Nook Tablet or Kindle Fire

[mcbj]

Thinking I might like one of these for Christmas, but I don't know much about them. From what I can tell the Nook comes with a 16GB for $249, Fire is 8GB for $199, so I am leaning toward Nook. Can you read e-books from Amazon with the Nook and vice versa? Any preferences? TIA

 

[tzeitel]

Can't really give you a very informed opinion on which one is best since I have not tried the Nook but I did get a Kindle Fire this past Friday and I love it!

Right now I have about 20 books, a movie (downloaded) and about 30 apps (all freebies). I have about 5GB of memory left - I do not plan on storing too much in it so memory is not an issue for me although there is always the cloud.
No problems with battery life either. I just make sure that I turn the WiFi off when not on the web (which I have heard helps alot) and it pretty much lasts all day (on and off for about 8 hrs) then I just charge it overnight.
Some ppl complain about the backlight bothering the eyes when using as a reader but I have read 2 books on it already with no problems.

 

[SweetPeasMom2]

I was leaning towards the Fire until I realized that the Nook is the only one that supports Word, PPT, and Excel. This is important for my business. One of the reasons I want one is not just the e-reader function but the ability to use it at shows and events. Also the compactness when traveling.

The Nook does have more space. However the Fire allows you to store your data using the Cloud, so that may not really be an issue.

 

[bigmama67]

I'm also trying to make this very decision.

If you decided on a Nook, one way to make it a bit cheaper is to buy the B&N Gift Cards (you get a free $10 card for every $100 in cards you buy), and then use it towards the purchase. If you bought $200 worth, you would get $20 in additional gift cards, bringing the cost down to $229...or buy $300, get $30, and use the remainder as gifts (you can get $10 or $5 increments!)

 

[DawnM]

I like the Kindle mostly because it has 1 free lending book per month if you have an Amazon prime account and it let's you stream your Cloud content.

However, I am sticking with my iPad, so take my opinion FWIW.

Dawn

 

[RitaE]

To read Amazon content on the nook Tablet you need to root it. I don't have one and haven't tried it but the techs over at the XDA forums have come up with the process.

To read B&N content on the Fire you need to sideload the nook app. It is very easy. The Fire is easily root-able if you're interested in doing that. You don't gain much further from doing it since most non-Amazon content is easily side-loaded to the Fire.

The main advantage of the nook Tablet is the device itself - including as you mentioned the 16GB plus the sd card slot. However, the Barnes and Noble content ecosystem is extremely sparse compared to Amazon. They have very few Apps and rely on 3rd party providers such as Netflix for movies and music.

The main advantage of Amazon is the Amazon App store plus Amazon streaming for movies and music. In addition you have the Amazon Prime benefits (if you sign up) with their free movies and the lending library and then the 2 day shipping.

I have the Fire and I really like it as a small tablet. The only thing I don't like is that 8GB limitation.

 

[jrmasm]

I'm also trying to make this very decision.

If you decided on a Nook, one way to make it a bit cheaper is to buy the B&N Gift Cards (you get a free $10 card for every $100 in cards you buy), and then use it towards the purchase. If you bought $200 worth, you would get $20 in additional gift cards, bringing the cost down to $229...or buy $300, get $30, and use the remainder as gifts (you can get $10 or $5 increments!) ;)

Can anyone confirm this? I checked the website and didn't see anything.