Kindle Paperwhite vs. Nook Simple Touch
Tablets allow you to read books, magazines and comics besides other things but yet e-readers are still around. There are probably two reasons: e-readers have longer battery life and they make you focus solely on reading. Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes and Noble’s Nook are the obvious choices when it comes to such devices. Which one should you buy? Our Kindle Paperwhite vs. Nook Simple Touch comparison is after the break.
Design
The Kindle Paperwhite’s design reminds us of the Kindle Fire HD, which like it has the look of a simple black box with slightly rounded edges. It also has that soft touch paint like its tablet brother but the Nook Simple Touch has that too. While that matte finish gives you a better grip, it also means both this Kindle and Nook are fingerprint magnets.
You can’t possibly confuse these two because they look different from each other. The Nook Simple Touch is shorter, wider and thicker. It is also rounder than the Kindle Paperwhite. Amazon’s e-reader is a ten of an inch thinner but somehow it’s heavier by half an ounce.
Both Kindle and Nook can be charged via a USB cable but the Nook includes an adapter for wall charging. There’s no audio jack on any of these devices nor any internal speakers so forget about any text-to-speech application you might want to try. You have 2 GB of storage or roughly 1000 books to work with on both e-readers but the Nook Simple Touch allows you to go beyond that via microSD. Come to think of it, you can’t play games or watch videos on these e-readers so I don’t know why you would be needing an extra 32GB of storage.
Screen
Reading in a dark area is a problem with past Kindles and Nooks but that’s no longer the case now. Paperwhite and Simple Touch features E-ink displays with built-in light. There’s a difference with how each of these readers uses their lights, however.
While it’s not entirely distracting, there seems to be more light on the top edge of the Nook Simple Touch than the other areas. You can turn on the light by holding down the button in front and you can turn it off the same way. You can also dim the light to your preference. The Kindle Paperwhite’s light is much more even across the screen. And since physical buttons are non-existent in the Kindle, controlling the light would be done onscreen.
There’s also a difference on how crisp the text and images look in each e-reader. The Nook Simple Touch only has a resolution of 600 x 800 while Kindle Paperwhite boasts a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels.
Battery Life
The Nook Simple Touch would last a month with the built-in light turned on to half, Wi-Fi turned off and used for 30 minutes a day. The Kindle Paperwhite lasts longer as it can stay on for two months with the same settings.
Software
The Kindle Paperwhite has its own operating system and some features that you can’t find on the Nook Simple Touch. First would be a web browser although I wouldn’t really recommend its use. The built-in dictionary is also a nice addition as well as the Wikipedia search feature. I also find it easier to find the books that I want on the Paperwhite than on the Simple Touch. The one thing I like on the Nook Simple Touch’s interface? IT HAS NO ADS.
Price
| Merchant | Product | Price | Buy Now | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Kindle Paperwhite, 6" High Resolution Display with Built-in Light, Wi-Fi - Includes Special Offers World's most advanced e-reader - high resolution, high contrast touchscreen with built-in light and up to 8-week battery life, even with the light on | $119.00 used from: $118.20 |
Go to Store | |
| Wal-Mart.com USA, LLC |  | NOOK 6" Simple Touch eReader with GlowLight NOOK 6" Simple Touch eReader with GlowLight: Supports ePub and PDF files Supports JPG, GIF, PNG and BMP files 6.0" touchscreen, 600 x 600 pixel | $119.00 |
Go to Store |
Summary of Specs
[etable]
Specs, Kindle Paperwhite, Nook Simple Touch
Dimensions, 6.7″ x 4.6″ x 0.36″, 6.5″ x 5.0″ x 0.47″
Weight, 7.50 oz, 6.95 oz
Display, 6″ 1024 x 768 E-ink with light, 6″ 800 x 600 E-ink with light
Storage, 2 GB (1000 books), 2 GB (1000 books) w/ microSD slot
Connectivity, 3G/Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi
[/etable]
Conclusion
At the same price, Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite gives you a better screen, longer battery life and a couple of extra features. The extra storage option of the Nook Simple Touch is not really an advantage as you can always avail of Amazon’s cloud storage option. That is, if you need to have more than a thousand books. Some users would find the constant bombardment of advertisements by Amazon annoying. If you are one of those users, you might consider going for the Nook Simple Touch.
Related posts:
HP Slate 7 vs. Google Nexus 7
HP Slate 7 vs. Kindle Fire HD
BlackBerry Z10 vs. iPhone 5
Kindle Paperwhite vs. Nook Simple Touch
Sony Xperia Tablet Z vs. iPad 4
