| Amazon's Kindle 2 and the Barnes and Noble Nook | | | | will work in the sense you can still read books out |
| are the two main heavy-weights in the battle of | | | | of the country, but you cannot add more books |
| the ebook readers this year. There are many | | | | or publications. This is obviously a very important |
| similarities, and critical differences in the two. What | | | | point for international customers to take into |
| are they, and which is the better digital ebook | | | | account. |
| reader? Let's take a look. | | | | The Nook's Lending Capability- The Nook has the |
| E-Ink Display Screens- Both the Kindle 2 and the | | | | ability to let you lend out your books to others |
| Nook use the same "E-Ink" technology for their | | | | that have downloaded the Barnes and Noble |
| display screen. Reading for hours on end on these | | | | software. You don't necessarily have to have a |
| eBook readers isn't like staring at a computer | | | | Nook to receive the lent books, just the |
| screen. The E-Ink screen displays the words just | | | | software. One should know that lending time is |
| like (or even better than) looking at a real book. | | | | only 2 weeks and the person who lends the book |
| The Nook, however, has an additional color | | | | cannot use it during that time. A good feature? |
| navigation screen underneath the display screen. | | | | Customers will tell over time. |
| This touch screen allows you to scroll through | | | | Storage Space- Both the Kindle and Nook have |
| titles of books, magazines, and other publications. | | | | base memory of 2 GB, which is good for about |
| There is also a touch keyboard display on this | | | | 1,500 books, however the Nook allows for extra |
| screen. No reviews are available yet for the | | | | space to be added to increase the titles to |
| screen performance, but consumers will soon tell | | | | upwards of 17,500. Is 2 Gigs enough? Well, read |
| all. | | | | one book a day and you'll have 4 years of |
| Wireless and 3G- Both the Kindle 2 and the Nook | | | | reading material! |
| boast wireless capabilities. You are able to | | | | Other Differences- The Kindle boasts a slightly |
| download books and other publications if you have | | | | lighter device, text-to-speech technology, and a |
| access to a wireless network. If no wireless | | | | web browsing capability, whereas the Nook |
| internet is available, then 3G cellular capabilities will | | | | doesn't. |
| allow you to download in that situation. | | | | One other notable difference is the Google |
| International Availability- Here is a major | | | | Android software in the Nook. Barnes and Noble |
| difference between the two ebook readers- | | | | chose this software, banking on the development |
| International capabilities. The Kindle 2 boasts the | | | | of applications by software developers that will |
| ability to download books and full usage in over | | | | work with the Nook. We'll have to see how the |
| 100 countries, whereas the Nook is only fully | | | | software performs and if there is an iPod like |
| functional in the US. Of course the Nook device | | | | popularity in applications. |