Thread: Which should I buy Nook color or Kindle Fire?

according to recently appeared leaks on the Internet, Nook Color 2 will be released by Barnes & Noble on November 7, and this device sure leaves Kindle Fire in the dust.

Leaked specs include:

- dial-core 1.2 Ghz processor vs. 1.0 Ghz of Kindle Fire
- 1.0 GB of RAM vs. 512 MB of Kindle Fire
- 16 GB capacity for apps, videos, photos, ebooks vs. 8 GB of Kindle Fire
- microSD slot to expand capacity even further by another 32 GB vs. no expandable capacity of Kindle Fire
- 1024 x 800 IPS HD display vs. 1024 x 600 of Kindle Fire
- 14.1 oz weight vs. 14.6 oz of Kindle Fire
- Netflix and Hulu Plus for millions of movies streaming built-in vs. 13,000 movies in Amazon store that allows no Netflix and Hulu.


Before you think of getting a Kindle Fire, here's some limitations of it that you need to consider:


- Kindle Fire doesn't have microSD slot that, for example, Nook Color has thus it is stuck with 6 GB usable internal storage unlike Nook Color that can get up to 32 GB card in. Kindles are made to make sure you're tied up to Amazon's storage on the web (for which you need Wi-Fi connection to get to) and you can only store content you get from Amazon there, not other files. Quoting Amazon on Kindle Fire: "Free cloud storage for all Amazon content". Get it, Amazon content?

- The stats of how long the battery can last (Kindle Fire theory is 7.5 hours) are taken with Wi-Fi off. It will last only about 3 hours if you use it to access content from their Cloud storage over Wi-Fi.


- Amazon can spy on your web activity through their new cloud-integrated web browser of Kindle Fire.


– lack of microSD slot means that if you decide to root your Kindle Fire, you’ll have to root the actual device thus there will be no coming back. On Nook Color, you can make it boot from a “rooted” microSD card and if you want to get back to the original Nook you can just take out the card and reboot.


- Kindle doesn't support eBooks in ePub format that is the most used format in the world.


- Kindle app store contains only Amazon approved apps and it does not include (and will not include) Netflix app that iPad has and Nook Color is getting thus again you're stuck with Amazon content only.


- Amazon confirmed that you cannot download/stream anything to Kindle Fire when traveling outside US.


- Amazon says it will review every app in its Appstore for Fire compatibility, as part of an automated process. Rejected apps will include those that rely on a gyroscope, camera, WAN module, Bluetooth, microphone, GPS, or micro SD. Apps are also forbidden from using Google's Mobile Services (and in-app billing), which, if included, will have to be "gracefully" removed. In terms of actual content, Amazon has outlawed all apps that change the tablet's UI in any way (including theme- or wallpaper-based tools), as well as any that demand root access.


- I'd recommend waiting for Nook Color 2 that is rumored to be released by Barnes & Noble shortly.