Kindle Vs Nook Vs Kobo EReader Comparison
You may be in the market for an eReader and be wondering whether or not it makes more sense to go with a Kindle, a Nook, or a Kobo. All three of these devices have received a lot of publicity and are considered by many to be the three best and most relevant choices in the marketplace today. Let’s be clear about something — regardless of which eReader you ultimately select, you can rest assured that the Kindle, the Nook, and the Kobo have received overwhelmingly positive reviews.
Here is our handy Kindle, Nook and Kobo eReader comparison chart:
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| Kindle | Kindle Touch |
Kindle Keyboard |
Kindle DX |
Kindle Fire |
Kobo WiFi |
Kobo Touch |
Kobo Vox |
Nook Touch |
Nook Color |
Nook Tablet |
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| Price | $79 | $99/$149 | $139 | $379 | $199 | $99 | $99 | $199 | $99 | $199 | $249 |
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| Design | |||||||||||
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| Touch Screen |  |
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| Screen Size | 6” | 6” | 6” | 9.7” | 7” | 6” | 6” | 7” | 6” | 7” | 7” |
| Screen Type | E Ink | E Ink | E Ink | E Ink | LCD | E Ink | E Ink | LCD | E Ink | LCD | LCD |
| Resolution | 800 x 600 | 800 x 600 |
800 x 600 |
1200 x 824 | 1024 x 600 |
800 x 600 |
800 x 600 |
1024 x 600 |
800 x 600 |
1024 x 600 |
1024 x 600 |
| Overall Size | 6.5″ x 4.5″x .34″ |
6.8″ x 4.7″x .40″ |
7.5″ x 4.8″ x .34″ |
10.4″ x 7.2″ x .38″ |
7.5″ x 4.7″ x .45″ |
7.2”x 4.7” x .4” |
6.5” x 4.5” x .4” |
7.57” x 5.06” x .53” |
6.5” x 5” x .47” |
8.1” x 5” x .48” |
8.1” x 5” x .48” |
| Weight | 5.98 ounces | 7.5 ounces | 8.5 ounces |
18.9 ounces | 14.6 ounces |
7.8 ounces |
6.5 ounces |
14.2 ounces |
7.48 ounces |
15.8 ounces |
14.1 ounces |
| Content | |||||||||||
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| EBooks | 2.6 million | 2.6 million |
2.6 million |
2.6 million | 2.6 million |
2.2 million |
2.2 million |
2.2 million |
2.5 million |
2.5 million |
2.5 million |
| Magazines | 368 | 368 | 368 | 368 | 368 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 345 | 345 | 345 |
| Newspapers | 131 | 131 | 131 | 131 | 131 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Memory & Battery | |||||||||||
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| Memory | 2GB for 1,400 books |
4GB for 3,000 books |
4GB for 3,500 books |
4GB for 3,500 books |
8GB for 6,000 books & apps | 1GB for 1,000 books | 1GB for 1,000 books | 8 GB for 8,000 books & apps | 2 GB for 1,000 books | 8 GB for 5,000 books & apps | 16 GB for 10,000 books & apps |
| Battery Life | 1 month | 2 months | 2 months | 3 weeks | 8 hours continuous reading | 10 days | 1 month | 7 hours | 2 months | 8 hours | 11.5 hours |
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| Best Deal |
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The Kindle
Let’s start with an overview of the Kindle. There are five types of Kindle eReaders to choose from:
The Kindle, Kindle DX, Kindle Touch 3G, Kindle Keyboard 3G, and the Kindle Fire. From a pricing standpoint — beware. Prices change fast and there are always special discounts and deals being offered. As of the time this is being written, a Kindle costs $79. You can get a Kindle Touch for $99. A Kindle Touch 3G is priced at $149. Oddly enough, a Kindle Keyboard 3G is just $139. The Kindle DX is $379, way overpriced in my opinion. Finally, the Kindle Fire sells for $199.
To keep this as relatively simple and as straight forward as possible, you can assume that every Kindle (regardless of model) performs its primary function extremely well — letting you read awesome books from practically anywhere. So what really differentiates a Kindle that’s priced at $79 and a Kindle Fire that’s priced at $199? Great question!
Let’s take a detailed look at what you get with a Kindle Fire:
Movies, apps, games, music, and access to a cloud-accelerated web browser. Oh, and of course, you still get to read books! We’re talking about access to over 19 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and books. You also have access to thousands of popular apps and games, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora, and more. Are you starting to get the impression that the Kindle Fire is more than just a simple eReader?
You get a vibrant color touch screen with an extra-wide viewing angle — the same as an Apple iPad! Kindle Fire is powered by a fast, dual-core processor that has blazing speed. Everything is displayed in rich color and clarity, allowing you to enjoy graphic novels, magazines, and your favorite children’s books.
Two technical details that everyone always asks about is how long it takes to charge a Kindle Fire, and how long does the batter life last. The Kindle Fire can be fully charged in approximately 4 hours via an included power adapter. You’ll love that the Kindle Fire can also be charged from your computer via USB cable. That’s really convenient! When it comes to how long the battery lasts, that depends. You can get up to 8 hours of continuous reading or 7.5 hours of video playback, with the wireless functionality shut off.
That’s the Kindle Fire, which costs $199. How does this compare to a Kindle? Well, in a nutshell, the Kindle is a simple eReader that has a black and white display and is primarily focused on allowing you to read books. The $79 Kindle can be fully charged in approximately 3 hours via the included USB cable that you connect to your computer. This may surprise you, but a single charge lasts up to one month with wireless off based upon a half-hour of daily reading time. Nice!
The Nook
Now let’s take a closer look at the Nook. There are three models. There’s the Nook Simple Touch which retails for $99, the Nook Color that retails for $199, and the Nook Tablet that carries a $249 price tag.
The Nook Simple Touch is impressive. You can read for over 2 months on just one charge! That’s enough time to start and finish a lot of great stories -– or an entire series. The Nook Simple Touch connects via thousands of Wi-Fi networks, including FREE access at all Barnes & Noble stores and more than 24,000 AT&T hotspots that are located in cafes, hotels, and restaurants nationwide.
When you move up to a Nook Color, you’re immersing yourself in a near-tablet experience that’s filled with rich colors and blazing fast display speeds. The Nook Color is powered by an 800 MHz TI processor with 512 megabytes of scorching fast random access memory. The Nook Color comes pre-loaded with apps like Pandora internet radio, Chess, Crossword puzzles, Sudoku, Media Gallery, Nook Friends, and e-mail.
The top of the line offering from Barnes and Noble is the Nook Tablet. This device is built for high performance speed. Powered by blazing fast dual core processors and 1 gigabyte of random access memory, you can stream videos smoothly. Web browsing is lightning-fast. You can also get books instantly — usually in less than 10 seconds! You also get up to 11.5 hours of reading or 9 hours of video without having to recharge the unit.
The Kobo
Kobo may not be as common a name as the Kindle or the Nook but it is a great eReader that is certainly worth checking out. They have three models; the Kobo WiFi, their basic eReader, the Kobo Touch, the touch screen model, and the Kobo Vox, their tablet entry. The Kobo Touch ($129) along with the Kobo WiFi ($99) their non-touch model, turned out to be our favorite favorite basic eReader models. The touch screen was really responsive and felt the most natural of any of the models we tried. The ebook library is comparable to Amazon’s or Barnes and Noble’s and the periodical selection is catching up.
The Kobo Vox ($199) is a good tablet style eReader with over 15,000 different apps. What I like best about the Kobo line is that you can read your ebooks on any device not just the Kobo eReader. They have apps for PC, Mac, Apple devices like the iPod, iPad, and iPhone, Android platforms and more. The ebooks that you buy are really yours to do with as you please which is a feature I really like. Still the Vox is missing some support from big names like Netflix, Hulu, and Pandora. It is also lacking in processing power compared to the other table style readers. Because of this we felt the Kindle Fire is the best overall tablet reader.
To really make a smart decision as to which type of eReader to buy, you need to do some soul-searching and figure out exactly what it is that you primarily plan to use the device for. Someone who is primarily interested in reading books doesn’t necessarily need to invest in either the Kindle Fire, the Nook Tablet, or the Kobo Vox. Those devices are premium priced products that are packed with a lot of awesome features that someone primarily interested in reading books may not need or want.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for an eReader with all the bells and whistles, you now have a better understanding of what’s out there on the higher end. Regardless of which of these two types of eReader you ultimately select, you can rest assured that you’re making a smart decision. As mentioned at the outset, all three models have received overwhelmingly positive reviews.