Difference between kindle and a tablet?

machgic

Hey,

I noticed a lot of people are now a kindle owner and is the number is increasing. I also thought about buying one but the one question I need answering is;

Why not pay extra and buy a tablet instead which provides a bigger screen and offers a lot more features?

What are your thoughts about this???

Theydon Bois

To me they are two different things, the Kindle is aimed at books, being very lifght with excellent battery life, while my iPad for reading has a backlight which I doubt is very good for your eyes, and being larger, is heavier and more cumbersome to read with, and the battery life cannot compete.

Plus, I stash my Kindle in my bag to work without much thought, where my £600 iPad would be wrapped in bubble wrap or in its box.

nheather

Battery life aswell.

Tablet = a few hours
Kindle = a month

Start up time

Tablet = 30 - 60 sec or more
Kindle = instant

Doesn't sound like much, but the Kindle behaves much more like a book.  You ae reading, you get an interruption, you come back pick up the Kindle and carry on reading.

Do the same with a tablet and you'll either come back to find the battery is flat or that you have to power it up and start the book application.

I'd say, if you want a tablet but would also like to be able to read books then get a tablet.

If you want a book reader then get a Kindle.

Cheers,

Nigel

Sonic67

Why pay extra? Seriously why? Money to burn? I like to read books. I don't need a tablet. I have game consoles, a laptop, a smartphone and a home PC. A tablet isn't as good as that lot for a lot of things.

Also what would you be happier with on a bus? Reading stuff on a £100 e-reader or a £500 tablet? Which may be more likely a target for a mugger? If I dropped my e-reader into a swimming pool I could buy several replacements for less money.

Weight is less. How long do you want to hold a tablet for in comparison?

Battery life is far longer on an e-reader.

E-reader's can be read in direct sunlight and don't give eyestrain.

Not sure how a bigger screen is an advantage. You are reading text. Why do you need more features? It's a substitute for a book. Think of e-readers and books and MP3 players and music. A tablet has more features than an MP3 player. Why would you still get an MP3 player?

bigtruck

I'm starting to think about a Kindle for Christmas, particularly having heard about the Fire, which i know isn't coming to the UK. I've started to consider the Nook Color.
The tablet aspect would be useful for me as I travel fairly regularly and it would combine the e-reader capability (to some degree) with a web browser. I could then keep my current 'phone (N8) and go sim-only.
Need to do a bit more research but it would be good to hear from anyone with experience of the Nook.

nheather

Thought it was coming but not in time for Christmas - Spring 2012.

Cheers,

Nigel

bigtruck

I thought it wasn't coming, for a good while at least, due to Amazon Cloud issues or something similar?  Still I suppose Spring is still 6 months away.
Does anyone know how usable the Nook Color is in the UK?

nheather

Sounds like the Fire has moved on since I first heard about it.

I googled about the Nook in the UK and the advice seemed to be to try and set up an account on Barnes and Noble website first and see if your credit card is accepted.  Then try to buy something.  If that works then you should have no problem.

Will be interesting to see what happens because electronic books in the UK are subject to VAT but I guess if you download from Barnes and Noble there won't be any sales tax.

Cheers,

Nigel

bigtruck

Thanks.
I'd had a look around & couldn't see anything that was definite & not having owned/used a e-reader before I was unsure.
I'll do a bit more research into the Barnes & Noble bookstore etc. Great if they are cheaper but it would be good to have more options depending on the limitations of the B&N store

Edit - I've seen talk of "rooting" the device. Again, need more research but what are the benefits/pitfalls of this & doe anyone know if it would address the US/UK restrictions?

nheather

I'm guessing a bit here.

Rooting is like hacking or jailbraking.  I suspect it gets its name from the fact that the admin (do anything account) for unix and linux operating systems is called ROOT.

So I think ROOTING is hacking the tablet to give you access to the ROOT account which will have unrestricted access to running applications and accessing folders.

The benefit would be to circumvent any fixed access, applications or GUI fatures that the manufacturer will have put in place - though I imagine that this will still require technical knowledge and niot something for the casual user to meddle with.

I suspect the Fire and Nook are going are going to be fixed to make you use the Amazon and the B&N sites for ordering books.  Currently they are both going to be restricted to the US sites and I guess there is a danger that they might restrict use by IP address - if they see that you are using a UK address you may not be able to download books at all - you could probably get around this by using proxies, but that takes some expertise and is not always successful.

Personally, I would see buying either for UK use as a risk until you have got some hard reports saying it is okay, or describing actual work arounds.

Cheers,

Nigel