprietary e-Book file system. if you're happy with that, fine. If not, choose any other e-books reader that uses e-Pub (all of them). Kindle does not support e-Pub.
The Kindle's are probably the best pure e-book readers. What penrhyn is saying is that a similar size (7") tablet will read e-books and do many other things beside.
But if you want to read in sunlight as a priority, then you need a dedicated e-book reader with an e-ink screen, not an LCD like a tablet.

But you can easily convert epub to mobi (the Kindle format) using Calibre. I have both a Sony (e-ink for outdoors) and a Kindle Fire and I've got a lot of the same books on both. I do love my Kindle Fire - Wifi, net access and all but it has to be said, it's slightly annoying if the sun comes out. However an e-ink one isn't the best if you're likely to read it in when the light isn't full - I can't read my Sony in a pub for example (or in bed with a reading light but that's my eyesight).

One thing to be aware of with a tablet or tablet-style reader is the battery life is more like that of a mobile phone. With an e-ink reader you don't really have to think about charging if you go away for a weekend (mine supposedly covers 10,000 page turns) while my Kindle fire needs charging at least every couple of days.

If I had to choose,it would be the Kindle fire but if money is tight, a Nook would be brilliant value.

vyle

The problem with going with a tablet of some sort is that the backlit LCD screen is harder on the eyes, and the battery life is considerably shorter (10 hours ish, vs about a month), but they are much more versatile.

If reading books and that's all you want, go for a kindle of some sort. The nooks are very good hardware, but Barnes and nobles' content tends to be more expensive.

loulou123

I have a normal kobo (not even the touch version) which I love, as it was fairly cheap and cheerful, the battery life is brilliant and I can read for hours without it hurting my eyes, but it is limited to just being an ereader - which is all I wanted from it, you can also use the public library overdrive system for free to borrow books (if your local libraries support it) which I have found fantastic, kindle doesn't support this without fiddling with another programme such as calibre...

That said for Xmas I'm getting the kindle fire, as I want a colour ereader/tablet but I doubt I'll use it to read books very often its more of a gadget to me and from what ive read the battery life is realistically only a few hours due to the colour screen etc.

Personally if you want a pure reading device I'd buy the kobo (or the kindle) if you want something more like a tablet then I'd buy the kindle fire (argos has the standard version on offer at moment) or one of the other tablets available if your happy to spend a bit more.

grizzly1911

loulou123 wrote: »

I have a normal kobo (not even the touch version) which I love, as it was fairly cheap and cheerful, the battery life is brilliant and I can read for hours without it hurting my eyes, but it is limited to just being an ereader - which is all I wanted from it, you can also use the public library overdrive system for free to borrow books (if your local libraries support it) which I have found fantastic, kindle doesn't support this without fiddling with another programme such as calibre...

That said for Xmas I'm getting the kindle fire, as I want a colour ereader/tablet but I doubt I'll use it to read books very often its more of a gadget to me and from what ive read the battery life is realistically only a few hours due to the colour screen etc.

Personally if you want a pure reading device I'd buy the kobo (or the kindle) if you want something more like a tablet then I'd buy the kindle fire (argos has the standard version on offer at moment) or one of the other tablets available if your happy to spend a bit more.

If you haven't brought it yet seriously consider the Nexus over the Kindle Fire. It is a really nice piece of kit and so much more flexible.

loulou123

grizzly1911 wrote: »

If you haven't brought it yet seriously consider the Nexus over the Kindle Fire. It is a really nice piece of kit and so much more flexible.

Thanks for the suggestion but I got the kindle for £96 pounds, and checked out the app store on amazon before buying, kindle was best and cheapest option for me as I already have a Android phone and it was nice to see "new" apps on the amazon store.

Thanks for suggestion though

Deals12345

Christmas around the corner i need some help please. My sister has hinted she wanted a e-reader...so i thought id get a Kindle. Got to the shop and i saw many versions of the Kindle along with Nook and Kobo!

Shop assistant suggested a tablet (google/nexus) which looked fantastic and gave the option for downloading apps, however being LCD screen i would imagine that it would put a strain on her eyes eventually!

I need your help!

Which Kindle?Kobo?Nook? to get....?

Which one would give me more? better shelf life? less restrictions to book? best price?

PLEASE HELP!!!:(