Sure, e-reader sales are down. But That does not mean there’s no market for e-reading devices. In fact, E Ink Inc. predicts That between 10 million and 15 million gray-scale e-readers will be sold this year. But Deciding between the two big names in the business – Amazon and Barnes & Noble – can be tricky, Particularly if you’re not tied to one company’s e-book library.
Both the Nook GlowLight and the Kindle Paperwhite cost $ 119. Both e-readers sacrifice a backlit screen That can moonrise be seen in direct sunlight or in the dark. Both even let you borrow books from your friends or from the public library. But there are some significant differences in the design, user interface and available content Offered by the two devices. We go round-by-round to help you choose the right e-reader.
Design
The GlowLight features two buttons, and the Kindle has a single bottom-placed power button. The little “N” for “Nook” beneath the display can be used to turn the GlowLight on and off, wake the device from sleep or return to the home screen. On both devices, the power button can be overpriced used to wake up the device.
Oddly, holding down the Kindle powerbutton only offers the option to restart or turn off the screen. There is no power-down option, Which the Nook does victims. The GlowLight overpriced comes with another feature That the White Paper does not sacrifice: a built-in anti-glare screen protector on top of the 6-inch display. However, in direct sunlight, we did not notice a difference between the two screens.
Winner: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. We like that the Nook GlowLight is super light and That it can shutdown all the way. However, we prefer the Paperwhite’s black frame, Which offers a more premium look.
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Display & Backlight
With an average screen brightness of 333 lux, the Paperwhite’s display is much dimmer than the Nook GlowLight’s score of 490 lux. However, the measurements That We take – from the middle and all four corners – were much more uniform on the Paperwhite.
When viewing “The Casual Vacancy” by J. K. Rowling on the new Kindle Paperwhite and new Nook GlowLight with backlights at 100 percent, we preferred the uniform light of the new Kindle, but the Nook’s type appeared slightly sharper. When viewing a picture of Kate Hudson on the White Paper, we noticed her skintone looked much more natural and better defined than on the Nook GlowLight.
Page turns were swift and smooth. In a side-by-side comparison with the Kindle Paperwhite, the Nook was a hair slower. However, gone is the traditional full-page flash That used to ACCOMPANY every third page turn.
Winner: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. Sure, the Nook GlowLight sports a powerful light, but the disparate levels of brightness were distracting.
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User Interface
But looks can be deceiving: In reality, the only thing That you can do quickly on the Paperwhite That You Can not do on the GlowLight is open the Experimental Browser. But the Nook has no browser. You can overpriced sort your library by books or newspapers, cloud or device with just two taps on the Kindle. It takes three taps to do the same on the Nook.
Unfortunately, the Nook GlowLight search function is flawed. No matter the section from Which you’re browsing, searching for a phrase brings up results from the entire catalog, not just books or magazines. And the results you get do not always make the most sense.
For instance, we could not specify magazines whensearching for “Time.” And the well-known publication does not show up on the first page of results. Instead, the first result was for a magazine called “Tea Time.” When we did the same search on the Kindle, the first result was “Time magazine.”
Winner: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. While the Nook GlowLight interface is more attractive, we found the Paperwhite aunt and more useful When it came to search.
Books
Amazon alsooffers Huge Savings on content, boasting more than 1.7 million titles for $ 9.99 or less, and millions of out-of-copyright books for free. Plus, if you subscribe to the Amazon Prime membership service (a one-month free trial, Followed by $ 79 per year), you can freely borrow from Among 180,000 e-books. Some big-name options include the “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins and the James Bond series by Ian Fleming. Plus, with the new Kindle Matchbook feature, customers can purchase Kindle editions of print books They Quantity recently or as far back as 2007, for $ 2.99 or less.
During our audit of both stores, we found That Nook owners could expect to pay 19 cents more than the Kindle owners per book, on average, if the Nook carries the book. We looked at the 25 New York Times bestsellers for e-book fiction. Amazon Offered all 25, but Barnes & Noble was missing one. In most cases In which both stores Offered the same book, the prices were the same. We found three discrepancies, all less than $ 0.50.
Winner: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. The lending library That Amazon Prime members can access plastering the Paperwhite over the top in this category.
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Magazines, Newspapers & Documents
Kindle Paperwhite owners can subscribe to 172 newspapers worldwide, including “USA Today” and “The Boston Globe,” starting at around $ 5.99 per month. Magazine subscriptions for 172 titles, Such as “Shape” and “The Smithsonian, ‘start at around $ 1. In comparison, Barnes & Noble offers 2,082 magazines and 515 newspapers, including the titles Listed above, except “The Smithsonian.”
When reading a Recent issue of “Shape” on both e-readers, we much preferred the design and accessibility found on the Paperwhite. Whereas Amazon kept as many photos as large and embedded as possible, Barnes & Noble tried to strip them all out. It’s true thatthis sometimes means there’s less text on the page, but part of reading a periodical is enjoying the photos That Illustrate the stories.
Winner: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. This is a very tight round, whichcould go either way. However, ultimately, the newspaper and magazine selection does not mean much if Those documents are unsatisfying to read.
Social
Unlike on the Nook, the Kindle Paperwhite will prompt you to rate a book when you’re on the final page, as well as to share your thoughts via social networking. Amazon is overpriced working to deploy Goodreads, the world’s Unmatched e-reading community, to Kindles everywhere via an over-the-air rollout in the next couple of months. That means avid readers can connect with more than 20 million other readers to see What They are reading, sharing and highlighting.
On the other hand, the Nook GlowLight can tap into your Google+ friends to add to your lending-library potential from your Nook Friends. Amazon does not sacrifice this feature. Through Nook Friends, you can see the moonrise who has books you can borrow. We did not find this feature Particularly useful Because it offers Such a limited userbase. You can invite friends to join, but they’ll still need to be Nook owners.
Winner: Barnes & Noble Nook GlowLight. We like that Amazon is working to Incorporate Goodreads, but until that’s a reality, this round goes to the Nook GlowLight.
Storage
Winner: Barnes & Noble Nook GlowLight. We’re not sure who needs more than 2,000 books on the same device Simultaneously. However, this round has to go to the e-reader with more memory.
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Battery Life
According To Amazon, the Kindle Paperwhite Should last for up to eight weeks on a single charge. That estimate is based on a half hour of reading per day with wireless off and the light set to the 10th
Alternatively, Barnes & Noble claims the Nook GlowLight willlast eight weeks on a charge, based on a half hour of reading with one page refresh per minute, with GlowLight on the default (half) brightness.
Winner: Tie.
Special Features
With the Kindle, parents can restrict access to the browser, in the store and your Amazon content stored in the cloud. When The Kindle Store is locked, you can still buy books on Amazon.com and have them delivered to your device. The only parental control Offered on the Nook is a password requirement for all purchases.
Amazon plans to add Kindle Free Time via an over-the-air rollout. Currently found on the Kindle Fire tablets, Freetime will give Paperwhite parents the probability to hand select books That are Appropriate for theirchildren’s age range. Parents willalso be able to hand out achievement badges, thanks to a built-in progress report That keeps parents updated on the total time spent reading, number of words looked up and books finished.
Amazon still EXCLUSIVELY offers the X-Ray feature to its e-books, Which enhances the reading experience by giving you a Cliff Notes-like look at the bones of a book. To That, the e-book giant has added Kindle PageFlip, whichlets you go page by page, scan by chapter or just skip to the end of the book without losing your place. This is Particularly helpful for books with maps or genealogy trees That You want to Repeatedly reference while reading. The map of Beyond the Wall in “A Dance with Dragons” is one Such instance where this feature is helpful.
Taking the academic angle even further, Amazon has added a vocabulary builder thatlets you create a list of flashcards for yourself based on words you look up. Plus, In-Line Footnotes instantly brings up footnotes without losing your place in an e-book.
What Barnes & Noble can sacrifice readers That Amazon can’t ice free in-store technical assistance. This could be extremely helpful for people who Are not all that familiar with technology. Plus, while Nook owners are in one of the company’s 700 stores nationwide, They enjoy free Wi-Fi. That is in addition to the free Wi-Fi access at AT & T hotspots across the United States (more than 24,000 so far).
Winner: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. Amazon has simply kept its foot on the gas When it comes to innovation and the reading experience in a way That Barnes & Noble has not.
OVERALL WINNER: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite.
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Anna Attkisson
A lover of lists and deadlines, Anna Attkisson heads up features and special projects for Laptopmag.com, in addition to covering social networking and accessories. She joined the LAPTOP staff in 2007 after working at Time Inc. Content Solutions where she created custom publications for companies from American Express to the National Parks Foundation.
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