Nook Tablet vs. Kindle Fire

[joannefm2]

I have a Nook Color and just love it.  Then they came out with the Nook Tablet.  I read where the Tablet vs Fire was supposed to be better, so I bought one.  From what I can tell, the only difference - besides the microphone, which I probably won't use - is the fact that it is faster.  If you want to watch a movie, you don't have 3G, so it is virtually impossible unless you're somewhere there is WiFi (for example, if you're a passenger on a road trip, you wouldn't be able to).  Plus, the Kindle has offerings of free videos (I am a prime member so that helps) and it appears that you have to pay $7.99 a month for EACH Hulu and Netflix on the NT if you want access to movies - and again, you can't watch them anywhere without 3G.  Just to have them would cost probably $16 a month extra if you got both.

Can anyone tell me if they own both the Nook/Kindle (or either) and which one they prefer and why?  Thanks.

[robotecture]

I own nooks... Device alone here are some benefits of the Nook Tablet over kindle fire: 1. Better display quality for reading and video, tested against the kindle fire and iPad, nook tablet cam out on top, 2. twice the ram (1 gb ram), 3. Twice the on board storage (16 gb), 4. Micro SD card reader (add up to an additional 32 gb storage *per micro sd*... You can always have additional cards... This is huge if you plan on sideloading a huge collection of movies and music, since each movie is about 600 mb to 900 mb, so memory gets eaten up fast... With the fire, you are limited to 8 gb of total onboard storage with no possibility for expanding it, so you have to use the amazon cloud storage which is not free for non-amazon purchased content. This also means you cannot have access to your entire collection if you are not in a wifi zone. 4. Better form factor and physical buttons: including a home button and physical volume control buttons. On the kindle fire, everything is touch screen controls, so if the touch screen isn't sensitive, you cannot easily adjust volume or navigate... 6. Microphone: there are certain apps which are possible with a microphone which are not possible on the kindle fire: audio note taking, like in evernote, read and record on children's books which is actually alot of fun if you are a parent... Possible others like say voice translation or others eventually... Maybe language learning? 7. Superior magazine reading experience on all magazines other than apps which are similar: on the fire, the magazine scan resolution on available titles is poor, blurrier, when zoomed fully, so it's not pleasant to read in full page mode, hard to read, looks fuzzier... The background is *grey rather than black* so you have a grey band top and bottom of every magazine page... Since it doesn't display magazine pages that well, you have to use text mode which has wierd formatting issues and it jumps to a text type reader with inserted images in the body... By contrast the nook magazines are crisper when zoomed in in full page mode, consistent quality, and it has "article view" which when tapped, opens a transparent newspaper like column window over top of the page which you can scroll down... The magazine page turns are animated, with a touch control sensitivity, and the quality of the magazine browser is superior.... 8. Ability to stream HD content reduced to the screen size... It can stream HD videos from Netflix, whereas the kindle fire can only access the standard def content, and streaming quality on the nook tablet is superior. 9. Read any ebook In store for free, for an hour each day, and the next day it picks up from where you left off... At any Barnes and noble with free wifi. A nice feature for the Barnes and Noble cafe... 10. Free in store support. 11. Netflix integration with device. It remembers recently watched videos from Netflix. If you subscribe to Netflix, which is far superior to the content selection on prime free streaming, it's awesome... Besides which, any other amazon video content costs alot... It's like $3.00 to watch a movie... Basically an expensive pay per view or rental... Why pay that much to rent a movie only to watch it on a 7" tablet with mediocre sound and video quality? Rather use redbox and watch something on a large screen tv for a dollar... 12. The nook tablet video display has a warmer color, the kindle fire display a cooler tone... This is a matter of preference... I prefer warmer... 13. I like the look of the nook tablet better... Pure preference, looks more unique... 14. I prefer the browsing experience and customizable desktop of the nook tablet. The kindle fire looks slick with the carousel but that cool factor only lasts so long before usability becomes more important... The nook allows you to assign a custom background which the Kindle fire doesn't. You can also arrange your content however you like on your desktop, pin favorite periodicals on the daily shelf there, and they auto update with the latest issues of your magazine or newspaper... Myself, I use the daily shelf for all my most used apps, and put only reading material on the three desktop panels... 15. The nook tablet feels nicer in hand when reading... The kindle fire feels harder and more clunky IMHO... The nook tablet feels slimmer and the back feels softer and more pleasant... I'm biased, can you tell? ;-)

[robotecture]

Oh yeah! Anti glare screen... The Kindle fire has more glare...

[Niteryder]

I had both the Fire and the Nook tablet, I now just have the Nook Tablet. I found the Fire to be a great device and really liked the Amazon system. But the NT just had some better features that I found I needed and/or wanted that the Fire did not have.

I agree that the display is better, the NT is much faster and smoother that the Fire. And of course the SD slot was the feature that was the deciding factor for me. I had both the Fire and the NT for around six weeks to give each a fair try, the NT won out easily. I found the NT better in almost every catagory with the exception of available apps, and the Amazon system, both of which are better than what B&N offers.

If you are looking at just device performance, the NT wins. If you are vested in Amazon and like their system the Fire may be the device for you. Again the ability to add 32GB of storage to the NT is a Fire killer IMO.

[richardwrite25]

In the interest of fairness (from someone who has been labeled a Nook Color "fanboy" even), let me state that it's very difficult to get anything but B&N's couple of thousand apps on the Nook Tablet, whereas on the Fire, you have access to the Amazon App Store's 10,000 apps, plus you can sideload the GetJar and 1Mobile app stores....giving you access to 90% of Android apps available, without even rooting. This is what has prevented me from buying the Nook Tablet.

[BruceMcF]

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richardwrite25 wrote:

In the interest of fairness (from someone who has been labeled a Nook Color "fanboy" even), let me state that it's very difficult to get anything but B&N's couple of thousand apps on the Nook Tablet, whereas on the Fire, you have access to the Amazon App Store's 10,000 apps, plus you can sideload the GetJar and 1Mobile app stores....giving you access to 90% of Android apps available, without even rooting. This is what has prevented me from buying the Nook Tablet.

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So if there was a paid GetJar or 1Mobile app in the B&N store, would that swing it for you?

[richardwrite25]

>>So if there was a paid GetJar or 1Mobile app in the B&N store, would that swing it for you?<<

If there is full ability to install apps from them, absolutely. That's the only reason I did not upgrade from Nook Color to the Nook Tablet. With both the Nook Color and the Kindle Fire, there is the ability to install a great many Android apps (albeit, through CM7 for the Nook).

[j-andersonjma]

joannefm2; regarding movies.  I looked at a Kindle Fire but decided I liked the micro SD card availability for the simple reason that I like to have movies available while boat camping.  No 3G nor WiFi at most places so I take DVDs that I own and convert them to MP4 then load to the Nook Tablet's Micro SD card.  I have  ten to twelve comercial movies on my Nook at any one time.  So watching movies on the go...  get a Nook.  BTW my wife's Nook Color can do the same thing so you really do not need a Nook Tablet to get this feature.

[Perry_Mason]

I have both and the Nook is going on eBay.  I love the Fire, its smaller size, better pricing except for the six publishers that price fix, and the total Amazon integration is just wonderful.  I get a lot of books from the library and with the Fire all I have to do is click on the library page and the book is sent over the air to the Fire. With the Nook I had to download a file, open Adobe Reader and manually install the book and return it the same way.  Then I had to go into the Nook and manually remove the dead book.  I also enjoy being able to store apps I don't use, old books etc in Amazon's Cloud.  And with Prime, I read one book a month free (no time limit to return) and access tv shows and movies free.  Plus Amazon gives away an app a day free.  I've picked up full versions of Monopoly, PocketInformant Calendar and Docs to Go, just to name a few.

What I don't like about the Fire that the Nook does better is that the Fire doesn't have page numbers.  And the Nook has better options for book organization.  But, I've found some workarounds and have my books organized into categories on the Fire that work just as well.  

A lot of what I've said may be subjective to others and I realize that. For instance, I just never liked the size of the Nook and that open corner thing.  It just seemed to be too bulky and unattractive.  But that's totally objective and others may feel differently.  The same goes with the Fire.  Its integration with the Amazon ecosystem and ease of use just made it the reader I found myself reaching for.  Also, when I ran a tally from the books on my wishlist and compared prices there were significant differences.  There were over $80 in savings with Amazon and to me that's significant.

[Nom-de-Nook]

and you can read Nook books on the Fire without rooting, you can't read Kindle books on the NT without rooting.

[PJLLB]

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Nom-de-Nook wrote:

and you can read Nook books on the Fire without rooting, you can't read Kindle books on the NT without rooting.

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I have a non-rooted Nook and sideloaded the Kindle reader, so I can read Kindle books.

[TnTexas]

Perry_Mason: What I don't like about the Fire that the Nook does better is that the Fire doesn't have page numbers.  And the Nook has better options for book organization.  But, I've found some workarounds and have my books organized into categories on the Fire that work just as well.  

Just out of curiosity, how did you do this? I thought the Fire didn't have any way to organize books.

[TnTexas]

PJLLB: I have a non-rooted Nook and sideloaded the Kindle reader, so I can read Kindle books.

So do I, but you can't do that anymore. The very first update that occurred shortly before Christmas (mine hit Christmas Eve), closed that loophole and made it impossible to install apps from any place other than those from the B&N app store.

[robotecture]

TnTexas, you can root it or use an N2A card to boot android... I haven't seen the need however. But different people have different needs as far as apps go... The app library on the nook store also has expanded quite a bit...

[TnTexas]

robotecture: TnTexas, you can root it or use an N2A card to boot android... I haven't seen the need however. But different people have different needs as far as apps go... The app library on the nook store also has expanded quite a bit...

Thanks. I'm not a huge app person and I was able to get the few apps I absolutely wanted on there before the ability was disabled so I'm fine with how mine is at the moment. Knowing those options are available might induce me to buy another Tablet though when this one dies - especially the n2a card possibility. The idea of rooting still makes me nervous. I'm technologically ignorant enough that if there's a way to ruin the thing, I'd probably figure it out.

[mohawkx]

The long and the short of it for me was that I just couldn't handle all the ongoing drama attached to owning a Nook Tablet.  The locked bootloader, the pushed update, the lingering doubts, the XDA pi$$ing matches and all the rest.  When I got the tab I thought what I wanted was an ereader in color.  The Nook Tablet does this better than any other ereader on the market.  I soon found out that what I really wanted was a full function tablet that doubles as an ereader.  Call it a personal foible on my part but I just don't like a corporation selling me a product and then telling me what I can or can't do with it just to protect their bottom line.  That goes for B&N, Apple and Amazon also.  Now with the N2A SD card available for the nook tablet, the owners have the freedom of a real tablet.  But the N2a card cost 80 bucks in 32 gig.  If you add that to the original 249.00 price what have you got?

I returned my Nook Tab and ponyed up the 349.00 for the samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 plus and never looked back.  Only 20.00 difference and the rock solid functionality is designed into the package.  I stream all the news channels I used to pay for right to my large screen TV and canceled my Dish.  Now I save 55.00 a month and the GT pays for itself.  The GalTab 7.0plus forums are very boring as for the most part, nobody has any issues to speak of.   

I still think the Nook Tablet is a great piece of hardware and I sincerely hope that B&N continues to remain an important player in the market.  I especially enjoyed the individuals who own the Nook Tab and are the staunch supporters of the platform.  That's why I keep coming back here to always keep up to date on what's going on with it.  The Nook Tablet folks remind me of the early days of the original Macintosh and the ferver it generated among it's advocates.  It's refreshing. 

[orb9220]

As to the N2A option there really isn't a way to screw up your tablet. As is an alternate boot method and doesn't change anything on the Tablet. Everything is run from the card.

I don't get the vs. Fire thing as find my Nook Color even a better comparsion against the Fire and still wins as far as I am concerned.

And there is much to be said going the full dedicated tablet with multifunction capabilites. And not being tied or locked in to one provider. And a pet peeve of mine is locked in a walled garden. As even a pretty one will become tiresome at some point.

For me it was size as didn't want to go larger than 7" or 8" for portability and cost as didn't want a 10" $500 one. But as with everything that is changing. With more viable ereader size and cost.

.

[Nom-de-Nook]

Someone mentioned the Galaxy tab 7...it is on sale through Amazon today for $299 free shipping (from JR Musci World I think).  For those looking for another option previously mentioned. 

[BruceMcF]

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mohawkx wrote:

The long and the short of it for me was that I just couldn't handle all the ongoing drama attached to owning a Nook Tablet.  The locked bootloader, the pushed update, the lingering doubts, the XDA pi$$ing matches and all the rest.  When I got the tab I thought what I wanted was an ereader in color.  The Nook Tablet does this better than any other ereader on the market. ...

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Yup, that would seem to be it. When I got me Nook Color what I wanted was a combined media tablet and ereader. As a media tablet, it is short three or four video streaming apps, and the Nook Tablet has one of those ~ Hulu Plus. Buying the the Nook Color refurbished for $150 and doing a manual noot got me very close to the combined media tablet and ereader I wanted. If money was less scarce, a Nook Tablet and either a manual noot or the video streaming apps I want getting added to the B&N market and I would be there.

OTOH, if I wanted a tablet PC, then to me it would fall short. To me, a tablet PC ought to let me retire my netbook, which means first and foremost having a keyboard as an option for when I want it. So unless B&N turn on the bluetooth or rewrite the system software to support a keyboard plugged into the USB port, the NT remains just a media tablet, and is not a tablet PC.

[Sun_Cat]

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Nom-de-Nook wrote:

Someone mentioned the Galaxy tab 7...it is on sale through Amazon today for $299 free shipping (from JR Musci World I think).  For those looking for another option previously mentioned. 

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Just an FYI for anyone considering this. Amazon isn't showing JR Music World as the source for the 16GB Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus today. They have another vendor at a higher price.

However, you can still find it listed on the JR site, where the price is still $299.99 but it's not currently in stock. You can still order at that price, though, and they'll ship when they get more. (Presumably the fact that it's on order at JR is the reason Amazon switched sources today.)