When Amazon introduced the first Kindle four years ago, the e-reader market barely existed and e-books were almost a novelty. Sony e-readers were already on the scene but the Barnes & Noble Nook wasn’t even on the drawing board. This week, Amazon changed the e-reader game again with new dedicated e-readers that can be bought for under $100 and a media tablet that could do the same for that category if it delivers as promised.
There are too many e-readers to cover them all so we’re keeping it simple, comparing Amazon’s Kindle lineup with some of its main competitors, the Nook Simple Touch and Nook Color, Sony (NYSE: SNE) Reader WiFi Edition and Kobo’s Touch. Although it’s a tablet, we included the Kindle Fire because of its e-reader origins and its new role at the head of the Kindle family. Check out our chart…
|
Kindle |
Kindle Touch |
Kindle Keyboard |
Kindle DX |
Kindle Fire |
Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch Reader |
Barnes & Noble Nook Color |
Sony Reader WiFi |
Kobo eReader Touch Edition |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LINK |
|||||||||
|
AVAILABILITY |
Now |
Available for pre-order for November 21, 2011 release; U.S. only |
Now |
Now |
Available for pre-order for November 15 release, 2011; U.S. only |
Now |
Now |
Now |
Now |
|
PRICING |
With Special Offers: $79 |
WiFi with Special Offers: $99 |
WiFi with Special Offers: $99 |
$379 |
$199 |
$139 |
$249 |
$149.99 |
$129.99 |
|
SIZE |
6.5″ x 4.5″ x 0.34″ |
6.8″ x 4.7″ x 0.40″ |
7.5″ x 4.8″ x 0.34″ |
10.4″ x 7.2″ x 0.38″ |
7.5″ x 4.7″ x 0.45″ |
6.5″ x 5″ x 0.47″ |
8.1″ x 5.0″ x 0.48″ |
6.89″ x 4.38″ x .38″ |
6.5″ x 4.5″ x 0.4″ |
|
WEIGHT |
5.98 ounces |
WiFi: 7.5 ounces |
WiFi: 8.5 ounces |
18.9 ounces |
14.6 ounces |
7.48 ounces |
15.8 ounces |
5.9 ounces |
7.05 ounces |
|
SCREEN SIZE |
6″ (diagonal) |
6″ (diagonal) |
6″ (diagonal) |
9.7″ (diagonal) |
7″ |
6″ (diagonal) |
7″ |
6″ (diagonal) |
6″ (diagonal) |
|
DISPLAY |
E Ink Pearl |
E Ink Pearl |
E Ink Pearl |
E Ink Pearl |
Vibrant Color IPS |
E Ink Pearl |
VividView Color Touchscreen |
E Ink Pearl |
E Ink Pearl |
|
TOUCHSCREEN/ROTATE |
No/Yes |
Yes/Yes |
No/Yes |
No/Yes |
Yes |
Yes/No |
Yes/Yes |
Yes/No |
Yes/No |
|
BATTERY LIFE |
1 month |
2 months |
2 months |
3G off, 30 min. reading/day: 3 weeks |
Up to 8 hours of continuous reading or 7.5 hours of video playback, with WiFi off. |
WiFi off: 2 months |
WiFi off: 8 hours |
3-4 weeks with WiFi on. Up to 5 weeks with WiFi off. |
1 month |
|
STORAGE/EXPANDABLE |
2 GB/No/Free unlimited cloud storage for Amazon content |
4 GB/No/Free unlimited cloud storage for Amazon content |
4 GB/No/Free unlimited cloud storage for Amazon content |
4 GB/No/Free unlimited cloud storage for Amazon content |
8 GB/No/Free unlimited cloud storage for Amazon content |
2 GB/Up to 32 GB (microSD) |
8 GB/Up to 32 GB (microSD) |
1.3 GB/Up to 32 GB (microSD) |
2 GB/Up to 32 GB (microSD) |
|
INPUT |
Five-way controller |
Touchscreen |
Keyboard |
Keyboard |
Touchscreen |
Touchscreen |
Touchscreen |
Touchscreen; stylus; buttons |
Touchscreen |
|
3G/WIRELESS |
WiFi |
3G through AT&T/WiFi-only option |
3G through AT&T/WiFi-only option |
3G through AT&T |
WiFi |
WiFi |
WiFi |
WiFi |
WiFi |
|
INTERNATIONAL |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Switzerland; Italy; Spain; Belgium; Denmark; Finland; Norway; Sweden; Australia; New Zealand; Japan; Russia (launch planned in this coming winter) |
Currently available in 5 languages; international bookstore; available in Canada and UK; will roll out more international devices soon |
|
NATIVE FORMATS |
Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion |
Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion |
Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible, MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion |
Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion |
Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, OGG, WAV, MP4, VP8. |
EPUB, PDF, JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP |
EPUB, PDF, XLS, DOC, PPT, PPS, TXT, DOCM, XLSM, PPTM, PPSX, PPSM, DOCX, XLX, PPTX, JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, MP3, AAC, MP4 |
EPUB, PDF, JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TXT, MP3, AAC |
EPUB, PDF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, MOBI, CBZ, CBR |
|
AVAILABLE CONTENT |
Over 950,000 books; 1.8 million public domain books; newspapers; magazines; blogs |
Over 950,000 books; 1.8 million public domain books; newspapers; magazines; blogs |
Over 950,000 books; 1.8 million public domain books; newspapers; magazines; blogs |
Over 950,000 books; 1.8 million public domain books; newspapers; magazines; blogs |
Over 950,000 books; 1.8 million public domain books; newspapers; magazines; blogs; 11,000 videos free for Amazon Prime members $79/year; movies, TV shows, apps, games, songs |
Over 2 million titles |
Over 2 million titles, magazines, Nook Book Enhanced Collection, kids’ books. Apps, e-mail, Pandora, some games, some websites. |
Over 2 million titles |
Over 2.4 million titles. E-books are available through OverDrive (Adobe format) |
|
BOOKSTORE |
Kindle Store |
Kindle Store |
Kindle Store |
Kindle Store |
Kindle Store |
Nook Book Store |
Nook Book Store |
Sony Reader Store |
Kobo Store |
|
FREE E-READING APPLICATIONS |
iOS, Blackberry, Android, PC, Mac |
iOS, Blackberry, Android, PC, Mac |
iOS, Blackberry, Android, PC, Mac |
iOS, Blackberry, Android, PC, Mac |
iOS, Blackberry, Android, PC, Mac |
iOS, Blackberry, Android, PC, Mac |
iOS, Blackberry, Android, PC, Mac |
PC, Mac, Android, Sony Tablet |
iOS, Blackberry, Android, PC, Mac |
|
BOOK SHARING/LIBRARY LENDING |
14 days on eligible titles. Can also borrow Kindle boooks from 11K-plus local libraries through OverDrive. |
14 days on eligible titles. Can also borrow Kindle boooks from 11K-plus local libraries through OverDrive. |
14 days on eligible titles. Can also borrow Kindle boooks from 11K-plus local libraries through OverDrive. |
14 days on eligible titles. Can also borrow Kindle boooks from 11K-plus local libraries through OverDrive. |
14 days on eligible titles. Can also borrow Kindle boooks from 11K-plus local libraries through OverDrive. |
Yes/Yes. Read any Nook book in B&N stores free up to 1 hour/day |
Yes/Yes. Read any Nook book in B&N stores free up to 1 hour/day |
No/Yes |
No/Yes |
|
SOCIAL NETWORKING FEATURES |
Share passages via Facebook and Twitter; view other users’ annotations and notes |
Share passages via Facebook and Twitter; view other users’ annotations and notes |
Share passages via Facebook and Twitter; view other users’ annotations and notes |
Share passages via Facebook and Twitter; view other users’ annotations and notes |
Share passages via Facebook and Twitter; view other users’ annotations and notes |
Nook Friends reading recommendations and activity feed |
Nook Friends reading recommendations and activity feed; can see what B&N readers “like” when shopping on Nook Color |
No |
Reading Life technology with Facebook and Twitter integration, badges and awards |
|
PAIDCONTENT COVERAGE |
* Although the Kindle Fire is a new tablet from Amazon, we’ve included it in this e-reader chart to see how it compares to the other Kindle devices as well as other e-reader devices.
Source: Based on company information, additional reporting.
Produced by: Amanda Natividad
Edited by: Staci D. Kramer
Published: October 3, 2011
We’ll update the chart as warranted.










Comments have been disabled for this post