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Ask HN: Kindle or Nook?

12 points by perivamsi ↗ HN
Hi HN!

I would like to buy an ebook reader to use it in a non-US country. Please suggest whether I should go for a Kindle or a Nook or some other device, perhaps.

Features I am not interested in: 1. Wireless connectivity (whispernet/wifi). I do not need constant access to the web. I can use my PC to sync my reading content. 2. Physical keyboard. I can work with a virtual one. 3. Wide selection of titles in the bookstore. My reading is mostly going to be custom PDF files.

Features I would want: 1. Instant boot-up, long battery life 2. Easy to use dictionary, ability to annotate 3. Support for a variety of ebook formats, especially good rendering of PDFs. 4. As much storage space as possible.

Based on the reviews, I am leaning towards Kindle. What do you guys think?

19 comments

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semmons
I would pick the Kindle. It hits all four of your points and will have the greatest battery life, especially if you don't use the wireless connectivity.
bjgger
I use my Kindle DX (best for PDFs) outside the US all the time. The new DX will also have international access (which can be disbaled). Plug it into a USB, and drag and drop your files.
perivamsi
Kindle DX's $490 price tag (compared to Kindle's $260) is intimidating, which brings me to the question: Is it worth spending (almost) double the amount and buying a Kindle DX instead of a Kindle?
evgen
This really depends on what you plan on reading. I read a ton of PDFs: research papers, online manuals, natve PDF books and some books that are scans packaged as PDFs. My previous ebook was a Sony 505 but the screen size was too small to make this a practical reader for me. most PDFs out there do not support the "tagged" format that makes text reflow with the ebook posible. To make a PDF usable I would have to do an elaborate conversion dance of trimming and tweaking contrasts with some PDFs needing to be re- converted to landscape mode after several attempts at squashing them to fit portrait mode.

My eventual conclusion was that I needed an ebook with a bigger screen. After waiting and waiting for an apple tablet announcement I went with a kindle dx and it has been great. It does not hit all of the items in your requirements list (I keep the wireless off to conserve battery, the keyboard is almost never used except to jump to specific pages, and it's support of annotation is "weak" at best) but it is probably the best option out there for my needs.

My advice would be to start by deciding what screen size you need and letting all other requirements and feature comparisons flow from that decision.

silencio
DX seconded. I have the regular Kindle and while it still reads PDFs, having to constantly press buttons to go back and forth on the same page and to rotate the display to be able to read the text is a big pain. I tried the DX and the larger size is definitely better for PDF viewing.
kgopal
Assuming I did want all those features (wifi, access to web, physical keyboard and wide selection at the bookstore) would it change to the nook?
vinodlive
I have a Kindle 2. Though I like everything about it, it has the following issues:-

1) In India, free internet on Kindle does not work. But Wikipedia do work.

2) All the Magazine, Blog subscriptions will be stripped off the Graphics. Amazon is 'Saving' on the bandwidth costs they pay to the country specific Mobile Operators!

jpulakka
How about Sony PRS-600? I'm in the same situation as you (thinking about buying an ebook reader in a non-US country), and the Sony seems to be one of the few valid alternatives to Kindle. It doesn't have that ugly keyboard and unnecessary wifi/3g connections. Regardless, with Calibre (http://calibre-ebook.com/) even blog reading should be possible.
perivamsi
Sony's touch screen makes the display (which is the most important feature in a reader) inferior to Kindle's. Also it's expensive compared to Kindle.
jpulakka
Well, Kindle is $259 and Sony is $273 at Amazon.com, so the price difference is negligible. Don't know about the screen quality, though. Real side-by-side comparisons would be interesting; assuming that Kindle is better, how much better it is?
samaparicio
I've read full length books in both devices and the Kindle is far superior. The Kindle has much better button placement. The touch screen barely works. You don't want to be holding a pen all the time while you're reading. And that Kindle keyboard is extremely handy if you like to annotate while you read. You can use Calibre with both devices.
jtyost2
I would say also try to play with both of them at some point. The Nook can be played with in most stores - and playing with it sold me on the Kindle.

The Nook was quite slow in switching pages, extremely difficult to scroll down, and the goofy color/touch screen at the bottom was more of a nuisance than anything else.

crocowhile
If you want one to be used mainly for PDF you need to go for a larger screen, so neither the small kindle nor the nook. I think price tag starts at about 500 and non of them has internet access or keyboard anyway.
jlk
Can you wait for the Skiff? Looks pretty amazing. And bendy.
rufius
I like (and own) the Kindle 2, I don't like the Nook. Its thicker and heavier. It felt like it might fatigue your wrist after reading a while.

Skiff looks cool, but I'm a fairly loyal Amazon customer at this point :).

gordyt
I would go with the Kindle as well. I've used both and the Nook seems much slower when doing things that you do a lot with an e-book reader, like turning pages.
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truebosko
I own the Kindle and I've played with the Nook.

Nook felt odd, the touch screen wasn't very responsive and I had to press twice a few times. It felt a bit heavier too.

In regards to the features you want: Kindle boot-up is instant with a flickr (~2 seconds max) if coming from standby, which it goes into when you just leave it there after reading (or manually place it). Battery life is ok, but not the 3 weeks it's advertised as. Dictionary is a snap, just point the cursor to the word you need to know about and a little blurb shows up on the bottom of the screen; Simply beautiful and you can expand it to view more of the definition. Variety of book types are ok. PDF support is available, but I haven't used it yet because Kindle for Mac isn't out yet.

My girlfriend has been using the Kindle a lot as well for reading novels, myself mostly the paper and we both are in love with it. There's a lot of small, neat things that it does a good job at, while being awesome at being a reading device that you can forget about and focus on your material.