Which Kindle is the Best to Get?
These are the current generation Kindles available:
- Kindle Paperwhite
- Basic Kindle
- Kindle Fire HD (7″ and 8.9″)
- Kindle Fire HDX (7″ and 8.9″)
Comparison from a long time user of various Kindles:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R185WZUJYSEKU2/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8…
1. 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:
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
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 191 grams
- 4 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/dp/B00I15SB16/ref=fs_kb&tag=cer-aao-20
3. Fire HD 7″
Pros:
- 1280*800 LCD HD display
- Front-facing VGA camera for Skype, 2MP rear-facing camera
- Amazon app store (for games and apps)
- 8/16GB options
- 8 hours of battery backup
- Dolby audio speaker for listening to Audio books (Kindle Paperwhite and Basic Kindle don’t have this function)
- 7″ display 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
Fire HD 7″ – Best offer:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IKPYKWG/ref=fs_fas&tag=cer-aas-20
4. Kindle Fire HDX
Pros:
- 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 200K 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 e-readers
Kindle Fire HDX – Best offer:
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Fire-HDX-Display-Wi-Fi/dp/B00BWYQ9YE…
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?
There are three popular e-readers on the market right now:
- Kindle Paperwhite
- Nook Simple Touch Glowlight
- Kobo Aura HD
The technical specs obviously wont help you much in deciding between Kindle and Nook, as they are almost the same. But the Kobo Aura HD is one step ahead in specs and so is the price bit higher.
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 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 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 Aura HD pros and cons
The Kobo company isn’t famous at all all over US, but is pretty popular in Canada and sells better compared to other two. It costs a bit more compared to other two. And as its not much popular in US. Now the benefit of the popular product is that you can find tons of solutions online for anything that is bugging you.
The features on Kobo are definitely better than the other two, the screen resolution with 1440*1080 @265PPI gives it a bit edge in sharpness and contrast. Compared to 1024*768 resolution @212PPI of Kindle and the Nook Simple Touch.
Kobo Aura HD:
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.