Features –Hardware and Software

The Nook Tablet vastly improves on 4 major areas: speed, storage, screen display, and software.

First, the Nook Tablet’s speed: As far as mock models have demonstrated, the device is noticeably zippier than last year’s model, and this is because of a more robust 1.2GHz dual core processor and 1GB RAM.

Size of onboard storage has doubled up to 16GB (14GB is available to user). Coupled with SD card slot, which supports 32GB cards, the Nook Tablet lets you carry up to 6 times more files than the Kindle Fire. While many applaud Amazon’s Cloud storage for the seemingly infinite amount of files it can store, it can substitute the convenience of having your files accessible at all times, whether you’re in a WiFi hotspot or not. However, if you prefer cloud storage, you can get Dropbox or similar free cloud storage apps to the device.

The Nook Tablet is outfitted with the same 1024 x 600 IPS LCD screen with 16 million colors and 89 percent viewing angle found in the Nook Color. A laminated coating, however, gives the Tablet extra vividness and less glare that makes it great for watching hi-res videos.  It promises to support 1080p HD videos, but Netflix movies will be displayed in 720p only, which some may find disappointing.

While Apple and Amazon use their respective tablets as platform for their multiple products, Barnes & Noble takes a different approach. B&N will be providing eBooks, magazines, newspapers , and apps via its Nook Store, but other digital media services will be outsourced to companies like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora, and Rhapsody. A combination of old and new B&N apps will be made available, such as   Read and Record (for recording custom narration of children books), Nook Kids, and Page Perfect (a PDF reader).

The Nook Tablet promises a record-holding 11.5 hours of reading or 9 hours of video with wireless off.

Pros

The Nook Tablet comes with a compact design. 0.48 inch thin and weighing  14.1 ounces only, it is comfortably light and easy to hold. Combined onboard storage and SD expansion slot allows you to carry thousands of movie, audio, photo, and text files on the go. High resolution screen is great for HP movie viewing.

Cons

Despite the name, the Nook Tablet is not a full-fledged tablet like the iPad or the Galaxy Tab. B&N had to cut corners somewhere to lower the cost of the device, and three items you won’t find in the tablet are: camera, 3G wireless, and Bluetooth support.

The Bottom Line

The Nook Tablet weds affordability and power. If you are looking for an affordable tablet with the storage and speed of an iPad, the Nook Tablet seems to be the only tablet that fits this category. However, this review is based only on the demonstrations and mock models provided by B&N. We’ll update this review once the actual Nook Tablet arrives. Shipping begins November 17.

Features – Hardware and Software 

The Sony PRS T1BC offers the same core reading experience as the Sony PRS Touch Edition: excellent reading screen, convenient navigation via the ultra-responsive touchscreen, support for multiple book formats, month-long battery life, and multiple page or text customization options.

There are two ways to take down notes or highlight texts: using the virtual keyboard or using one’s own handwriting (the eReader comes with a stylus for this purpose). Support for handwriting remains unique to Sony eReaders.

On the one hand, the Sony PRS T1BC has gotten lighter. It’s down to 5.9 ounces, a change which some users will think as unnecessary since the PRS 650 already had the right heft. The PRS T1BC comes with a support for Dropbox and other cloud-based storages: users can download files from the cloud via WiFi. Users can now download library books directly into the device as well. Like the rest of the PRS T1 models, casing is made of plastic instead of the traditional aluminum.

Where Sony should really have improved on is the screen refresh rate of the PRS T1BC. The eReader refreshes on every page turn — hence the more frequent flashes –  whereas the new Kindles, Kobo, and Nook eReaders refreshes only every 4-6 pages.

Pros

An open platform, the Sony PRS T1BC lets you download books from the Sony eBook store and a host of other eBookstores including Kobo. Hard drive can be surmounted with microSD card for added storage as well as USB from drop-and-dragging files. Integrated library support allows for direct lending from local libraries via Overdrive.

The ability to write on the screen using your own handwriting is a convenient and cool feature. You can write down notes on the margins of books, keep a journal, sketch diagrams, draw, and many more.

Cons

eBooks at the Sony Reader Store are more expensive than rival bookstores (Kindle, Nook, Kobo). Also, choices are fewer. The eReader doesn’t support taps for turning pages. To go up or back a page, you have to swipe the left or right corner of the page. This action can cause finger fatigue after a while. You can’t enhance the eReader with apps; Sony doesn’t have an app store yet.

The Bottom Line

Based on specs alone, Sony has created an able rival for the Kindle in the Sony PRS T1BC. Perhaps what the company needs to do next, if it really wants to advance in the eReader game, is to improve its eBookstore and eReader services.

Features – Hardware and Software

Like the Kindle 3, the Kindle 4 is outfitted with the now-standard 6-inch eInk Pearl screen, an experimental web browser, excellent search feature, book lending capability, support for multiple file formats, and access to Amazon’s ecosystem (cloud storage service, Kindle store, App Store.

What it doesn’t have is the physical keyboard of the Kindle 3. There’s no touch function either. What the Kindle 4 has is a large 5-way controller at the bottom of the device. Beside the D-pad are the Back, Menu, Keyboard, and Home keys. On both sides of the device are page buttons.  While this design makes the Kindle 4 easier to use than previous Kindles, the absence of keyboard makes searching for books a taxing, time-consuming task. Library space of 2GB, which is roughly equal to 1500 books, is half the storage size of the Kindle 3.

The Kindle 4 comes with WiFi wireless technology only; there’s no mobile broadband. You get a month of battery life with wireless off. This is just half of what the Kindle 3 offers, but still very great considering that you need to charge only once a month.

All these hardware reductions, however, has given the Kindle 4 a more compact form factor than its predecessors. It is the lightest, easiest Kindle to hold. Wrapping one’s hand around the device is ultra comfortable and nice. Page turns are also faster than the Kindle 3’s.

Pros

The Kindle 4 is very easy to use and feels very comfortable to hold and use for a very long time. Just like the rest of the Kindle devices now, the Kindle 4 lets you borrow books from public libraries. Users get access to millions of digital books, periodicals, and blogs via Amazon’s Kindle Store. WiFi access at AT&T hotspots is free. There are eight font sizes available, including two extra-large fonts for customizing your reading experience. Amazon does automatic backups of all your purchased books so you never lose a book. If you lose your Kindle 4, your books can be easily downloaded to another Kindle 4 eReader or Kindle-appified device.

Cons

Without   a keyboard (either physical or virtual), taking down notes or doing searches becomes a terrible experience. The device has no speakers and audio support, which means you can’t listen to audiobooks or background music. There’s no memory card slot, so if the 1.25 GB available space is used up, then you’re stuck. There’s still no ePub support, so you’re stuck with Amazon books. The device doesn’t come with a power adaptor; charging is done via USB only.

The Bottom Line

The Kindle 4 is the cheapest Amazon reader to date. It is also the least featured. However, for less-moneyed folks and people looking for a starter Kindle, the Kindle 4 is a solid option.

As rumors hinted, the Amazon Kindle Fire is a splitting image of the $499 Blackberry PlayBook. They look hauntingly the same, except that the Amazon Kindle Fire has narrower bezel. While they look the same, feature-wise, the Kindle Fire easily outdoes its pricier RIM counterpart.  The Fire has richer range of songs, movies, books, periodicals, TV shows, and apps available for free or for a fee. After all, the Kindle Fire is purposely-built as a serves as conduit for Amazon’s retail content just like Apple weds its iPad into its ecosystem of apps and music.

Features – Hardware and Software

The Kindle Fire, like the Blackberry PlayBook , features a 7-inch multi-touch display with 16 million colors. The panel uses IPS (in-plane switching) technology like the iPad, providing users good view from all anges. The display is coated with anti-glare layer, but the Kindle Fire remains hard to view under direct sunlight.  It measures 7.5 x 4.7 x 0.45 – though not pocketable, it easily slips into a handbag or purse. It weighs 14.6 ounces, about the same weight as the PlayBook.

The Kindle Fire is powered by a dual-core processor, allowing you to run multiple tasks at the same time, such as streaming music while reading books or playing games while downloading videos, without slowing down the tablet. Although it has Android under the hood, there’s no trace of Android. The interface is uniquely Kindle, and it runs its own app store. Still, as demonstrations have shown, the tablet runs Android games very well.

To cut down on costs, Amazon built only 8GB of internal storage into the device, roughly half the storage size of most tablets.  8GB is good enough for 80 apps plus 800 songs and 6000 songs, but this fills up quickly and there’s no SD slot on the device for additional storage. Amazon hopes that users will overlook this lack by integrating free cloud service into the Fire.  However, as the tablet’s wireless service is via WiFi only, streaming content or getting content into Amazon’s cloud is not possible in all circumstances.

Also integrated into the Kindle Fire is Amazon’s very own Web browser called Silk. The browser’s speed is boosted by Amazon’s cloud network.  What the browser does is  it gathers and stores user search behavior , then uses this information to predict where you will like go next when you open a website. The browser then caches the page in advance, resulting in quicker load times.

Pros

• Interface is fast, intuitive, and user-friendly.
• The Amazon Kindle Fire supports Flash.
• You get a month’s use of Amazon Prime for free.
• You get lots of content – over 17 million songs in the Amazon MP3 Store, millions of books in the Kindle Store, over a hundred thousand movies and TV shows in Amazon Prime, and over 15 thousand apps in the Amazon App Store.
• Glass display is durable and scratch-resistant.
• Color display is great for children’s books as well as magazines, graphic novels, comics, and the like.

Cons

• The Amazon App Store has about 15,000 apps – an app pool that is relatively small especially if you compare it to iPad’s 425,000 apps.
• You can’t customize the home screen with widgets, wallpapers, etc.
• The tablet doesn’t have a camera and microphone – you can’t use it for video chatting or for recording audios.
• There’s no mobile broadband; you have to hunt for a WiFi network to get Internet connection.
• There’s no GPS functionality.
• There’s no multi-touch support; the display recognizes two-finger touches only.
• It will not run DRM-protected text and audio content as well as ePub books.

The Bottom Line

The Kindle Fire is not as versatile or as fully featured as the iPad, but for its price of $199, it offers incredible value. No other tablet within this price range has the Kindle Fire’s richness of media content.  It is aimed to knock off the Nook Color off its perch. From the looks of it, the Kindle Fire can easily do it in one fell swoop — unless the upcoming Nook Color 2 offers better features and services.

Features – Hardware and Software

Amazon has given its Kindle a complete redesign. The characteristic QWERTY keyboard and page turn buttons found on previous models have been ditched for touch-based interface. Like the Nook Touch and the Kobo Touch, the eInk Pearl display of the new Kindle eReader is coated with a highly sensitive infrared sensor, which quickly detects touch input. As a result, the Kindle Touch 3G is sleeker, lighter, and more compact than the Kindle 3G.

Amazon also tweaked the touch surface to make it more user-friendly. With the Nook Touch and Kobo Touch, you need to swipe the corner of the screen to flip a page, causing finger fatigue over time. With the Kindle Touch, simply tap the screen to open a new page or go back to the previous page. Because there are page-turn points on both sides of the screen, users can hold the device and turn pages comfortably with either hand. The touchscreen quickly responds to touch or swipe, and it refreshes only once every six or seven pages. Heavier tasks, such as book search, results in larger screen refresh. Overall, the Kindle Touch 3G performs activities quite fast for an eInk device.

There are a few software additions, but they do enhance the reading experience. One is the X-Ray Feature, a metadata that provides information about the books you are reading from sources like Wikepedia. The Kindle Touch 3G now has a library book support, which was previously a popular consumer demand.

The Kindle Touch 3G shares nearly all features with the Kindle Touch. There are two main differences/ One, the Kindle Touch 3G is integrated with a 3G chip, allowing users to browse the web or shop and download books on the go. As with the current models, Amazon foots the bill. At 7.8 ounces, the Kindle Touch 3G is slightly heavier – 0.3 ounces to be exact — than the WiFi-only version.

Pros

The Kindle Touch 3G is small, light, and very easy to use. The touch interface makes navigation fast and easy. Free 3G wireless connects you to the World Wide Web 24/7, and yet you have no monthly fees or annual contracts to worry about. The 3G wireless works globally, too. All purchased Kindle books are automatically stored in the cloud so you never lost a copy. If you run out of library space for your eBooks, no need to purchase an SD card; you can store them in the cloud, too. Cloud storage service is free for Kindle books.

Cons

The Kindle Touch 3G still lacks ePub support, so consumers are still tied to the Amazon Kindle eBookstore. Owners don’t have the freedom to purchase from other eBook shops.

The Bottom Line

The Kindle Touch 3G offers the same Kindle reading experience in a sleeker, more ergonomic package. There are two versions available. The model with Special Offers will retail for $149, while the ad-free version will cost $189. Both models will ship the second week of November.

Features – Hardware and Software

Measuring 6.8 x 4.7 x 0.4 inches, the Kindle is thinner and more compact than the Kindle 3. It is also very light – just 7.5 ounces – and easy to tote and hold. Thanks to touch, the interface is easier, more convenient. As all page-turning takes place on screen now, Amazon has added a touch experience they call EasyReach to eliminate fatigue from perpetual swiping of screen and to allow users to hold and use the Kindle with either hand. EasyReach allows users to open a new page by tapping the screen with either right or left thumb. To go back to a page, tap the narrow area near the left edge of the device. Based on demos shown, the Kindle Touch is very responsive and very zippy. It looks faster than the Kindle 3.

Software-wise, the Kindle experience is the same. This is because Kindle Touch carries over most of the features and functions of the Kindle 3. There are some additions, though. One is the X-Ray function, which provides you a summary or background information of the book you are reading. The information is available offline. Online, you can get more information by clicking on the embedded links. Another vital addition is the Library Book Support. Users can now borrow Kindle books from public libraries.

Pros

The Kindle Touch is intuitive and very simple to use. The addition of touch has even made the interface friendlier to the user. Most of the advantages of the Kindle 3 are also offered by the Kindle Touch, including 2-month battery life (with wireless on), free WiFi access in AT&T hotspots, real page numbers on eBooks, password-protection, text-to-speech conversion, book lending, synching, and automatic cloud backups. Users get to access the Kindle Store, which now offers over 800, 000 free and paid books and over 1.5 million free classics – the most range of books you can get from a bookstore.

Cons

The Kindle Touch carries a large 4GB internal storage (3GB is available for use), but it doesn’t have an SD card slot. Amazon compensates this lack with a free cloud storage service, but you can’t really use it unless you’re connected to the Internet.

True, the Kindle Touch is the first major eReader to break the mythical $100 barrier. However, this price is for the model with Special Offers only.  The Kindle Touch with Special Offers features ads on the homepage and as screensavers. Are you willing to deal with ads to get the $99 device? If not, just fork over additional $40; the regular Kindle Touch (with no ads) is priced $139.

While Amazon has loosened its grip on its eReaders by allowing users to borrow library books or lend Kindle books, the device still lacks ePub support. This means users cannot buy from non-Amazon stores.

The Bottom Line

The Kindle Touch with Special Offers (priced $99) and the Kindle Touch ($139) are definitely a step up to the Kindle 3. They’re worth checking out if you are looking for good value for your money. Shipping of the devices will start the second or third week of November.

Features – Hardware and Software

Eschewing its trademark dual-screen design for a single screen design used by most eReaders, B&N has managed to whittle down the Nook Touch Reader a more pocketable size of 6.5 x 5 x 0.47 inches. That there are no hardware controls and physical keyboard cluttering the front of the unit help make the Nook Touch the compact, lightweight eReader that it is. The 7.48-ounce weight is a sweet surprise as the device looks bulky at first glance. The illusion of heft is a result of its contoured back, which may be housing the device’s lithium polymer battery. The contoured back has its use, however: it allows easier handling of device.

The touch display is not capacitive like the Nook Color’s. Rather, the Pearl display is surrounded with an infrared ring that detects touch input. This reliable touch technology, coupled with a fast processor, enables the Nook Touch to offer very fast page turns.

The ultra-responsive touch display is not the only improvement of the Nook 2. The performance-optimized display allows the Nook Touch to turn pages fast without the black-and-white ghosting or flashing seen on other eReaders.  Even more impressive is its battery life: on a single charge you get 2 full months of use!

The Nook Touch still supports ePub and PDF files as well as JPB, GIF, PNG, and BMP images. However, there are now 7 font sizes and 6 font styles supported. Internally, it can accommodate up to 1000 eBooks, but a microSD expansion slot lets you carry up to 30,000 eBooks on the go.

The Bottom Line

The Nook Touch approximates traditional reading experience more closely than ever with its sharp contrast, crisp text, fast page turns, very long battery life, and the ability to turn pages with the flick of a finger.

Aptly called the Kobo Touch Reader, the paperback-sized device mimics a reading habit found in physical books – the flipping of books using fingers – and creates a reading experience that threatens to end the Kindle 3’s dominance as the best eReader of 2011.

Features – Hardware and Software

The first thing that will strike you about the Kobo Touch Reader is how polished it looks compared to its predecessors. Gone are the clunky-looking navigation buttons. In place is a single button found below the display; navigations are now done mainly via the eReader’s touch interface. Trimmed on all sides,  the Kobo Touch a bit smaller and lighter (weighs 7.1 ounces only). However, the quilted back panel, which is available in four colors (black, blue, silver, and lilac), is still there.

The Kobo Touch uses the Neonode infrared system called zForce – a rather smart move by Kobo. As demonstrated by the latest generation of Sony Readers, the touchscreen technology works great – it is utterly responsive to touch or stylus input and, it doesn’t compromise or affect readability at all.

Another notable improvement is the use of eInk Pearl, the same display found on the Kindle 3 and new Sony Readers, so what you’re getting is a high contrast display with very sharp text. Courtesy of the new Freescale i.MX508 processor, overall performance and speed is hugely improved. Page turning is fast, approximating the page turn rate of physical book pages.

You also get a new search tool which, coupled with highlighting technology and virtual keyboard, makes it easy to look up words in the built-in Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary. There are now 12 font sizes and two font styles available, 1GB internal memory that is expandable to 32GB via the SD card slot, image zoom function, PDF zoom up to 200%, and an impressively fast PDF scrolling.  Formats supported are PDF, ePub, and Adobe DRM.

The Bottom Line

Kobo’s ereaders had always played third (or fourth?) fiddle to the Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook. The Kobo Touch Reader has great potential of changing the order of things. Priced at $129 – that’s $10 cheaper than the Kindle WiFi and $100 + cheaper than the Sony Touch  – the Kobo Touch Reader is putting up a serious competition here.  The Kobo Touch is now available for pre-order. Shipping starts early June.

The Coby Kyros MID7015 7-inch Android Internet Touchscreen Tablet is no iPad, that’s true. But while it does have some drawbacks, this low-end tablet, surprisingly, works adequately.

Features – Hardware and Software

The Coby Kyros is a mid-sized tablet measuring 7.5 x 4.5 x 0.48 inches. It sport a 7-inch backlit LCD display with 800 x 600 pixel resolution and better-than-iPad 16:9 contrast ratio. However, graphic quality is DVD level; it doesn’t  go anywhere near the screen clarity or vividness of the iPad.

The Kyros is framed by a black plastic. The Home/ Menu, Power, and Back buttons respond nicely, but they could benefit from a little redesign. The current Home/ Menu button is found on the right side of the tablet a little below the stylus. Placing the Home button below the screen, as traditionally seen on other tablets, would have made it more intuitive.

Don’t expect a glass-like feel to the screen as you would experience on the iPad. The device uses a 7-inch resistive touchscreen, which puts more drag on your fingertips. It requires more input pressure to open menus, applications, or other tasks. This can give you a sort of fingertip-fatigue after a certain period of use. Types of touch input style are also limited. Multi-touch is supported, so pinching and two-finger swipes are not available. Surprisingly though, the Coby Kyros Internet Tablet is more responsive than other resistive screen tablets.

It uses the older Android 2.1 OS, and so doesn’t have many of the features and capabilities of more advanced tablets. For reading books, the Coby Kyros offers Aldiko eBook Reader. The only app market available is AppsLib by Archos. The tablet can accommodate as many as 4GB worth of files. Its microSD slot supports a maximum of 16GB card.

Since it uses 802.11 b/g modem instead of 802.11 b/n, Internet connection is slower. On the bright side, you can score up to 6 hours of surfing on the Kyros.

The Bottom Line

The Coby Kyros MID7015 7-inch Android Internet Touchscreen Tablet lacks the richness of screen display, operational and browsing speed, performance, and features of more advanced tablets like the iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab. However, if you are looking for a reliable sub-$150 tablet, the Kyros is a great device for what is. This reasonably priced 7-inch tablet offers a lot of good features and functionality.

The Asus Eee Note EA 800 is one of the few devices of 2010 that aims to carve its own niche. Targeted at a specific reading market comprising of students, writers, and businessmen, the 8-inch monochromatic slate directs its effort at refining one task:  note-taking. It is, is, in essence, a digital notepad.

Deciding to perfect one function is surely wiser than doing half-baked several things at once. What remains to be seen: has Asus succeeded in its aim?

Features – Hardware and Software

The construction of the Asus Eee Note EA 800 feels solid without being bulky. Overall, the device measures 8.8 x 5.5 x 0.43 inches. Relative to its size, it’s hefty; it weighs exactly a pound, the same weight as the 9.7-inch Kindle DX. The top of the device includes a slot for holding the stylus.

The Eee Note EA 800 uses a glass display tempered to 3H pencil hardness to make it extra durable.  However, this caused the display to look matted so it’s terrible for reading. The glass is also covered with an anti-glare coating in order to improve viewing angles (images are viewable from any perspective). Text is sharp; after all, the display comes with 1024 x 768 pixel resolution and 64 grayscales (that’s 4 times more grayscale than the Kindle 3!). What’s lacking is the option to adjust brightness.

The display is highly responsive to pen input, and writing accuracy is one of the best we’ve seen. After all, the device employs a whooping 2450 dpi and it recognizes 256 levels of pen pressure.

The Asus Eee digital notepad and eReader comes with 14 applications, including Camera, Text, and Sudoku. It’s central feature, however, is the Eee Note. This app features a notebook-like page that can be used to write notes on or draw. While you can save your notes on the device, there’s no way you can store them in the cloud. In the event your Eee Notepad goes dead, your notes go with it.

Asus markets the Eee Note EA 800 as a great tool recording lectures or meeting conversations, too, but this is where the device falters.  The microphone’s range is actually limited; what you get is a recording whom quality ranges from poor to slightly incomprehensible.

There’s an experimental web browser and it connects to the Internet over WiFi network. This one needs improvement, too, as appears to be sluggish in loading web pages.

The Asus Eee Note EA 800 uses an unnamed proprietary processor and houses a 4GB internal memory, an SD card slot that can handle up to 16GB cards, 2MP rear-facing camera, and a headphone jack.

The 3700mAh battery lasts up to 13 hours of reading and writing with wireless off and 10 hours with wireless on.

The device natively supports ePub and PDF files only, but a built-in conversion tool allows you to import and read txt, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx documents, too.

The Bottom Line

As a digital notepad, the Asus Eee Note EA 800 is sure to please digital handwriting enthusiasts. However, if what you’re looking for is a great reading device, well, the $200 Asus Eee Note is no Kindle.