Description

A lot of people are interested to see which ebook reader would take top honors in a Nook vs Kindle matchup. The big question is — which one? While Amazon’s Kindle is clearly the dominant ereader in the market today, some are saying that the Barnes and Noble gadget has what it takes to give the Kindle some serious competition. But does it really? Let’s put both ereaders side by side.

Comparing the Basic Features and Design

Measuring 7.7 inches long and 4.9 inches wide, Barnes and Noble’s Nook is somewhat smaller than the Kindle which is 8 inches long and 5.3 inches wide. But on the other hand, at 0.3-inch in depth, the Kindle is thinner than the Nook which is 0.5-inch thick. The Barnes & Noble device is also a bit heavier at 11.2 ounces matched against the Kindle’s 10.2-oz weight.

Unlike the Kindle, the back cover of the Nook is intended to be removable, allowing quick access to its replaceable lithium ion battery pack. But what really places the Nook on an entirely different level is its 3.5-inch color touch screen which takes the place of a typical keyboard for navigation. The distinction between the colored LCD monitor and the grayscale e-ink display provides an interesting dynamics to the gadget that only a small number of other ereaders can lay claim to.

Other Features

Both ebook readers come with 2GB of internal memory, but while that’s about it for the Kindle, the Nook gives the user the choice of adding more storage space via its memory card expansion slot. And while the two ebook readers both offer 3G wireless connection via the AT&T network, only B&N Nook is WiFi capable. Get inside a Barnes & Noble store and you’ll have direct free access to WiFi.

The Haves and Have-Nots

Now here are the more exciting Nook vs Kindle details. So what features are available on the Nook that can’t be found on the Kindle and vice versa? For one, the Barnes and Noble ereader has two innovative services – book lending (having the ability to loan your ebook to a different Nook owner) and in-store browsing (being able to browse full ebooks for free inside Barnes and Noble outlets).

For its part, Kindle does have the text-to-speech option which allows the user to just relax and listen to the book being read. In addition, the Kindle allows web browsing, while the Nook doesn’t. Finally, the Nook’s battery life of 7 to 10 days (more like 4-5 days according to users) is a far cry from the Kindle’s up to 14 days battery power (users say 10 days). These are battery life estimates with the Wifi turned off.  
 
The Decision

As expected, finding a clear winner between the Nook vs Kindle is just not that easy. But while both have great features, Amazon’s device takes the upper hand in overall use as it has practically perfected the technology, having gone through several Kindle versions. On the other hand, the Nook’s various issues, like slow page turns and sluggish startup may be addressed in future versions, and then it can truly be a possible Kindle killer.

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