The tech industry has serve as a field of battle for some far-famed rivalries . ThePC versus Macwars are move on substantial more than 20 years after Apple launched the Macintosh line of reasoning of computers . Microsoft , Apple and Google have been in some gamy - profile squabbles over the yr . Then there ’s the seemingly endless series of patent of invention wars between various company claiming intellectual place violations .
One of the more late state of war is being contend over a peculiar recess in the tech market – low - costtablets . Two of the combatants come to the tablet platform over the same pathway : electronic publishing . The competitor are Amazon with its Kindle Fire tablet and Barnes & Noble with the Nook Tablet .
The Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet evolved from electronic - ink - screene - readers . These gadgets are reading devices open of displaying electronic text in black and white , using technology from a troupe call eInk . The devices are are portable , up to of carrying a small library ’s worth of books and they run out very little mightiness . The tablet go several steps further – they trench the eInk for semblance LCD screenland , a touch - CRT screen interface and the power to expose multiple kinds of media . you’re able to still read a Scripture on either equipment if you care , but you’re able to also see movies , hear to music , surf the Web , send e - mail , play games and feed thousands of different applications on them .
In this clause , we ’ll take a look at the two devices and determine which of them comes out on top . have ’s start by compare and contrasting the contenders .
The Tale of the Tape
The Nook Tablet and Kindle Fire are in many ways similar . They are both tablet devices with a 7 - column inch ( 17.8 - centimeter)touch - screendisplay . Both devices run a customized variation of Google ’s Android operating system . Both can prevail Android apps and both have curated versions of Google ’s app store . If you want to reach the full entourage of apps uncommitted to Android devices , you ’re out of luck – neither the Kindle Fire nor the Nook Tablet can reach the full Android storehouse .
The Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet each have a dual - core , 1 - GHz CPU . Screen resolution for both twist is 1,024 by 600 pixels . They each have a 3.5 - mm ( 0.14 - inch ) headphone jack . Both can link toWiFiand both lack a cellular antenna . Neither equipment has Bluetooth support , a GPS pass receiver or camera .
So far , the two equipment seem almost interchangeable . But there are some notable divergence . The Kindle Fire has 512 megabyte of RAM , while the Nook Tablet tout a full gigabyte of RAM . The Kindle Fire has 8 gigabytes of flash memory . The Nook Tablet come in two model – one has 8 gigabytes of space like the Kindle Fire , but the other has 16 G of blank space . Both example have an SD - card expansion slot that accepts cards with up to 32 extra gibibyte of storage space . However , the Nook Tablet restricts some of this space for content purchased from the prescribed Nook store [ root : Barnes & Noble ] .
Another departure is the presence – or deficiency thereof – of physical buttons . The Kindle Fire has only a power push button . The Nook Tablet has not only a power button but also buttons for intensity control . To control the Kindle Fire ’s volume , you have to use an on - CRT screen control condition . The Nook is also a little longer and a hint thick-skulled than the Kindle Fire . And if you require to immortalise your own ledger tale , you ’ll need a Nook Tablet – it has a mike , while the Kindle Fire does n’t .
From a hardware position , the Nook has the edge over the Kindle Fire . you may bribe a Nook with more storage space and memory than what ’s uncommitted from Amazon ’s tablet . But hardware is n’t the whole story . Something else that differentiates the two pad may be even more important : substance .
Tablet of Contents
Customers who purchase a Kindle Fire get a calendar month - tenacious test of Amazon ’s best-loved client syllabus called Amazon Prime . Amazon Prime member relish perks like destitute two - Clarence Shepard Day Jr. shipping on orders from Amazon ’s warehouses . They also have access to digital assets like Amazon Prime videos , which include tv set shows and movies that may not be found on other pullulate Service . If you ’re aNetflixor Hulu Plus customer , you’re able to download apps to access those services on a Kindle Fire as well . After the month - retentive trial , customers will have to pay a $ 79 fee to keep their Prime rank valid .
The Nook Tablet also supports apps from service like Hulu Plus and Netflix . But Barnes & Noble does n’t have a Robert William Service like to Amazon Prime . The companionship does offer complimentary trials with several provider , let in video and audio services . at last , you ’ll have to pay up to keep your entree to the programming .
Another welfare to being an Amazon Prime member is memory access to a digital lending library . Amazon has more than 140,000 title in its loaning depository library that you may access for free . And with this library , you do n’t have to concern about former fees – you’re able to keep a title for as long as it ’s uncommitted within the library , assuming you maintain your Amazon Prime membership . Amazon carries around 1 million electronic book of account in its Kindle Christian Bible fund for purchase [ root : Amazon ] .
Barnes & Noble offer more than doubly as many electronic books as Amazon . According to the company , there are more than 2.5 million title in its electronic bookshop [ source : Barnes & Noble ] . While there ’s no lending library sport on the Nook Tablet , Barnes & Noble does offer some titles for loose every Friday . If you contrive on using your tablet in the main to read books , the reward may swing over firmly to the Nook Tablet .
That ’s what your choice boils down to – how you ’ll habituate your pill . If you desire to look out a bunch of video and you revel online shopping , it ’s hard to argue against the Kindle Fire with its wide choice for medium options and Amazon Prime perquisite . If you ’re an electronic scholastic , the Nook Tablet will give you access to the world ’s largest electronic bookstore . If you just desire an inexpensive Android tablet with all the bells and whistles , you could avoid the question solely and grade a Nexus 7 tablet rather . Which features do you observe to be the most important ?
When the Nook Tablet debuted , several of my champion jumped at the chance to pick one up . Their intent was to root the gadget and go a received reading of the Android operating arrangement on the hardware . I held off purchasing my own gadget – instead , I beak up an e - lector with eInk . I choose reading on that case of screen . In my electronic book , both the Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire are good devices , but were n’t exactly what I wanted .
