Good article comparing Nook and Kindle

[chas0039]

Thanks for adding to the discussion, andrys. You clearly have thought through these two devices from more perspectives than I could ever have considered.

[sun surfer]

I do feel the article is Kindle-biased, mostly only mentioning the smaller features that the Kindle has an advantage in. I own neither but there must be a good amount of smaller features that the nook touch has an advantage in, no?

However, that said, the article is very coherent and plainly sticks to the facts down the line. Certainly some people are interested in these features and the author wanted to present the facts about them. While it danced around being a shill comparison article advocating the Kindle, in the end I find it more a well thought out comparison that focuses on the smaller features that Kindle is better at.

Regarding the dictionary discussion in this thread, I must say that Sonys beats all the rest mentioned. You neither have to use a scroll button or your finger to choose a word to look up. I find my stylus invaluable since I use the dictionary all the time, as it is very accurate with the touch screen in selecting the word I want to look up, especially since I tend to read with the smallest font size (so that I have less page turns). It's funny that when I first got the Sony, I thought I'd hardly ever use the stylus while reading, but now I use it all the time for just this purpose.

[chas0039]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

.... It's funny that when I first got the Sony, I thought I'd hardly ever use the stylus while reading, but now I use it all the time for just this purpose.

Agree. I am pleasantly surprised at the things I use all the time that never crossed my mind as essential. This is part of why I thought the article so good; you can never tell what little feature he mentioned that will turn out to be useful. That, and the before mentioned dearth of nook reviews that took the time to mention what was lost from the original nook.

[andrys]

Originally Posted by robko

Actually it does now after firmware upgrade. It also allows you to type in a word you want to look up and use it that way.

KOBO mgmt is swift! Thanks for that, robko. Great to know. One of my favorite features with the Kindle all this time has been that you can just start typing while reading a page, and that starts a search of the entire book for the word or phrase. [This starts a search of the entire device if done from the Home screen.]

That Kobo does this easily-started search within a book also is, for me, huge. I once saw a talk by a Kobo rep, at the Books in Browsers conference in my home town (San Francisco] about a study they made of types of device owners who download a few free books, or many free books, or nothing but free books, and it was very funny but also interesting.

The title of it was "Michael Tamblyn (@mtamblyn), Kobo Books – Life Among the Freegans: The Co-Existence of Free Books, Paid Books, and the People Who Read Them" Here are two photos of him giving the talk, which was partly serious of course and part tongue-in-cheek.

The whole idea of that get-together was to look at the future of reading books in our browsers (including interactivity), and with HTML5, this looks to be coming quicker than some had thought -- and will help to make the reading audience more independent of those who host vendor reading apps, with the restrictions that come with the latter.

Kobo just did a hilarious thing with Apple, who would not allow them to tell their audience in their reading app for iPad, that Apple was not allowing them to make a button to take people to Safari and then to their website.
See Nate's story on this.

Those stealth links by Kobo have since been removed but Teleread said, on the 6th, that "If there’s any good news to this, it’s that the post still lays the blame for the store removal squarely on Apple. At least as of today."

Anyway, obviously, the Kobo guys are fast on the ground (even though they started the Kobo with very few features initially), not your usual mgmt types -- and another thiing I like is that they have come out with all kinds of translation capabilities. I also like the form factor of the new Kobo. And for people outside the U.S., especially, Kobo is coming on strong. We can see why.

[andrys]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

I do feel the article is Kindle-biased, mostly only mentioning the smaller features that the Kindle has an advantage in. I own neither but there must be a good amount of smaller features that the nook touch has an advantage in, no?

Yes, which is why I listed them at the top of the comparison:
"Where the new Nook has advantages are:
. a Touch screen (many will prefer it just for this feature,
for easier navigation)
. smaller size
. slightly lighter weight
. somewhat faster page turns
. shorter black-flash in between pages
. fastforward & rewind on held button
. expandable memory via micro-SD card
. No keyboard 'buttons' causing user confusion
. Claimed longer battery session per charge w/o WiFi wireless On.

However, that said, the article is very coherent and plainly sticks to the facts down the line. Certainly some people are interested in these features and the author wanted to present the facts about them. While it danced around being a shill comparison article advocating the Kindle, in the end I find it more a well thought out comparison that focuses on the smaller features that Kindle is better at.

Thanks :-) I AM biased toward the Kindle because its feature-set is one that is wide-ranging and I'm drawn to those, so I try to catch the good points of a reader I'm not as inclined towards.

Now, with the NookColor, it took me only 10 minutes to decide to buy it, on the spot. That device sells itself, even if somewhat buggy and I cannot zoom my pics or go landscape in my books, as I can in Web or Magazine mode. Amazon will have to do a screen AS good as that one to have a chance with a 7", although if they do get one out, I think both they and B&N should allow the apps for each of their stores to be on the other's model. I'm probably dreaming there.

I think Sony has been pricing itself out of discussions, though they probably have the best hardware. Functioning of the software is key though.

Regarding the dictionary discussion in this thread, I must say that Sonys beats all the rest mentioned. You neither have to use a scroll button or your finger to choose a word to look up. I find my stylus invaluable since I use the dictionary all the time, as it is very accurate with the touch screen in selecting the word I want to look up, especially since I tend to read with the smallest font size (so that I have less page turns). It's funny that when I first got the Sony, I thought I'd hardly ever use the stylus while reading, but now I use it all the time for just this purpose.

I want one for my NookColor. Others have at the Nook forums have been talking about looking for a stylus to work with them. The next NookColor (and any Amazon one) should have one and have a place where you can put the stylus too.

[robko]

Originally Posted by andrys

That Kobo does this easily-started search within a book also is, for me, huge.

Sorry, maybe I mislead you on this part. I meant that you could type a word to look up in the dictionary (as well as selecting a word in your book), not find it on the device. They have said they are working on being able to search within a book.

[andrys]

Originally Posted by robko

Sorry, maybe I mislead you on this part. I meant that you could type a word to look up in the dictionary (as well as selecting a word in your book), not find it on the device. They have said they are working on being able to search within a book.

robko,
MY error in reading too fast.
You did say "in the dictionary" -- that's still a very good feature to have. And that they have the dictionary for non-Kobo books already is another plus.