Compare e-Readers

Which Kindle is Best to Get?

Posted in Basic Kindle, Kindle DX, Kindle Fire HD 2, Kindle Fire HDX, Kindle Paperwhite 2 Send a comment

These are the current generation Kindles available:

  1. Kindle Paperwhite
  2. Basic Kindle
  3. Kindle Fire HD (7″ and 8.9″)
  4. Kindle Fire HDX (7″ and 8.9″)
  5. Kindle DX

 

Comparison from a long time user of various Kindles:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R185WZUJYSEKU2/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF…

 

Kindle Paperwhite1. Kindle Paperwhite

Pros:

  • 6″ screen is big enough to read books or PDFs, and yet it is very portable to carry around.
  • Weighs merely 206 grams
  • 8 weeks of battery life is enough to spend a vacation without having to worry about charging
  • eInk screen provides the perfect experience of reading just like with books without giving any eyestrain or head-aches
  • Built-in light
  • You can carry around 1100 books
  • You can do a bit of web surfing and emailing
  • X-ray for books

 

Cons:

  • No microSD slot
  • No direct ePub support (you have to convert ePub to Kindle-supported format to read)
  • Internet surfing and web browsing is not something that you would prefer doing on the Kindle

 

Kindle Paperwhite has two versions:

  1. Kindle Paperwhite WiFi only
  2. Kindle Paperwhite with 3G and WiFi

Note: If you want to use internet on-the-go without having to hunt for WiFi hot-spots, then you should go for the Kindle Paperwhite with 3G.

 

2. Basic Kindle

Basic Kindle

Pros:

  • 6″ screen is big enough to read books or PDFs and yet it is very portable to carry around.
  • Cheap entry-level into eReader’s market
  • Weighs less than even the Paperwhite at 170 grams
  • 8 weeks of battery life
  • eInk screen provides the perfect experience of reading just like with books without giving any eyestrain or head-aches
  • You can carry around 1100 books
  • X-ray for books

 

Cons:

  • No microSD slot
  • No direct ePub support (you have to convert ePub to a Kindle-supported format to read)
  • Internet surfing and web browsing is not something that you would prefer doing on a Kindle
  • No built-in light

 

Basic Kindle – Best offer:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007HCCNJU/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789

 

3. Kindle Fire HD

Kindle Fire Hd

Pros:

  • 1280*800 LCD HD display
  • Front-facing HD camera for Skype
  • Amazon app store (for games and apps)
  • 8/16GB options
  • 10 hours of battery backup
  • Stereo speakers for listening to Audio books (Kindle Paperwhite and Basic Kindle don’t have this function)
  • 7″ and 8.9″ displays for better PDF viewing
  • Almost the same price and gives more features compared to Kindle Paperwhite

 

Cons:

  • No microSD slot
  • LCD screen gives eye-strain and headaches if you read more
  • Battery time is not as good as the Kindle

 

Kindle Fire HD – Best offer:

http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Fire-HD-Display-Wi-Fi/dp/B00CU0NSCU…

 

4. Kindle Fire HDX

Kindle Fire HDXPros:

  • 1920*1200 HD full hd display
  • Quad core processor
  • Front-facing HD Camera (dual camera in 8.9″ model)
  • 7″ and 8.9″ displays for better PDF viewing
  • Dual WiFi antenna for faster streaming and download of movies/videos
  • Amazon app store with over 100K apps
  • Digital Dolby stereo speakers
  • 16/32/64GB storage options

 

Cons:

  • No microSD
  • LCD screen gives eye-strain and headaches if you read more
  • Battery time is not as good as the Kindle

 

Kindle Fire HDX – Best offer:

http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Fire-HDX-Display-Wi-Fi/dp/B00BWYQ9YE…

 

5. Kindle DX:

Pros:

  • Holds over 3500 books
  • Text to speech
  • eInk  screen
  • 9.7″ large display
  • Free 3G
  • Audio books
  • 2-3 weeks on single charge

 

Cons:

  • Big and heavy
  • No micorSD slot
  • Price is high for being  just an eReader

 

Kindle DX – Best offer:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002GYWHSQ/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF…

 

Conclusion:

If you want a device strictly for reading, then Kindle Paperwhite is the best choice. However, if you want a device for reading plus games, movies, TV shows, and other stuff, then Kindle Fire HDX would be the best option, but the Kindle Fire HD would be a cheaper option if money is a factor. If you want an eReader for large sized PDFs, then Kindle DX would do the job better.

What is the Best Ebook Reader?

Posted in Kindle Paperwhite 2, Kobo, Nook Simple Touch, Nook Simple Touch Glowlight Send a comment

There are three popular e-readers on the market right now:

  1. Kindle Paperwhite
  2. Nook Simple Touch Glowlight
  3. Kobo Glo

 

The technical specs obviously wont help you much in deciding between these three, as they are almost the same.

 

So I suggest you read this discussion on which eReader is the best to buy from an actual user:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R3UXL8JTK8QBMN/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8…

 

Each has its pros and cons.

 

Kindle PaperwhiteKindle Paperwhite pros and cons

The benefit of getting the Kindle Paperwhite would be that you get features like the Amazon Prime membership, which has the cheapest deals for avid readers, best screen resolution, contrast that is good enough to make dark text easily readable and a variety of font options.

Kindle Paperwhite is simply outselling every other eReader by a large margin, and it is the most popular option.

You get the strong infrastructure of Amazon supporting it, which provides facilities like:

  • X-Ray for books, where you can simply hit the X-Ray button and get more info on every character in the current scene
  • Free 5GB of Amazon Cloud storage to store your books and content bought from Amazon
  • Amazon Prime membership, which allows you to get one free book every month, free 2-day shipping, and Amazon instant videos

On Kindle paperwhite you dont have the microSD slot plus ePub format is not supported. Although you can convert many of the ePub books into Kindle readable format except for those books which are DRM protected.

 

Nook Simple Touch GLNook Simple Touch Glowlight pros and cons

Nook ST GL has advantages, like the B&N in-store free downloading and WiFi, plus you can get help from any representative at the B&N store. There is a microSD slot to increase memory anytime you want, and the ePub support is helpful (you can get ePub on Kindle, also, but you would need a conversion to a Kindle readable format). The brightness, contrast, and font variation is not as good as the Kindle (it is not very noticeable, though, so nothing big).

You can get over 2.5 million titles on B&N, which is pretty good; you will almost never find a book that is not available.

The thing that you should keep in mind while getting the Nook is that B&N is not as stable as the other two and just like how they stopped supporting their tablets and abandoned them, Nook Glowlight might face the similar thing. And the glass light is fragile too, might break easily.

 

B&N Nook Simple Touch with glow light:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00884BPUE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8…

 

Kobo TouchKobo Glo pros and cons

It is almost like the B&N Nook; there is a microSD slot and there is the additional benefit of the lower price for the device. The cons are that the contrast is not as good as the Kindle. Otherwise, it is almost same. But, obviously, the Kobo is  not as popular as the Nook or the Kindle.

It costs a bit more compared to other two. And as its not much popular, you may have good amount of issues in solving problems as technical support of more popular devices can be found much easier compared to a non popular device.

You may find the contrast to differ from the Kindle, though, since it is not quite as good as the Kindle; but it still does the job.

 

Bestselling Kobo:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_4_5?rh=n%3A172282%2Cn%3A!493964…

 

Conclusion

All of these would do the job fine. The Kindle is considered the better model, thus it is outselling both other devices, but this does not mean that the others can’t do the same things that it can. It is just about the services and the content provider, so choose whichever suits you better.

Which Tablet is the Best Bang for the Buck?

Posted in Galaxy Note 10.1 2014, Galaxy Note 8.0, Galaxy Tab 3, iPad Mini 1, iPad Mini 2, Kindle Fire HDX, Nexus 7 2013 Send a comment

There is a good variety of tablets on the market of different sizes. The best among them are:

  1. Kindle Fire HDX 7″ and 8.9″
  2. iPad Mini 2 or 1
  3. Nexus 7 and Nexus 10
  4. Galaxy Tab 3 7″ and 10″
  5. Galaxy Note 8″ and 10.1″

 

Here is a spec comparison between most popular tablets in market:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957…

 

1. Kindle Fire HDX

Kindle fire hdGood:

Kindle Fire provides you with an HD screen and great features for the lowest price. So, if you are looking for a tablet that fits a low budget and can do all stuff you want, then the Kindle Fire HDX is the best option. A rear camera is available on Kindle Fire HDX 8.9″, but not on the 7″ version. The 7″ is much more portable, though, and you still have the  1080p screen with high quality resolution, i.e. 323PPI. Apps are not much of an issue, because in over 100K available apps, you get most of the famous appsyou would find in other app stores, plus you can side-load many Google Play apps if you don’t find them in the Amazon app store. FYI – no rooting is required to side-load. You just need to find the APK file and install it directly on the Kindle Fire HDX after checking the checkbox where it allows you to install apps from other sources.

 

Bad:

Kindle Fire HDX does not have a microSD slot, there is no direct access to the Google Play store, and the 7″ model has no rear-facing camera to take pictures or make better quality videos.

 

Pros and Cons for Kindle Fire HDX, from an actual user:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R3IO1X1FKICIE8/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8…

 

2. iPad Mini 2

ipad miniGood:

It has a 7.9″ screen, giving you more space for enjoyment and it also has every feature required in a tablet, i.e. dual camera, dual core processor, largest variety of apps. Basically, it is a smaller version of the iPad with a cheaper price. But, the price is still too high for what features it offers. They did change a lot from the iPad Mini to the iPad Mini 2, i.e. now it has an HD screen, better RAM, and the hardware is completely updated, unlike the iPad Mini, which is using the iPad 2′s hardware.

 

Bad:

The fact that the price is high and it still does not give us what we want, i.e. a quad core processor and a microSD slot.

 

3. Nexus Tablet

Nexus 7 2013Good:

It basically provides you with every feature required, i.e.:

  • A quad core processor
  • 2GB RAM
  • Dual camera
  • HDMI Out
  • Google Play store, with over 700k apps, etc.

The price is almost perfect. But it still lacks a microSD slot, the camera quality is just good enough, and the occasional rebooting issue is still there.

 

Bad:

Just one thing – there is no microSD slot so you should decide which GB you need based on your usage before buying.

 

4. Galaxy Tab 3

Galaxy tab 3Good:

Despite the fact that all other tablets now have at least 720p or 1080p HD screens, Samsung chose to stick to a 1024*600 non-HD display on the 7″ model. In addition, the processor is still Dual core, whereas most of the tablets have gone to Quad core. But the microSD is a real benefit in the Galaxy Tab, which most other tablets don’t offer. It gives you the option to increase storage whenever you like. The GT3 is like the jack of all trades, where you will find all features, but it aces in none. It also has a lower price.

 

Bad:

Compared to other devices, this has the worst screen, i.e. 1024*600 non-HD display @170PPI, which was good when it came out back in 2011, but it is not up to mark with other tablets with Full HD screens.

 

5. Galaxy Note 8.0 and 10.1:

Galaxy Note 10.1 2014Good:

Galaxy Note Series is the better and elite version of Galaxy Tab 3 with premium features and obviously with a higher price set.  You get a quad core processor and a 2Gb RAM with better innerware. On Galaxy Note 8, you have an average screen but still its sharp enough. Whereas on the Galaxy Note 10.1 you have the best screen resolution in market for 10.1″ screen tablets. I.e 2540*1600 resolution and the best features.

You also get unique features like:

  • S Pen and S Note app
  • Galaxy note 8.0Multi-screen
  • 8Mp rear facing camera and 2MP front facing camera (in Note 10.1 2014)
  • 3Gb RAM (in Note 10.1 2014)
  • Dolby Virtual 5.1 surround sound for music, movies, and games

 

Bad:

You would get all the best features in Note 8, only thing missing in the Galaxy Note 8.0 is the HD screen, it has a screen resolution of 1280*800 but does the job well.  Whereas the Note 10.1 has the better screen resolution.

 

Conclusion

Each tablet has its pros and cons. The best of these is the one that suits your requirements better. If you are looking for a cheap HD tablet, then Kindle Fire HD would do the job. If you are looking for a full HD tablet, the Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire HDX would do the job. If you are looking for a large variety of apps, then iTunes and the Apple app store does the better job so get the iPad Retina in case if you have good budget, otherwise get the iPad Mini 1 in case if you want a cheaper entry level into Apple devices. Whereas if you are looking for all of the features and in much cheaper price, including a microSD slot, then Galaxy tab 3 does the better job. But if you want the microSD with better screen and processor, then Galaxy Note 8 or 10.1 would be the better option.

Nook Simple Touch vs. Kindle Touch vs. Kindle Keyboard

Posted in Kindle Keyboard, Kindle Touch, Nook Simple Touch Send a comment

This article is meant to help you understand your choices in e-readers so that you can decide for yourself if the Kindle or Nook is better for your needs. If you want to skip reading the details and go for a quick decision, then go straight to our EBook Reader Recommendations section. If you are considering a multi-purpose tablet instead of an ebook reader, read our another review Kindle Fire or Nook Color or Nook Tablet, Which is Better?

 

Nook Simple Touch

The Upside

  • Nook Simple Touch e-Book ReaderThe EInk display is quite advanced and reads almost like the book is on paper with little to no eye strain.
  • The battery lasts for 60 hours which breaks out to about 2 months if you read for 1 hour daily.
  • There are NO ADS! If the ads annoy you then this is the e-reader for you.
  • It has an easy to use touch screen, free WiFi and in-store support.
  • The Nook Simple Touch can store about 1000 books on the device itself, and it comes with a 32GB micro-SD memory card slot that allows you to expand the device’s storage.
  • Read In Store: You can read ebooks for FREE with the Nook in any Barnes & Noble stores

The Drawbacks

  • There is no option to upgrade to a 3G version.
  • No audio capabilities whatsoever. That’s right, you cannot listen to ebooks, mp3 files, or use text to speech.  Honestly, no audio really hampers the Nook Simple Touch.
  • No web browsing. There was a backdoor into a web browser, but that loophole was closed with the 1.1.0 software update.

 

Kindle Keyboard

The Upside

  • Kindle Keyboard 3GThe Kindle Keyboard comes with WiFi and Free 3G, there is no monthly cost for the 3G access.
  • Audio capabilities come standard which means that you can listen to audio books, mp3 files, podcasts and also use the text to speech option to hear the ebooks you’ve downloaded.
  • Storage for about 3500 books on the device and there is additional FREE cloud storage for any Amazon purchased material and up to 5GB of personal files.
  • The EInk display is very good and even allows you to read in bright sunlight.
  • The keyboard allows you a ton of flexibility in note taking and highlighting of passages of interest. Plus the keyboard allows you to easily play word games like crossword puzzles.
  • Web browsing capabilities with Amazon’s experimental browser.

The Drawbacks

  • Regular Kindle Special OffersThere are special offers with the $139 version of the device. If the ads do truly bother you can spend an extra $50 and buy the device without ads.  However, most users report that they barely even notice the ads so the $139 will probably be just fine.  You can see an example of a special offer in the bottom of the picture to the right.
  • The keyboard does take up some space, making the size of the device a bit larger.
  • With the additional keyboard and free 3G, the price is higher than the other 2 devices

 

Kindle Touch

The Upside

  • Kindle Touch 3GIt has all the benefits of the Kindle Keyboard, except it doesn’t have the physical keyboard, it has a touch screen instead.
  • FREE WiFi comes standard on the $99 device and there is an option to upgrade to the $149 device which then includes 3G as well.
  • Storage for about 3000 books on the device plus additional FREE cloud storage for all Amazon purchased material and up to 5GB of personal files.
  • Special “Xray” technology that lets you, with a simple touch of the screen, drill down on specific words or phrases and learn more about those areas of a text.

The Drawbacks

  • Ads come standard with the base models of the Kindle Touch. To avoid seeing the ads, consumers need to pay more money up front. Just like with the Kindle Keyboard most users of the Kindle Touch report that the ads do not disturb them and that they often don’t even notice them.
  • The touch screen is excellent, but note taking is a little easier on the Kindle Keyboard due to the physical keyboard. That being said, the Touch allows you to link your notes to a specific line of text quickly and easier than the Kindle Keyboard.

 

EBook Reader Recommendations

Now that you’ve read through the positives and negatives to each model it’s time to delve into recommendations based on your needs in an e-reader.

Why Buy the Nook Simple Touch?

For the most part I can’t recommend the Nook Simple Touch for a couple of reasons.

  1. It has no audio support. If you don’t need audio support in your e-reader then I recommend the basic Kindle 4 for only $79 as it has no audio too. Read our review Which is the Best Kindle to Buy? to help make your decision.
  2. Barnes and Noble is having financial difficulties while Amazon is financially sound.

That being said, there are a few reasons to consider buying the Nook Simple Touch.

  1. If the ads on the Kindles truly detract from your reading experience. Users for the most part report no issues with the ads and many actually even like them, but if you just can’t live with the ads then the Nook is for.
  2. The Nook has the ability to expand the on device memory easily. This feature will allow you to store more books on the device than the Kindle. Kindle relies on Cloud Storage to accommodate those that want to store more books than its on device storage allows.
  3. It is more convenient that the Nook supports the popular ePub format natively, while ebooks in ePub format need to be converted before they can be read on the Kindles.

 

Why Buy the Kindle Keyboard or Kindle Touch?

We recommend one of these two devices as your e-reader.  Before we get into specific recommendations there are two myths about the Kindle that should be dispelled.

  1. Some people think Kindles cannot read the ePub format. Actually it is just less convenient, as it needs to be converted before it can be read on the Kindle
  2. Some people think Barnes & Noble has more digital books than Amazon. The truth is that Barnes & Noble counts Google’s free public domain books and claims it has more books.  Public domain books are available for Kindle and all other e-readers too.

The Kindle Touch is the same price as the Nook Simple Touch, supports audio files, stores more books, allows for basic web browsing and provides extra functionality like its x-ray technology.  Purchase the device with the special offers to save yourself some cash as they do not disturb your reading experience.  While you’re reading you won’t even see the offers.

I see the decision as between the Kindle Keyboard and the Touch and the chief defining points are the controller (keyboard vs. touch screen) and 3G access. The controller is truly a matter of preference. Some users like the physical keyboard while some are quite happy with the touch screen and virtual keyboard.

The 3G access, in my mind, is more important.  There is a difference in what 3G provides you between the Kindle Keyboard and the Touch. 3G on the Touch allows you to browse certain authority websites like Wikipedia and the Amazon store, but it does not let you do things like check your email. For those functions you will need to use the Wifi.  The Keyboard 3G does allow you to browse those other websites and allows you to share something on social media sites like Twitter or Facebook.  Since the Kindle Keyboard model with 3G is $10 less than the Touch with 3G I highly recommend the Keyboard if 3G is extremely important to you. One last small detail to note is that the Kindle Keyboard is a little larger than the Kindle Touch.

If you’re still having trouble making up your mind as to whether the Kindle or Nook is better then you may want to read this Kindle vs. Nook review to help with your final decision.

Best User Review of Regular Kindle vs Nook Simple Touch

Galaxy Tab 3 vs Asus Fonepad?

Posted in Galaxy Tab 3, Other Tablets Send a comment

If you look at the overall specs of these two devices, you’ll find them to be very much similar, infact almost all the features are same only. I.e you can find these features to be same:

  • 1.2Ghz dual core processor
  • 3.15Mp rear facing and 1.3/1.2Mp front facing camera
  • 8/16Gb with 1Gb RAM
  • microSD slot
  • Android Jelly Bean 4.1
  • GSM capabilities

 

I would recommend taking a look at this Review from an actual owner of Galaxy Tab 3 T211:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2RI7JXTATL0AN/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF…

 

Galaxy tabBut there are few differences between two, they are very minor and for that we would need to look more deeper into features to find out what those differences are.

 

Why to get Galaxy Tab 3 over Asus Fonepad?

First and foremost fact that Galaxy Tab 3 is undoubtedly the best selling device between these two, thus is more famous, which means that you are definite to find help and support on online forums very easy in case you get stuck on some point, later you have following features where there is a bit of advantage over the Fonepad:

  • LTE capability
  • microSD supports up to 64Gb
  • Tv out
  • Weighs lower @306 grams (vs 340grams)
  • Smaller in size, thinner and slimmer
  • IR blaster allows you to control TV and use it like a remote

 

asus fonepadWhy to get the Asus Fonepad over Galaxy Tab 3?

The screen on Fonepad is better compared to the Galaxy Tab 3 and you get a bit better GPU. And this is all you get from the Fonepad, which means that the only actual benefit you get from the asus fonepad is that it has a better screen, and that too isn’t a very big difference since it is merely few PPI better. The screen of Fonepad is 1280*800 @216PPi, whereas the screen on Galaxy Tab 3 is 1024*600 @170PPI.

 

Conclusion:

Galaxy Tab 3 T211 gives you a good amount of advantages and the price also is very low so you would actually be getting the best bang for your buck. Asus Fonepad on the other hand would give you better screen. Which is good also, but no LTE and the price is higher.

 

 

Tablet vs iPod Touch?

Posted in iPad Mini 2, iPod, Nexus 7 2013 Send a comment

There is a small difference between buying an iPod and a tablet. Buying a tablet means a device for complete entertainment, whereas buying an iPod touch means buying a device for portability, music and apps then the iPod Nexus 7 2013would do a far better job as carrying a tablet over iPod touch is easy.

 

Why to get the Tablet over iPod?

The reason behind getting a tablet is for pure entertainment, and we all know that the 3.5″ screen of iPod would never be able to give the same amount of fun a tablet is able to provide. You would feel the difference while gaming, watching movies, tv shows, reading books, magazines, blogs and even web browsing. The bigger screen makes a huge amount of difference, plus there is not a lot of difference between prices of iPod and tablet like Nexus 7. Now you have two options, either to get bigger version of iPod Touch I.e iPad Mini with Retina OR get the Nexus 7 2013 which is very close in price range to iPod Touch and provides the features required.

 

I found this Review from an actual user to be really helpful regarding “Nexus 7 vs iPad Mini Retina”:

http://www.amazon.com/review/RMJD3OKKNM289/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF…

 

ipad mini 2Why get an iPod Over Tablets?

iPod would give you advantage like the portability factor, where you can carry it around easily in pocket with you, you can get the do all those stuff that can be done on the tablet but with much more portability. iPod is merely the smaller version of iPad Mini 2 or iPad itself. It is good for listening music, using few apps and casually doing bit heavy tasks like searching stuff on web etc.

 

Conclusion:

So if you are looking for a device to enjoy using mainly for music, apps and portability, then your best deal would be iPod Touch, but if you are looking something for pure entertainment purpose then the Nexus 7 would give you best bang for your buck, whereas iPad Mini Retina display would give you bit better variety of apps compared to Nexus 7 and if you already have lots of stuff on your iTunes, then you are better off paying bit extra for iPad Mini Retina.