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Posts tagged amazon
Kindle vs Nook (vs iSlate)
Oct 29th
A few lucky early adopters have already received the Kindles down here in deepest darkest Africa, but as much as I want to get my hands on an ebook reader immediately, I’m going to try to fight the urge until there a few more killer devices available locally. The Barnes & Noble Nook was recently announced and will be available soon in the USA, but no word yet on availability internationally. I’m pretty sure that they will want to distribute the device as far and wide as possible, especially if they want to compete with Amazon.
If a had to choose a device today, I’d snap up a Nook in a second. It has features that the Kindle doesn’t have and just looks like a much better device. I haven’t used either device yet, but when it comes to the actual reading of books, I suspect they will be pretty much on par as they share the same size screen powered by the same E Ink technology.
One thing I don’t really like about either device is that the content you purchase from the respective online stores isn’t portable. It’s the whole DRM saga all over again. We’ve been through this with the purchasing of online music already. It doesn’t work. That’s why you can now buy your music DRM free from iTunes. I know it just comes down the publishers being a little nervous having their content out there in the wild west, but in the end I want to be able to take my ebook content from device to device without being locked into a specific technology platform.
So there is a lot of buzz about the Apple iSlate/iTablet at the moment as well. A few media slips over the last few days seem to confirm that we should see something early next year and that there will definitely be some reader functionality built into the device. If Apple continue the trend of providing DRM free content from the iTunes store maybe this will be the first platform where I will be able to purchase an ebook and transfer the content from my iSlate to whatever my new ebook reader of the future will be.
I’m gonna hang on a bit longer before I make the leap.
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Device |
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Screen Size |
6 inch E Ink |
6 inch E Ink / 3.5 colour TFT |
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Touch Screen |
No |
Yes (Colour) |
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Storage |
2GB not expandable |
2GB Expandable up to |
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Wireless |
AT&T |
AT&T 3G and |
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Bookstore |
Amazon |
Barnes & Noble |
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Natively |
Kindle (AZW), TXT, |
ePub, “multiple DRM |
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Formats |
PDF, HTML, DOC,JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP |
Word, more to come |
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Web Browser |
Yes |
No |
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Sync with
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iPhone, iPod Touch |
iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry, PC, Mac OS |
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Available |
Now |
Nov 30 ‘09 |
Barnes & Noble Nook aims right between the eyes
Oct 20th
Talk about blowing the competition out of the water !
Looks like the Nook has all the features we’ve been begging for in the Kindle. I won’t go into detail about the features, Engadget sums it all up very nicely below.
My only questions are how large the book selection will be, what will the books cost and will it be available in South Africa ?
Barnes & Noble Nook aims right between the eyesBarnes & Noble Nook e-reader leaks a bit early: $259, pre-orders are live (video): “
Looks like all those whispers were true — the ‘Android-based’ nook is alive and well, and it’s calling itself the planet’s ‘most advanced e-book reader.’ Measuring 7.7- x 4.9- x 0.5-inches and weighing 11.2 ounces, the device includes a top e-ink display from Vizplex and a color touchscreen (3.5-inches) below, which supports one-touch control and swipe-to-browse books with full-color covers. The rechargeable battery takes 3.5 hours to go from zero to full if using a wall outlet, and B&N claims that itll last for up to ten days if you flick the wireless to ‘off.’ Speaking of which, inbuilt WiFi (802.11b/g) and AT&T 3G is included, not to mention 2GB of internal storage, a microSD expansion slot, MP3 player, built-in mono speaker, 3.5 millimeter headphone jack, a micro USB port and support for EPUB, PDF and MP3. The nook also supports bookmarking, making notes, and highlighting passages, and the LendMe feature allows users to lend books for up to a fortnight at a time to other e-readers, cellphones or computers.
B&N also tells us that you can pick up where you left off (with markings and highlights in tact) on your iPhone or BlackBerry using its free eReader software, which just so happens to be the same app that allows sharing to iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, PC or Mac. As expected, the company will also let you sample ebooks before you buy, and youll enjoy free WiFi each and every time you sashay into a Barnes & Noble retail location. Its available to pre-order as we speak for $259, with initial shipments expected to happen at the end of November. Introductory video is after the break, along with a few highlights about accessories and features.
Update: Aw snap, B&N just yanked everything related to nook from its website. Thankfully for you, everything youd ever need to know is right here.
Update 2: Looks like it’s back! Though, the landing page itself still seems down. Hurray for backdoors!
(Via Engadget.)
