Source: This article is taken from the August 2011 issue of Popular Mechanics.
It’s a hotly contested category, with new protagonists entering the e-reader fray virtually every month, but so far there are two clear leaders. For the record, the battle has only just begun…
Amazon Kindle 3G
Amazon’s e-reader, with its 6-inch monochrome display and clear E Ink Pearl technology, has been the best-selling item in Amazon’s vast product line-up for two years running; this must be significant. The Kindle stores up to 3 500 books, downloading your choice (we paid an average of about R70 each for bestsellers or less than half of the regular paperback price in bookstores) via “Whispernet” in a matter of seconds.
The process is seamless, allowing you to carry on reading while your latest selection is downloaded via Wi-Fi or 3G (which is free, by the way; Amazon pays for it). Your credit card, linked to Amazon, is billed automatically.
You can read your e-books in bright sunlight (we know because we tried it) but unlike the backlit Nook, you’ll need a bedside light – or a folder with built-in light – once the daylight has faded.
It gets better. Click on the “Experimental” menu item and you’ll discover a basic browser, an MP3 player (listen to podcasts or music), and a text-to-speech function that reads text to you in a Stephen Hawking sort of voice. If you’ve never tried an e-reader, you’re in for a thoroughly satisfying experience – and all for R1 300 (Wi-Fi and 3G model). If you have a wireless setup at home, you can buy the Wi-Fi-only version for about R955.
Did we mention free books?
Well, Kindle (and Barnes & Noble, come to think of it) has a vast storehouse of out-of-copyright classics that can be had for nothing, zilch. We’ve already downloaded the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and a couple of PG Wodehouse books we remember from our dad’s collection. In short, we love it.
Amazon also sells a larger-format kindle, the 9,7-inch Wi-Fi-only DX, for about R2 600.
Barnes & Noble Nook Color
Devotees believe this device deserves its own category in a space somewhere between e-readers and tablets, especially since its upgrade to Android 2.2 Froyo and the launch of a dedicated app store. The most significant differences between the Nook Color and Amazon’s market-leading Kindle 3G are the display and battery life: the Nook has a full-colour touchscreen and delivers around 8 hours of work/play, whereas the monochromatic Kindle has a physical QWERTY keypad and provides up to two months between charges (with Wi-Fi deactivated).
Aside from its seamless delivery of digital books, interactive magazines, newspapers, and other stuff from Barnes & Noble’s vast database (over 2 million titles), you get popular apps, e-mail, and enhanced Web browsing – and all in immersive, gorgeous colour. It’s a neatly designed device, with a graphite finish and a soft-touch back that makes holding it strangely pleasurable. Featuring a 7-inch display, it measures just 206 mm by 127 mm and weighs 448 grams.
The Nook provides you with a perfectly adequate Web experience, whereas the Kindle’s “experimental” browser – though undoubtedly useful – is somewhat clunky. You also get an 8 GB memory (extendable via microSD card) that’s capable of storing up to 6 000 titles. Neat, sexy, and capable… and according to converts, well worth the $249 (about R1 700) price tag.
However – and this is a rather significant “however” for potential buyers from South Africa – Barnes & Noble say that in terms of their agreement with publishers, they may not deliver e-books outside the United States. So why have we bothered to feature the Nook? Two reasons: first, we understand they are trying to negotiate a deal whereby they can make their titles available to the rest of the world; and second, although B&N’s system will recognise your non-American IP address and probably reject your approach, there are ways to circumvent this (check it out via Google; it’s a slightly grey legal area).
You can view personal files by transferring PDF, ePub, PNG, GIF, and BMP files to the device, and Quickoffice software allows you to view Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. (For the record, one PM staffer has bought a Nook Color; others are tempted.)
The smaller (monochrome) Nook touch reader sells in the US for just under R1 000.
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