Kindle vs. Nook
The e-book reader market is evolving at light speed, but--in the pre-iPad era, at least--the current focus is on the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook.
Now in its second generation, Amazon's Kindle has a leg up on the competition, if only because of its growing install base and Amazon's marketing muscle. The Nook, meanwhile, adds quite a few features not available on the Amazon: a color touch-screen navigation pad, an Android-powered operating system, and the ability to freely browse books while inside Barnes & Noble's brick-and-mortar stores.
With a closely matched feature set--and an identical price tag--we put these two e-book readers head to head, with a trio of CNET editors judging the five-round contest. Let's head to the ring to see which product comes out on top.
Round 1: Design: Hot or not?
In Round 1, we examine the physical design and ergonomics of each product. How does the Kindle's hard keyboard compare with the Nook's touch-screen navigation pad? (We'll focus on the
interface for each product in the next round.)
| player | David | Tom | Brian | the winner |
 Barnes & Noble Nook (3G/Wi-Fi) | 4The Nook's a tad heavier than the Kindle, though its dimensions are smaller. The built-in mini color LCD gives it a bit of flash, and I like the whole touch-screen virtual keyboard concept. Overall, however, as far as cosmetics go, I think it's a toss-up between the two e-readers. | 4The Nook looks hot. The color touch screen lends a splash that gives it panache. | 4Cosmetically, the Nook looks clean. The backside is one piece, and you won't see a physical button on the front. | 4 |
Round 2: Navigation and interface
Unlike the iPad, the e-ink screens on the Kindle and Nook are black and white--and they aren't touch screens. However, the Nook adds a color touch-screen navigation bar, whereas the Kindle relies on good old-fashioned buttons. How do they stack up?
| player | David | Tom | Brian | the winner |
| Barnes & Noble Nook (3G/Wi-Fi) | 3I got used to using the capacitive touch-screen LCD at the bottom of the device for navigation, but some people don't like it. I think it's definitely a plus for looking at cover art and I like flipping through the covers like you would on an iPhone. It's also worth pointing out that Barnes & Noble has fixed some early bugs and improved the overall performance of the device. I hope it continues to get better. | 2The navigation being split between buttons on the plastic and buttons that show up in the touch screen makes for a steeper learning curve. Not very intuitive, but still useful once you figure it out. | 2I though I'd really like the touch-screen navigation, but when I actually started using it, I wasn't a fan. It's cramped, with a scroll bar directly next to two selection arrows, and then the selection button is on the side of that. Plus, the touch screen's brightness makes e-ink look so bland. The contrast is distracting. | 2.3 |
Round 3: Features and technology
Both the Kindle and the Nook are narrowly focused as e-book readers: their primary purpose is to view books, magazines, newspapers, and other documents electronically. But scratch the surface, and the two devices do have some notable differences in the features department.
| player | David | Tom | Brian | the winner |
| Barnes & Noble Nook (3G/Wi-Fi) | 3Aside from its capacitive color touch screen, the real unique feature of the Nook is the inclusion of Wi-Fi, along with 3G wireless connectivity. That Wi-Fi connection allows you to access special content in Barnes & Noble brick-and-mortar stores. The Nook also has expandable memory, supports more file formats, and offers a "lending" function not found on the Kindle. | 4Not much else to offer than audio and book reading, though I expect that will change. Overall, a solid but not special offering of features. | 4Wi-Fi and 3G combination is killer, and is enticing if you hang out at Barnes & Noble stores. The sharing feature is innovative, but it's also really limited. You won't be able to purchase books if you're in other countries unless you're on Wi-Fi. Expansion slot for memory for additional content is nice. More than 1 million books available, but larger library is because of the EPUB format. | 3.7 |
Round 4: Performance
There are no "performance" worries with a paper book or magazine. But with e-book readers, battery life and screen response time are just two of the primary concerns.
| player | David | Tom | Brian | the winner |
| Barnes & Noble Nook (3G/Wi-Fi) | 3The color LCD does require some extra energy, so the Nook battery life numbers aren't quite as good as the Kindle's. Performance-wise, the Kindle initially had the clear edge, but Barnes & Noble's latest firmware upgrades have made performance zippier. | 1Fail. I shouldn't have to wait forever for the navigation options to come up on the touch screen before I can even make selections. Not as big of a problem once you're into a book, but still terribly frustrating when you just want to start reading. The speed makes the Nook almost unusable. | 2I'm tempted to give it a 1, because I was so frustrated, and this is after the firmware update. This thing is slow; the touch-screen responsiveness is buggy; it will disappear and then take a few seconds to reappear when you want to use it. The "page back" on the left side of our Nook is loose and makes too much noise. | 2 |
Round 5: Value
Last, but definitely not least, we consider the price of these e-book readers measured against their respective features, design, and performance. This task is made somewhat easier given that both are (at the time of this writing) priced identically at $259.
| player | David | Tom | Brian | the winner |
| Barnes & Noble Nook (3G/Wi-Fi) | 4When Barnes & Noble finally allows you to stream and sample e-books in its stores via Wi-Fi, that will give it some extra value. To me, they're both priced fairly well, though the arrival of the iPad may force both to go down to $199. | 3The price is right in line with the Kindle, and the books, if anything, seem to be a tad cheaper overall. But if I'm going to pay the same for either, I'd rather have the Kindle. | 3There are a lot of features packed in here, but I was constantly distracted by its poor performance. | 3.3 |
The winner is...
Winner
Runner-Up
Barnes & Noble Nook (3G/Wi-Fi) (3.1 pts)
Oh, Nook--close, but no cigar. Even though the Nook edges Amazon's reader on features, the Kindle ekes out a win thanks to a more polished experience. Of course, with these products, you're always just a theoretical firmware update away from turning the tables. Still, we'd expect future versions of both of these products to benefit from a combination of improved features and performance with lower prices to combat the oncoming Apple iPad juggernaut.
Manage updates with the Download App
B&N's website/bookstore is not quite as nice as the uber-user-friendly Amazon site; but as the reviews noted, improvements continue. I'd love to see suggestions and "other people also bought" type functionality in the B&N store. End-of-the-day, I can buy and browse from my Nook, I don't need to go to my computer. I'll take a few less bells and whistles in that event.
The Nook's touchscreen is no iPod screen. It CAN be slow, and sometimies twitchy, but I find that since I know it's not as responsive as my iPod touch I'm patient with it. Just how fast do you want it to be? I agree though, with the processor it packs and the android OS I would expect some more speed from my Nook. Perhaps a firmware update B&N?! (HINT!)
I'm willing to forgive a bit here though, it's Gen1 and I'm an early adopter...plus it seems in hindsight like B&N was pushing harder to market than they had initially planned. Especially when you consider all the other eReaders that were in the wings with [some] similar features. There will (must?) be next gen down the pike and improvements can definitely be pushed without new hardware.
The e-ink screen doesn't seem any laggy-er than any other E-reader to me. Also, it seems (again, to me) to be just a little sharper than the Kindle's and far sharper than Sony's.
I'm surprised that in all the discussion of battery life (I get days out of my Nook, by setting my touchscreen to the shortest possible time and keeping the wifi off around the house) that one of the key selling points of the Nook that CNET called out in their initial reviews was not revisited. That is the ability to replace the battery on the Nook unlike the Kindle.
As to navigatability, If you've used a computer in the past 20 years you shouldn't have any problem navigating the Nook. You have 5 main "folders" that you then drill into and get more capabilities within. The combination of touchscreen and physical buttons is quite easy to get used to (easy as in: oh! that's what I need to do...well ok then). Would I like to be able to use the touchscreen for lateral movement as opposed to just vertical? Yes. But they can update that easily (again HINT B&N)
Bottom-line? I really like my Nook. As an owner, I could be expected to be partisan; but if I had not liked it right away, I would have put it on ebay and recouped my cost (or more) back in December. The updates that have been made so far have only increased functionality (clock available while you're reading was in the first update...seems a little thing until you're reading and wondering what time it is) and I look forward to future updates.
I'm surprised they didn't mention the text to speech feature of the kindle. That's the main reason I haven't bought the nook (I don't have either). I want to be able to listen to books in the car.
I haven't used a Kindle, and the Nook isn't perfect, but I absolutely love mine.
Did you know when the color screen is off you can swip your finger either left or right across the small screen and it will turn the page? Try that with the Kindle. I could have bought the Kindle, it did not really matter to me I just wanted to get the best device for ebooks and right now it is the Nook.
IMHO, the problem with these e-book readers is that they're only e-book readers. I know e-ink is designed to simulate paper but paper is on the way out (no, not tomorrow but it's being greatly reduced and I work with printers - they're hurting badly). These devices look back and not the future like the iPad will - an all-in-one portable media device for reading books, watching movies, internet, music, games, writing (I write a lot for work), presentations, etc....
you missed the whole point of e-ink, its nothing to do with paper, its all to do with your eyes and how they will feel when reading a book.
"These devices look back and not the future like the iPad will - an all-in-one portable media device for reading books, watching movies, internet, music, games, writing (I write a lot for work), presentations, etc...."
So how is that different from an iphone or ipod touch? ipad is just a giant ipod touch so whats so innovative about that? its been done .. by apple no less. Sorry but ipad will be nothing more than a novelty, too many slates with real power and serious applications are on their way. Apple as always will remain the most expensive toy company around.
And what about the other 8 hours of the day staring at an LCD? Are you blind now?
"So how is that different from an iphone or ipod touch? ipad is just a giant ipod touch so whats so innovative about that?"
People like you who say this are not innovators. If no one thought differently, we would still be using an abacus. Think about the possibilities for education, medicine, for kids (my 6-yo daughter plays educational games on an ipod touch and a bigger screen will be better) ? and beyond....
I can't wait.
Now with Kindle 3 on the market, and the updated Nook, there is a whole different story than the one being presented. The new Kindle?s battery life boasts a month of use between charges. Compared with 10 days of battery life with Nook, it?s a long time. But again, it?s not replaceable where as Nook?s is. Kindle 3 has 3GB of memory built in, where as Nook has 2GB, but can?t be expanded like Nook?s can up to an extra 16GB. There are more free books through Kindle now, those pre 1923, but there are more current titles available through Nook. And with the updates to the heat-sensitive android touch screen on Nook, vs. the odd controls on Kindle, navigation is intuitive and a breeze. With all the changes to both products, this review needs to be revisited and updated; particularly with the upcoming holiday season.
Dennis Stefonek
Central WI.