The Difference About E-readers
Tablets versus eReaders
“eReaders are light and portable, capable of
storing thousands of books.[i]” They are mostly used to read books,
magazines, blogs and newspapers, whereas tablets can do the same thing — are
slightly bigger and heavier, and have less battery life than eReaders. Tablets
can also perform — more easily — a number of “app-like” functions including
office support documentation and email.
“Tablets are used mostly for web-based activities like email, video
chat, games and extensive web browsing.[ii]”
This week I am buying an iPad instead of a Kindle
Fire®. Ultimately, I will most likely buy a Fire somewhere down the road as I
am very “inter-twingled” to Amazon content, and that is the main reason why you
would buy a Kindle Fire® over a Nook Color™: to use the device to view your content.
What needs to be understood is that eReaders and
Tablets are different animals — almost like leopards and tigers, same species different families. My iPad will cost me several hundred dollars more than
the aforementioned state of the art eReaders, which both retail at $199.
If you are a regular Amazon user then the Kindle
Fire® is for you as it is a device that is meant to view Amazon content. It has
a limit of 8 GB of local memory, but unlimited ability to use Amazon’s cloud
storage to access all kinds of purchased content. And — by the way — this is
the way of the future as you will be seeing cable going this way as well. At
the same time, Barnes and Noble (B&N)
has decided to outfit it’s Nook Color™ with 8 GB of memory and an expansion
slot of 32 GB, and it won’t surprise me if B&N
announces cloud storage soon.
When viewing both the Fire and the Nook they are
very similar in nature and the differences between the two are minor, although
many Fire users are reporting an unfortunate placement of the speakers that can
be covered by certain protective covers.
Screen Interface
Basically, the screen
size for both are the same, with the color version being an inch bigger than
the respective black and white versions.
If you are looking to buy the Nook or Kindle there are some basic
questions to ask. Am I going to just use it to read books? If so, then I’d say
only buy the black and white version, and the Kindle’s E ink Pearl screen interface has it over the Nook because you can
read it in the sunlight, while you cannot do this with the Nook.
Battery Life
As far as battery life is concerned, I’d say they
are both similar:
Nook Color™ — up to 8 hours
Kindle Fire® — up to 8 hours
Nook Simple Touch™ (black and white) — up to two
months with wireless off[iii]
Kindle® Keyboard or Touch( (black and white) — up
to two months with wireless off[iv]
Documentation Support
The
types or kinds of source data files that each eReader can maneuver are
different — with Kindle being more supportive of Amazon content types and the
Nook being friendlier to Microsoft® file types (Excel, Word and PowerPoint).
You should specifically look at this issue at the time that you purchase your
eReader as this is a variable that could change over time.
Memory
There is also variance
in readily available memory, and it goes like so:
Nook Color™ — 8 GB with 32 GB expansion
Kindle Fire® — 8 GB, plus free “cloud” storage for
Amazon content
Kindle Touch — 4 GB (about 3,000 book capacity)
Nook Simple Touch™ — 2 GB (up to 1,000 books) with
32 GB expansion
Personal
Comments:
I like the physical
keyboard Kindle version, which will ultimately be phased out. I have tried using the screen keyboard
and I don’t like the touch version. I also have the cheaper advertising-in version
that includes mandatory ads with it, and I actually don’t mind the ads as they
are for products that are personal and relevant to me.
I like reading
outdoors during the summer, and therefore the Kindle interface screen is a must. And to be honest, if you are an avid
reader the Kindle’s E ink Pearl
screen is easy on the eyes.
Good luck with your purchase!
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