While riding home on the T last night (for non-Bostonians, that’s our subway system), and noticed that of the 5 people reading in our half of the train, two had 3rd generation Kindles, myself and one other person had the Kindle Fire, and the 5th person was reading a physical book.

I have a co-worker friend who loves to read too, but had resisted getting an e-reader because she loved the look/smell/feel of books.  However, after a recent business trip that had her lugging a couple ponderous books around she decided she’d had enough, and bought my 3rd gen Kindle that was being replaced by the Fire and a Kindle Touch.

She loves it.

This is a nice gesture, but their sole Verizon Windows Phone is completely uninspired in terms of hardware looks, speed, and features.  The UI does seem innovative, but you need some flashy hardware to get someone like me to give up Android (or iOS) to take a chance. A few apps won’t cut it.

Microsoft giving $25 in apps to Windows Phone buyers – latimes.com.

I’d love it if the “new direction” includes better recommendation / playlist generation tools for both web and mobile clients, but it’s more likely it’ll be something less interesting like selling MP3s directly through them.  But, you never know.

Spotify Unveiling ‘New Direction’ on Nov. 30 | News & Opinion | PCMag.com.

I’m a gadget nut, and have bought both a Kindle Fire (KF) and Nook Tablet (NT) after receiving spousal approval. (He’s angling for a Macbook Air upgrade in the near future, so letting me get a couple cheap tablets paves the way for my approving that…). I’m quite happy with both of them, and think either one is more capable than many reviewers are giving them credit for.  (I also own an iPad 2, so am familiar with the “gold standard” of tablets.)  I think either one can be a great choice for someone looking for a capable tablet/e-reader on a budget.  I’m really liking the 7″ form factor and may be using one or both of these more than the iPad 2 simply because either is so much easier to hold for long periods, and the smaller screen bothers me less than I initially thought it would.

Significant differences

There are already several articles comparing and contrasting these two devices, and I’m not going to do the usual spec and storage compare/contrast they’ve all beaten to death. Rather, I’d like to discuss some significant differences I’ve seen that other reviewers either don’t mention at all, or don’t go into enough detail.

Do you like your screens warm or cool?

Some reviewers preferred the NT screen, others found them fairly equivalent. What no one mentions is that the NT has a much “warmer” screen than the KF. If you have a newer TV then it probably has color settings that let you pick a warmer or cooler look to it.  A warmer display has more of a yellowish tint to it, and a cooler display has a bluish tint. When placing the two side-by-side the difference is very noticeable.  Whites on the NT look much more like an off-white in comparison to the brighter/bluish white of the KF.

In most situations I prefer the NT screen’s warmer tones (and darker blacks), but anyone with a preference for a cooler palette would definitely prefer the KF.

Do you like your fonts anti-aliased?

Most reviewers say the NT has sharper text when reading books, and that is definitely true. BUT, I find myself preferring the fonts on the KF. It’s clear when comparing them side-by-side that the KF is applying heavier anti-aliasing to its fonts, which leads to the slightly “fuzzier” look to the letters, but it also makes the type look smoother and in my eyes more pleasant to look at. Yes the letters on the NT are sharper, but there’s also a little bit of “lumpiness” to them that I find unattractive.  Some fonts are better/worse than others, but initially I like the KF fonts more.

I’m not sure which will be easier on the eyes over the long-haul, but I was surprised to find myself preferring the smoother KF fonts over the sharper but less attractive NT ones.  Having said that, this is clearly a personal preference, so if you want razor sharp text then the NT is definitely the better choice for you.

While on the subject of readability, I like to choose a sepia-colored background while reading books to keep things easier on my eyes (along with lowered brightness). Here too I prefer the KF’s choice of color. It has a much more muted and soft yellow background, whereas the “sepia” setting on the NT is really really YELLOW. I find myself using the ”butter” setting, which is a slightly off-white. The KF’s yellow background is halfway between the “sepia” and “butter” choices on the NT, which for me is the sweet spot.

On the other hand, I like the UI for the NT when it comes to reading books. It’s obviously more mature than the KF’s, and to my eyes more elegant and polished. The “Nook Friends” social stuff is a pleasant touch, but unfortunately my other friends that are on it haven’t done much in a year or so with it, so I don’t know how much I’ll be using it.

Overall I find both tablets to be very capable book readers.  I’m not much for magazine and newspaper reading on either device, but from my initial playing around I’d agree with the general reviewer consensus that while the KF is ok, the NT is more capable in both these areas.

The tortoise and the hare

Ok, the difference in browser speeds isn’t QUITE that extreme, but I was shocked at how much faster the NT’s web browser was than the KF’s. I kept the KF set to ‘Accelerated browsing’, and set both to prefer desktop over mobile versions for pages.

The KF is more than acceptable to me, but in side-by-side testing on more complicated sites (cnn.com, msnbc.com, nytimes.com, imdb.com, etc.) the NT almost always finished sooner.  The typical difference was a second or two, but sometimes it was several seconds.  Amusingly, the NT even rendered amazon.com quicker than the KF did!  Out of about 30 sites there were only 2 that the KF rendered faster.

One other notable difference: other than a narrow bar at the bottom, the NT browser devotes the whole display to the web page, whereas the KF kept a thicker bar at the bottom as well as a bar at the top. BUT, that top bar is for tabbed browsing, which I *really* like, and the bottom bar kept the home screen, back button, browser settings, and bookmarks a single touch away, which I also greatly appreciated.

Overall I prefer the KF browser’s layout that sacrifices a bit of page space for tabbed browsing and ease of access to other navigational controls, but the NT’s speed advantage is significant. Also, I found the warm/cool color tones very noticeable on web pages that normally have lots of white in them, with the NT display more pleasant.

An app a day keeps the doctor away?

When considering price differential, Amazon’s “free app of the day” is not discussed enough. These are applications that normally cost money, but are offered free for one day.  (Not just to be used for one day, they’re yours to keep as a full purchase!)  They sometimes have wonderful apps available, and I love checking this each day.

Recently they had the descriptively named “Enhanced E-mail” application, which has some nice enhancements over the stock e-mail application, as well as QuickOffice and Autodesk’s Sketchbook. In other words, it’s not just a bunch of cheesy games, they’re giving away some significant apps!

On the NT side, the app selection is much smaller, however the apps I’ve used so far all seem much more custom crafted for the NT, and sometimes take better advantage of the hardware.  In both cases we have a “walled garden” of apps, with Amazon taking a more liberal approach that allows in a bit more in the way of junk, but provides a better selection, and B&N that is much stricter, but provides greater confidence that an app will work well if you do get it.

The free apps I’m getting through the Amazon store will ultimately give me more good apps on my KF at no cost, and that tips the scale for me in preferring Amazon’s approach.

Bottom’s up, or, the merits of being flexible

One thing many KF reviewers complain about is the positioning of its power button and headphone jack on the bottom, and how it leads to accidental presses on occasion. But, one of the strengths of the KF is that it is more than willing to orient its UI any way you like: landscape or portrait, with either direction being up.  All you have to do is rotate the KF so the power button is on the top, and the UI happily adjusts and problem solved!  (Apps I’ve used so far adapt as well.)

On the other hand the NT’s UI stubbornly insists on using it in the one orientation.  The web browser, book reader, and most apps are flexible enough to change as you rotate the NT, I just wish its main UI screens would as well.

In terms of what you can do with the main UI itself, the KF has a very fixed way of doing things, with a carousel showing your content ordered by when last accessed (mixing together books, apps, last viewed web page, music, videos, etc.) and shelves of favorites (4 per shelf, that you get to choose) below. While you can re-order your favorites, new ones are always added at the start of the top shelf.

At first I was dubious about this very rigid approach, and wanted a more traditional arrangeable screen, I found that it was surprisingly efficient, with the slickly-quick carousel acting as quick access to recently accessed items, and the shelves for my favorites. Top menu options for Newstand, Books, Music, Video, Docs, Apps, and Web let you quickly get to content by category, but you don’t have many sorting options *within* those categories. But, if you’re looking for a specific item on your device the always-present Search box at the top works very well, searching across all categories of content.

The NT has a more traditional UI, with multiple screens you can design by drag-and-drop. But, in order to search content you first have to select the category (Books, Apps, etc.) and then within that section you are presented with a search box.

Overall the NT’s UI is definitely more flexible, but I often find the KF’s more efficient, especially once you learn to leverage that search box to quickly find just about anything on your device. So, points to the NT for flexibility in terms of user choice and design options, and points to the KF for a UI that is flexible in letting you hold the device however you want. You just have to be willing to work with the limited set of choices it gives you.

An audible difference

Speakers on either device are limited at best. I’m more concerned about how headphones sound, and I was surprised at how much better the KF sounded through headphones.  The volume range was greater, and bass response was noticeably better, which is key for a fan of electronica like me.  I think fans of classical music might prefer sound on the NT though, so if/when you do go to check out each device, be sure to bring a pair of your favorite headphones along to test them out if this is going to be important to you.

Which is better? Don’t listen to salespeople: see for yourself!

In the end I can’t confidently recommend one over the other. I think both companies should be proud of their efforts, and either one is a solid purchase for the money. I don’t think either one clearly is “the winner”, because individual preferences and usage patterns ultimately determine which is the better choice for you.

Do your research, go to stores to use each product, and IGNORE WHAT SALESPEOPLE SAY. I was at a Best Buy and overheard a salesman saying all sorts of wrong things about a Kindle Fire to someone, trying to steer him to a more expensive tablet.  Literally everything I heard him say about the KF was untrue. Every single sentence.

The B&N staff I encountered were friendly, and seemed fairly knowledgeable about the NT, but I wouldn’t try asking them to be fair about the KF in comparing it, that’s not their job. Their job is to sell you the NT, as it should be.

Read the reviews, take my ramblings for whatever their worth, then GO USE THEM. Pick them up, play with the UI, tell salespeople to leave you alone, and spend some time with each one. Try to see both on the same day, while impressions are fresh. Odds are good you’ll feel a pull towards one over the other, and THAT will be the right choice for you. After that, please just be respectful to people who made a different choice!

Please say hello

Feel free to ask questions in comments if you’d like, and if you use any B&N products then please ask for details to add me to your “nook friends” list, especially if you like SF, fantasy, and/or horror!

May whatever device you choose bring you many years of reading/viewing/gaming pleasure!

 

 

 

 

Exclusive! Interview with Karmapa Lama – Rediff.com News.

This is an interesting interview with HH the 17th Karmapa.

Xinhua has an article about some Chinese people’s concern that the animated movie “Kung Fu Panda” is out to “kidnap the minds” of Chinese people:

American “panda” movie stirs controversy among Chinese moviegoers.

They also have an article extolling how lovely all the modernization is they’re doing for Tibet:

Tibetan enjoy new lifestyle

It’s almost humorous to read one article on the damage that a silly cartoon movie can do to Chinese children and respect for their native culture, and then see another one completely whitewashing the cultural and physical violence the Chinese have inflicted on the Tibetan people. Oh, but a few of them have iPhones now, so that makes it all better.

This article describes data that shows that gay teens growing up in less supportive and more conservative parts of the country are more likely to commit suicide. While sad it’s not necessarily surprising. What is a little more surprising is that the suicide for straight teens is *also* higher.

http://m.jezebel.com/5792950/gay-teen-suicide-rates-higher-in-conservative-areas

I was reading the Onion’s AV Club review of Atlas Shrugged, and afterwards was getting much entertainment out of reading the comments.  One slightly more serious comment by someone calling him/herself “Anti-libertarian” caught my attention:

Anti-Libertarian

16 APRIL 2011 | 3:26 PM CDT

I just want to say that I don’t give a shit what Libertarians claim to believe. When they consistently vote for the party that favors government control of private lives and military adventurism abroad, and that depends on the support of Christian-dominationists, it’s pretty obvious that they’re lying about every single one of their principles except for lowering taxes. Whether a hyperbolic criticism is “fair” to them is irrelevant, since they obviously don’t respect the rest of us enough to tell us that all they really care about is not paying taxes.

I’ve always found it rather odd that most Libertarians say how much they want government out of our lives yet, as this person alludes, consistently vote for the party that would so gleefully trash so many personal freedoms.  Should the particular yearning for low taxes truly trump concerns for freedom of choice, freedom from government-imposed religion, freedom to have sex with consenting adults regardless of gender, amongst others?

Even if I were someone who wanted smaller government and radically lower taxes (which I’m not), I would still think that these basic freedoms that far more affect personal freedom are more important than how much money you have would count for more.  Having a couple thousand more in my bank account at the end of each year won’t make up for DOMA or attempts to take away my female friends’ right to control what they do with their own bodies.

But, then again I suppose most Libertarians are white Christian heterosexual males who aren’t affected by many of these issues, so they don’t give a shit.  As the commenter mentioned, it really boils down to saving themselves some money and human rights be damned.

edit: added link to actual AV Club review and comments

I’m really enjoying my HTC Thunderbolt so far.  What’s pleasantly surprising is that 3 coworkers I’ve shown it to have since gone out and got one for themselves.  The LTE speed is the main selling point, but people also seem impressed by the screen and how fast it operates in and of itself.

The other thing I’ve emphasized is how much flexibility they have with themes, skins, widgets, etc..  I’ve never seen a phone I have generate that much interest around me before.