Tech Wham | Ereader Tablet and Ebook Reader Reviews, Videos, and Comparisons

Barnes and Noble has officially released its intentions for a Nook Black Friday Deal. The deal?  The Nook Simple Touch being offered at $79.

As many people may remember, the Nook was on sale for $89 last year at Best Buy on Black Friday. It seems Barnes and Noble is serious about gaining a bigger foothold in the ereader market this 2011 holiday shopping season. They will be offering the deal “in stores only, while supplies last”. That means Nook lovers will have to brave the Black Friday crowds at a local Barnes and Noble store to claim their Nook Simple Touch this year.

That’s a small price to pay for some Nook lovers however. For others, it’s sure to be a turn-off. These people may end up staying home hoping to get a Kindle Black Friday Deal online instead.

Good luck to all the Nook seekers this 2011 Black Friday.

Now that Black Friday Week has officially begun at Amazon.com, many people are on the edge of their seats waiting to see what Kindle deal will be rolled out to the public. However, many people will be too late by the time they hear about it. Here’s how to find the Kindle Black Friday Week, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday deals this 2011 shopping season.

The Gold Box- Check It For Deals During Black Friday Week at Amazon

For those who don’t know about “Gold Box” deals at Amazon.com, these are daily deals that last a finite amount of time. It could be a deal on anything from TV’s to socks. It has been rumored for 2011 that there could be some Kindle deals popping up either on Black Friday, during Black Friday Week, or on Cyber Monday.

Here's the "Gold Box" deal Icon. Click the Picture or Link to Visit the daily deals now...

You can see on the left the “Gold Box” icon. Click here to visit the Gold Box Deals now.

Kindle Fire Black Friday, Cyber Monday Deal 2011?

Will there be a Kindle Fire deal this Black Friday or Cyber Monday? It’s already been reported that Amazon is in fact losing money on the Fire, so what’s losing a few more dollars for a special sale to Amazon this 2011 shopping season?

Amazon is looking for more customers this year to consume digital content like TV shows, Movies, books, publications and apps. If giving a deal on Black Friday or Cyber Monday brings more customers, it’s not an impossible scenario.

Kindle Touch and Kindle With Keyboard Deals For 2011

A very likely scenario this Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2011 is a deal on last year’s Kindle With Keyboard. Last year Amazon gave a discount to the earlier model of Kindle for $89. For the reasons stated above for the Kindle Fire, the same could be said about the Kindle Touch. It’s a brand new device that is just getting into pre-orderer’s hands, however there could still be a quick discount found for a few hours at Amazon.com within the Gold Box “Today’s Deals” section.

The Kindle With Keyboard, being a product that is certainly on the out at Amazon, is a very likely candidate for a discount this week and on Cyber Monday. This could be a great deal for E Ink lovers who are looking for a good device to read novels on. That’s our favorite pick for a Kindle Black Friday Deal.

How To Find The Kindle Deals This Black Friday Week, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday

Those vigilant enough to keep visiting and checking at Amazon.com are going to be the ones who certainly land the discount. Stay focused! Stay strong! (But not so focused you lose your job, of course. You’ll want to focus on that too.)

This 2011 Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas and Holiday shopping season it looks like the hottest products are going to be ereaders. The Nook Simple Touch, Nook Color, and new Nook Tablet are sure to be hot products, just like the previous 3 holiday seasons. Let’s take a look at some rumored expectations for Nook, Nook Color, and Nook Tablet Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals this 2011 holiday shopping season.

Last year at this time a Nook Black Friday deal popped up at Best Buy, selling the Nook e-Ink reader for $99. What’s more likely to happen in 2011?

Click Here to Visit Barnes and Noble NOOK Black Friday Deals NOW

Nook Color The Deal To Check On

Barnes and Noble has just released it’s new Nook Tablet, an improved version of the Nook Color. The Nook Tablet has been priced at $50 over the Nook Color pricing, but the Nook Color has suddenly become the less attractive wimpy little brother of the two.

It’s likely Barnes and Noble will offer a Nook Color Discount on Black Friday, and perhaps for a short time on Cyber Monday as well this 2011 shopping season.

Nook First Edition a Sure Bet Discount In 2011

Another obvious candidate for a Nook Black Friday Deal in 2011 is the Nook “First Edition”, the very first version of the e-ink best selling device. The Nook First Edition has been overshadowed by the new Nook Simple Touch now, and is being sold for a deep discount already on BandN.com, and they are undoubtedly taking up much needed space in Barnes and Noble warehouses, just sitting there looking “so 3 years ago”. That could mean a huge discount for people willing to use the older, still fully capable, ereader.

Barnes and Noble’s Nook Black Friday Deals

Just like there are sure to be Kindle Black Friday Deals for 2011, there are sure to be Nook Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals for 2011. One absolutely must do what the other might do, the Kindle vs Nook fight is too close for one to not react this shopping season.

Barnes and Noble has shocked the ereader loving community by announcing the “Nook Tablet”, a beefed up version of the Nook Color. This all while the ground is still smoldering after Amazon dropped the Kindle Fire bomb on the world earlier this fall. Which is going to be the better value this 2011 Christmas season for the shopper? Let’s compare the Nook Tablet vs Kindle Fire and see.

Nook Tablet vs Nook Color- What’s the Difference?

The obvious question when taking a look at the new Nook Tablet is, what’s the difference between this device and the Nook Color?

The big differences between the Nook Color and Nook Tablet are in the memory, weight, faster processing speed and increased battery life.

Memory Difference- The Nook Tablet has 16 GB of memory on the device out of the box, with an SD card slot that can increase the memory to 32 GB.

Nook Color on the left and Nook Tablet on the right. There's some additional subtle differences besides device color.

The Nook Color has 8 GB memory, with expandable memory SD card slot.

UPDATE: The Nook Tablet allows for 1 GB of your own content to be put onto the device, and 15 GB of Barnes and Noble content. If you want to put more of your own content on the device, you’ll need to purchase an SD Card.

Weight Difference- The dimensions of both devices are identical at 8.1″ x 5″ x .48″, but the weight of the Nook Tablet is less, at 14.1 ounces versus 15.8 ounces for the Nook Color.

RAM Difference- The Nook Tablet has been upgraded to a 1GHz TI OMAP4 (dual-core) processor with 1GB RAM, and the Nook Color has the 800 MHz TI processor with 512 MB RAM.

Increased Battery Life-  The Tablet has a battery life of 11.5 hours (wireless off), increased from the Nook Color battery life of 8 hours.

Nook Tablet Vs. Kindle Fire

Now that’s we’ve established the difference between the Nook Color and Tablet, let’s take a look at how the Kindle Fire stacks up against the Nook Color and vice versa.

Nook Tablet vs Kindle Fire Side By Side Video

Visit the Kindle Fire…

Visit the Nook Tablet…

Memory Differences between the two- Amazon and Barnes and Noble are taking a completely different approach to on-device memory. The Nook Tablet has 16 GB of memory, whereas the Kindle Fire has 8 GB, only half.

UPDATE: Now that people across the nation are receiving their Nook Tablet, it’s immediately apparent that one can only load 1 GB of personal (non- Barnes and Noble) data on the device. This is a small blow to the Nook Tablet in the Kindle vs Nook battle of the tablet readers.

If the Nook Tablet (or any Nook device) owner wants to expand memory, or add more of their own content than 1 GB,  it can be done by purchasing an SD card and inserting it, thus effectively increasing memory up to 32 GB.

If a Kindle Fire (or any Kindle device) owner wants to increase memory, this is achieved by using free storage on Amazon’s “Cloud Drive”. The storage on the cloud is free, so long as it is content purchased from Amazon. One needs to be connected to the internet to access the content that is stored on the cloud. Simply swap the content back and forth from device and cloud mode as seen in the above video.

NOTE: Amazon’s Cloud Drive allows up to 5 GB storage for free (i.e. non-Amazon stuff), and unlimited free storage of Amazon content.

Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet have identical processors

Processing Speed- Despite the fact that the Nook Tablet has 1GB RAM and Kindle Fire has 512 MB, this does NOT mean the Nook Tablet is faster. This is dependent on many factors, including software.

Both the Nook Tablet and Kindle Fire have the Texas Instruments OMAP 4 Dual Core 1 GHz processor in them.

This is plenty of processing speed for both devices to play any game or app available on the market today.

Again, just because a dual core processor device has more RAM, doesn’t mean the device will be faster. Just to give the reader an idea, the processor and RAM specs of the Kindle Fire are exactly the same as an iPad 2.

The bottom line is, both devices will have a robust system that should give a great user experience.

Battery Life Compared-  According to Barnes and Noble, the Nook Tablet will allow up to 11.5 hours of usage on one charge with the wireless off. The Kindle Fire allows for up to 8 hours.

Display Screens- Both devices have a 7″ IPS display with 1024 x 600 resolution- 169 pixels per square inch.

Kindle Fire vs Nook Tablet- Other Features and Considerations

Nook Tablet Pre-Loaded Apps-  The Nook Tablet will come with a few standard apps pre-loaded on the device like Pandora Internet Radio, Hulu Plus, and NetFlix. There are thousands of additional apps to be added to the Nook App Store according to Barnes and Noble. Right now the Amazon App store offers a much larger and more established selection, rivaling that of the Android App Store.

Amazon App Store-  The Amazon App Store currently offers a much larger selection of apps than the Nook App Store. Barnes and Noble at the moment is at 1,110 + apps for the Nook wheras Amazon is currently over 17,000.

Amazon Prime For Kindle Owners- A recent announcement by Amazon has Kindle owners taking advantage of a number of benefits if they sign up for Amazon Prime. These benefits include free ebook borrowing from Amazon, up to one title per month from the Amazon ebook store. Also, there is access to millions of TV shows and movies with the addition of this $79 per year service by the Kindle Fire owner.

So one can see the Nook Tablet offers a few apps included out of the box, and Kindle offers Amazon Prime to take advantage of even more content than that of the Nook Tablet. Of course, Amazon Prime comes at a $79 price tag, however the Nook Tablet is $50 more.

Dimensions and Weight- 

SPECS:

Kindle Fire- 4.7″ x 7.5″ x .45″ at 14.6 ounces.

Nook Tablet- 5″ x 8.1″ x .48″ at 14.1 ounces.

PRICING:

Kindle Fire- $199.00

Nook Tablet- $249.00

Amazon’s Silk Browser- The Kindle Fire boasts an ultra-fast mobile browsing experience on the device with the new “Silk” browser. This takes advantage of Amazon’s cloud service to speed up page load times.

Nook Tablet Microphone- The Nook Tablet has a built in microphone for this version and Amazon’s device does not.

NO 3G For Either- Both the Fire and Tablet are lacking a 3G feature on the new devices.

Amazon vs Barnes and Noble Online Stores

One needs to look the company behind the device to get a sense of how using the product will be. Amazon is a much larger online marketplace for digital content, so therefore more content will be available for use on the Amazon Kindle Fire. Barnes and Noble is still growing with it’s App Store, and online selection of digital content. In the meantime, finding ways to offer more content through third party apps such as Hulu Plus, NetFlix and Pandora Internet Radio.

Of course, Barnes and Noble has a brick and mortar system in the United States that Nook Tablet users can visit for hands-on support and an in-person shopping experience.

Kindle Fire vs Nook Tablet- And The Winner Is?

In the end, it’s going to be a heated battle between the two devices, as has been between every other Nook and Kindle version in the last 3 years. Nook users are fiercely loyal, and the Kindle has a massive and growing fan base as well. The differences in memory, pricing, RAM, and the online store experience at Amazon and Barnes and Noble are going to have consumers thinking hard.

Comparing the Kindle Fire vs Nook Tablet shows there are some subtle differences, but they are both extremely capable and interesting devices that have surely shaken other Tablet PC creators to their core this 2011 Holiday Season. Tell us what YOU think below! What’s the better device? The one that allows for unlimited cloud memory, however keeps you tethered to the internet? Or the Tablet, which you’ll need to purchase more memory if you want to add a massive library of content, but you’ll be free from needing to be plugged into WiFi to access it?

There are so many new ebook readers available on the market today, it can get confusing to say the least. Let’s take a look at 4 of the top companies, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony and Kobo (no longer with Borders) and see what each of their products has to offer. Which is the best ebook reader for 2011 and 2012? Comparing different models of Kindle, Nook, Reader and Kobo will help us find out.

Amazon’s Kindle Ebook Readers

Kindle Fire, Kindle Touch and Kindle Ebook Readers

The best selling brand of ebook reader on the market is from Amazon, the Kindle. It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about the Kindle E-Ink devices or the new Kindle Fire Tablet Reader, they are all dominant sellers on the market.

The Kindle E Ink Readers- Kindle, Kindle With Keyboard and Kindle Touch

The newest base model Kindle is the lowest priced and comes with the least amount of features. It’s an EInk reader that allows for 1,000 books of storage, battery life of one month, is the lightest and smallest eInk reader, and, again, is the cheapest.

There are differing views of the lack of keyboard on this device. In order to navigate the content, one simply uses the 5-way button on the bottom center of the device. To turn pages, one uses the side buttons.

The Kindle Touch is the newest top of the line E Ink reader from Amazon, taking the place of the Kindle With Keyboard. Instead of having a keyboard and page turn buttons, the Kindle Touch is fully touch screen operational.

The memory capacity is 3,000 books compared to 3,500 for the previous Kindle 3 version. Battery life is the same at 2 months for the Kindle Touch and Kindle With Keyboard.

Some Things E-Ink Kindles Offer That Other E-Ink Ebook Readers Don’t

A few big reasons people choose the Kindle models over others are as follows.

1. International Usage- The Kindle can be used in over 100 countries world wide. This is great for travelers or simply for people who live outside the United States.
2. Text To Speech Feature- This is a mode that one chooses and the book is read by a computer voice to the user. This is available only on books that are licensed to use this feature by the publisher.
3. 3G Option- Many other devices like the newest Nook versions don’t offer a 3G option, whereas the Kindle Touch does.
4. Amazon Prime Membership Benefits- Those customers that sign up for Amazon Prime for a year get benefits like being able to borrow new titles without due dates from Amazon.com.

The Kindle Fire is the latest, hottest product to come from Amazon.com. This is a device that acts like a full-blown Tablet PC. It allows the user to watch movies, surf the web, check email, listen to music, read books and magazines, play games and more, much like an IPad or other tablet PC. The difference is this device is much cheaper than other tablet pcs.

The Kindle Fire will need to be plugged in after 8 hours of use, instead of the 2 months that E Ink models boast. The on board memory is 8 GB of storage, but can be expanded by utilizing the Amazon Cloud Drive, which is free for Kindle users with content that was purchased from Amazon.

Barnes and Noble’s Nook Ebook Readers

Nook Tablet, Nook Color and Nook Simple Touch Ebook Readers

Barnes and Noble’s popular E Ink device, the Nook, is now offered with a full touch screen design. Dubbed the Nook Simple Touch, this device allows for 1,000 book storage, 2 months of battery life on one charge, and is comparably priced to the Kindle Touch.

Comparing the Kindle Touch vs Nook Simple Touch, one can see the devices are very close in quality, there are just a few differences. The Nook, for instance, has page turn buttons on the side, or one can tap the screen on the side to change pages. The Kindle did away with their page turn buttons for the Kindle Touch.

The Nook allows for EPUB file use, which will give the user a larger selection of books when checking out books online at a local library website. The Kindle also allows for library book checkout, but they are much less numerous.

Other notable differences of the Nook Simple Touch is the black rubberized matte finish of the device, giving it a nice warm and tacky feel. The page turn buttons are programmable as well (top button can be changed to page up or down, etc).

The Nook Color and Nook Tablet Color Ebook eReader Tablets

Barnes and Noble has released it’s new Nook Tablet to compete with the Kindle Fire, and has had it’s Nook Color out for over a year now. The Nook Tablet proves to be a more capable device than the Nook Color, with 1 GB of RAM instead of 512 MB on the Nook Color. Also the Nook Tablet has an improved battery life of 11.5 hours whereas the Nook Color has a life of 8 hours, much like the Kindle Fire.

Comparing the Kindle Fire vs Nook Tablet, one sees a few notable differences. The Nook Tablet has more RAM, and a longer battery life. The internet browsers are different as well, with the new “Silk” browser from Amazon promising to be ultra fast taking advantage of Cloud technology, and the Customized Android browser for the Nook Tablet.

The difference is going to be in the company behind the color tablet device and the pricing. Amazon offers a noticeably larger selection of media, including movies, tv shows, apps, games, and more. It’s just a larger company with more choices, and there will be more choice for the Kindle Fire user. However, the Nook Tablet has a slightly more robust physical design with more RAM and more battery life. We’ll see which device wins out in the long run.

Sony Reader WiFi PRS T1 Ebook Reader

The Sony Reader PRS T1 Ebook Reader

While the Kindle vs Nook battle rages on, Sony quietly has a fan base of customers that use it’s Reader WiFi PRS T1 e ink reader. This reader is a touch screen e ink reader, much like the Kindle Touch and Nook Simple Touch.

The memory capacity of the device is at 1,200 books or publications. Battery life is just over a month on one charge. As the name implies, the device allows you to download content wirelessly.

Some Unique Features of the Sony Reader WiFi PRS T1

The Reader WiFi has a couple features that other e ink readers don’t have. Firstly, it is the lightest 6″ screen E Ink reader on the market. Secondly the Reader allows for wireless download of EPUB files from a local library that has Overdrive. For the Kindle, one can wirelessly download books that are available for the Kindle. The Nook needs to be physically plugged into the computer via USB and have books transferred that way.

To get the lowest price on the Reader WiFi PRS T1, it is recommended to purchase through Amazon, as it’s a lower price than available from Sony itself.

Kobo Ebook Readers

Kobo VOX, Kobo Touch and Kobo WiFi Ebook Readers

This year Kobo separated itself from the company, Borders, who have been closing down retail stores nation wide. That’s a whole other story. Meanwhile, Kobo still offers a great new line of ebook readers for e ink lovers and color tablet ereader lovers as well.

Kobo Touch and Kobo WiFi E Ink Readers

The Kobo WiFi ebook reader is the same price as the Kobo Touch, and they have similar features, but also some big differences.

The Kobo Touch also has WiFi abilities, just to be clear. The Kobo Touch allows for 1,000 book storage on it’s memory whereas the WiFi allows for 1,200. The WiFi version navigates through content with the use of a push button controller in the lower right hand side of the device. The “Touch” Kobo is touch screen operated. Both are the same price, so it comes down to navigation of content preference.

Kobo VOX- Kobo’s Tablet Reader

The Kobo VOX is Kobo’s fighter in the ring with Nook Tablet, Nook Color, and Kindle Fire. It has many similar features as it’s competitors. It has a 7″ screen with the same resolution as the Fire, Color and Tablet, however the battery life is slightly less at 7 hours. The operating system is Android 2.3 and offers thousands of apps from the Android store. It’s comparable to the Fire for app usage, and offers a lot more apps than the Nook Tablets.

It has 512 MB RAM with a 800 MHz processor, slightly less powerful than the Nook and Kindle at 1 GHz.

All Kobo devices support ePub format files and can one can check out books from local libraries that use Overdrive.

Kobo Goes International- What Others Don’t Have

Kobo is the first to offer a store and device that is truly international, with content offered in different languages on the device and the Kobo store. This is slightly different than Amazon’s international usage, which is in English.

Conclusion- Which Ebook Reader Is Best?

There’s a quick comparison of the top ebook readers for 2011 and 2012. Each device has it’s own nice features and benefits. There’s a loyal fan base for each and every device, and the improvements made in 2011 for the Kindle, Nook, Reader and Kobo models have a lot of shoppers excited this holiday season. The choice is difficult! It’s going to come down to if you would rather have an E Ink or LCD Back Lit Screen ebook reader, and personal preference.

People are beginning to receive their Kindle Fires and Nook Tablets in the mail this week and some Nook Tablet owners are a little angry. The surprise for Nook Tablet owners, and the biggest difference between the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet, is the handling of on-device memory and storage of content. The new revelation isn’t exactly a Tablet-killer, but it doesn’t help the allure of the Tablet compared to the Fire.

Nook Tablet Memory Allure and Reality

Take a look a the Nook Tablet at Barnes and Noble and a big selling point is the ability to put 16 GB of content on the device. That’s what has/had a lot of people excited this 2011 shopping season, but now that the Tablet is being delivered to people, an ugly truth has been revealed.

The Tablet has an allotted memory of 1 GB of storage for non-Barnes and Noble content. If the user wants to load more than 1 GB, they must purchase an SD card. Add that to the +$50 price tag compared to the Kindle Fire and suddenly the Tablet is looking a little deflated.

Kindle Fire Memory Explained

The Kindle Fire allows for 8 GB (any content, Amazon or NOT) on-device storage.

One can store up to 5 GB (in addition to the on-device memory) of ANY content, Amazon content or not, on the Cloud Drive for free.

Any Cloud usage beyond that with Amazon content is free. Any more than that, there are plans to use Amazon’s Cloud Service. For instance, one can purchase 20 GB of extra storage on the Cloud for $20 per year. MP3 storage is unlimited for the aforementioned plan.

Kindle Fire Memory vs Nook Tablet Memory

One can see there is a vastly different approach to memory between Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Some people will never see the Cloud as a viable memory solution, whereas others think it’s brilliant. If the Cloud idea isn’t such a novel idea to you, then just beware there will need to be purchase of an SD card if you plan on consuming non-Barnes and Noble content on the Nook Tablet. This new revelation doesn’t seem to be a Tablet-killer by any means, but it does make the Kindle Fire look a little stronger when comparing the Kindle Fire vs Nook Tablet.

Last year Amazon announced a deal on Black Friday that had people scrambling for their credit cards in a frenzy, and all signs point to a Kindle Black Friday Deal 2011 on the horizon. It makes sense with all the new models undoubtedly jamming Amazon’s warehouses.

DEAL ALERT- Amazon has announced a deal on the Kindle DX! Click to Visit.

On Black Friday 2010, Amazon announced an $89 price tag for the previous year’s version of the Kindle, dubbed the “Kindle 2″. Now that there is a whole new smorgasbord of Kindle models arriving in droves at the Amazon distribution centers for the 2011 Black Friday and Holiday Season, they’ll need to clear out some of the older models.

So it looks like the Kindle 3, or “Kindle With Keyboard” models will be the hot Black Friday Deal for post-Thanksgiving internet shoppers.

Another obvious candidate for a great deal this Black Friday or Cyber-Monday is going to be the Kindle DX. The DX seems to be the forgotten big brother with all these newest models being released.

What About A Kindle Fire Black Friday Deal? A Kindle Fire deal actually has a chance of happening, though it could be a short lived sale on November 25th. The first orderers of the Fire will had just begun receiving their devices after pre-ordering, so it would undoubtedly cause a stir to offer a discount only days later to people who didn’t stand in line, however it is completely possible.

It’s already reported that Amazon is losing money on the sale of the Kindle Fire. So what’s the big deal about putting the Fire on sale for a few hours on Black Friday and gaining some more Amazon customers, undoubtedly buying hundreds of dollars worth of content to fill the device in the long run?

And A Kindle Touch Black Friday Deal? The newest version of the e-ink Kindle family, the Kindle Touch, is already competitively priced and not yet in pre-orderer’s hands, but it could show up as a Black Friday Deal at Amazon as well.

The SECRET? Keep an Eye On The Gold Box Deals

If there is going to be a Kindle Fire or Kindle Touch deal this Black Friday, it will be at the Gold Box “Today’s Deal” Page. (You can click to visit)

These deals only last for a few minutes or hours, so you’ll definitely want to keep checking throughout the day.

So it looks like the Kindle Black Friday Deal 2011 will be the Kindle 3 for sure, or now known as Kindle With Special Offers. By checking the Gold Box Deals, one could perhaps get lucky with a newer device as well.  Make sure you’re quick on the draw this year, as the deal is most likely going to be extremely hot with shoppers.