Kindle Fire vs Nook?

[atgcpaul]

My folks are going on a LONG European vacation--50 days. They will have WiFi on the cruise boat. My Dad wants to get an eReader like the Kindle Fire or Nook HD. On the surface, the Nook wins for me since it has access to Google Play. My coworker also returned her Fire for the Nook because she couldn't access Comcast TV or use the local library's book download service. Both get excellent reviews but the decision needs to be made soon. Any help in guiding his purchase would be much appreciated. BTW, my Dad isn't tech savvy so any support would need to be me over the phone with him.

Thanks
Paul

[BadeMillsap]

Thing 1... Wifi aboard ship can be expensive and SLOW.
Thing 2... Don't expect wifi to work in your stateroom... It MIGHT, probably won't.

I have experience only with the Fire... Works fine for email, browsing and reading books. Don't expect Skype to work with shipboard wifi.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[atgcpaul]

WiFi will be free on their ship. However, you're right that they shouldn't expect to use Skype and probably just e-mail or Facebook.

To me, the Fire or Nook seems too much like a specialty device. Why did you get a Fire over a regular Android tablet? Seems like the tablet can do everything the Fire or Nook can do and more. Just easier to get reading content with an eReader?

[radhak]

I bought a nook for my ailing father a few years ago; thought he would like to read, and also use facebook. He could not, much. Then my mom gave it back to me, and I find that it is bulky, and the interface of populating libraries with books is clunky. It does not retain charge when not used, and it has a shiny surface in the wrong light.

I am so close to buying a plain Kindle that is light, thin, and paper-white (ie, does not give me a problem reading in the sun or anything). Ie, as close to a real book as possible.

My verdict after this experience - I like my iPad for various other stuff like games, surfing the 'net, video chat, etc. I don't like it for reading a book. I need my reader to do just that - lemme read a book with minimal hassle.

So, TLDR: my advice - keep your reader separate from your tablet. And I guess both your parents are on this trip, so it might be a good idea for them to have two different gadgets to share.

[capncarl]

I first started with a nook. I liked it, it handled my email fine and was a good Google machine. My main complaint was all the junk email that nook sent, and unlike other email you can stop, the nook mail just kept coming, and coming and coming. I got to the point that I was really glad that it was stolen. I replaced it with an iPad air and have not looked back or regretted it.
capncarl

[poolhound]

I 100% agree with Radhak, dont mix your reader and tablet as you end up with a device that doesn't give you the best experience with either.

LOML and I are both avid readers and while we still do buy 'real' books we both have kindles. If you want to use a kindle to actually read then one of the 'paperwhite' versions is the only way to go. They are as easy to read as a book and probably more so as you can adjust the font size and it has an inbuilt reading light. They are light weight and the battery really does last for a month or more.

When we go on vacation we could easily take 10 books between us so now we just load the kindle and we are done!

Lastly I am sure you are right but I would make sure your Dad double checks about the free WiFi as I have never heard of that on a cruise as usually they rip you an arm and a leg for every minute,

[paultnl]

whispernet

If you get a Kindle eReader with Whispernet you will not be dependant on anyone's WIFI and will be able to download books all across Europe. See http://goodereader.com/blog/electron...g-really-works
and
http://client0.cellmaps.com/tabs.html#cellmaps_intl_tab

Like others have said, better to have specialist devices that do the job well rather than trying to get a Jack of all trades.

[frumper64]

I've never had a nook, but have both a Kindle Paperwhite and a Kindle Fire HD. Both of mine are WiFi only. For reading books., the Paperwhite is by far better. The screen has absolutely no glare, it is lighted so you can read in the dark without disturbing anyone, it is light and the battery is really good as long as you don't leave WiFi connected all the time. The only downside is that is is strictly black on white, so not much good for watching movies, etc. Also, the build in web browser leaves a lot to be desired.

For a general purpose tablet / ereader, the Fire HD is much better. It is full color, the web browser is much improved, you can watch movies, etc. However, the screen is very glossy and I don't think you could read in the sunshine nearly as well as with the paperswhite. The methodology for downloading books to all kindles is super easy and fast with WiFi. A book takes well under a minute to download from the Kindle Store. The flip side is that my local library doesn't stock much in the way of Kindle books, but they are so cheap at the Kindle Store that it really doesn't matter to me.

If I had to pick one, I'm not sure which it would be. Probably the Paperwhite since I read a LOT.

Jim

[lago]

I have been on several cruises and did not have a problem with wi-fi. It may depend on the cruise line. We travel on Regent and wi-fi was free due to the number of nights we have already cruised with them.

We have used a Dell notebook and also a Kindle Fire, not Kindle Fire HD. Did not have a problem with download books via Overdrive, watching a movie or reading our local eprint newspaper.

I did find out recently that my Kindle was updated and I have a problem with email. If I delete a message, it deletes it from our server. Worked with our ISP and was unable to resolve the issue. Now have a Samsung Tab 3 and use that for email.

Lago

[atgcpaul]

There just wasn't enough time to get something ordered and setup so my folks will borrow our kid's Asus tablet. My Dad had a $150 gift card to BestBuy and he was leaning towards the Nook which they don't sell. I installed the 3M cloud reader and was able to borrow two of the books my Dad wanted to borrow and put another one on hold from our public library. Our library supports Overdrive, too, but that seems to be a much more popular service so no books were available.

I also installed the Kindle app. Man, Amazon gets you with those book prices! I will say, though, that the reading experience through the Kindle app is much better than the 3M one. If you pinch to zoom in/out in the 3M app, the text just grows/shrinks and you have to pan around if the text goes off the screen, not resize the font and change the paragraph size like in Kindle. Personally, I dont like that I can't easily jump to another page and because of the dynamic formatting, the original page numbering seems to be lost.

I'm going to setup Overdrive and see what that reading experience is like.

[gjat]

I was a real paper book snob. My kids bought me a Kindle Paperwhite. One of my daughters worked at B&N and could have gotten a deal on a Nook, but they felt the Kindle was technically better.I found that the letters seemed to "ghost" and did not like the experience reading on the Kindle Paperwhite. I returned it and got a Kindle Fire.
I've had it for a couple of years and have read dozens on books on the Kindle. I like everything about. Yes, I do read outside, but living in Florida, I don't lay in the sun to read. I have no problem reading the Kindle. Yes, I brighten the screen or adjust the background color, but no real issues with the shiny screen.

Amazon has lot's of book sales, compilations, new authors, etc. I never pay more than $4.00 for a book. I use a program called Calibre (it's free!) on my laptop to download free books from various other sources and transfer them to my Kindle. I haven't tried using it for Library books, but did install the programs quite easily.

You can put an amazing amount of books on it. I see no need to Wi-Fi to read books, just load it up before you go. It's fine for light internet skimming and e-mail.