Kindle Wins: A Biased Point of View

The Kindle is the best selling e-reader around. Its e-Ink screen is the most eye-friendly to look at for long reading hours. The Kindle 3 design is sleek, simple and sized just right. So looking at the other e-readers available, rich with extra features and functionalities, what makes Kindle tick?

Kindle vs. Nook
Nook is the direct competitor of Kindle.They pretty much have the same features. The latest addition is the Nook Color with colored touchscreen. It's actually more like a tablet targeting readers. In many ways, Nook competes also with the iPad... but for half the price! Nook may seem like a good choice because of the color touch screen and its support for custom applications (there's Pandora and a full web browser), but I hate glare and smudges on my screen -- something that Nook Color's glass covered face is prone to. Smudgy glare vs. e-Ink, Kindle wins.

Kindle vs. Sony Reader
Sony Readers are beautiful and uses the same e-Ink screen as the Kindle but with a plus: Sony Readers have touchscreen.The Sony Reader Pocket Edition is smaller than the Kindle with a 5" screen... and that's about it. It has a shorter battery life, has no WiFi and is more expensive. Needless to say, the Kindle wins for all these reasons.

Kindle vs. iPad
The iPad's direct competitor to target readers is actually the Nook Color. They have the same problems but the iPad appears to be the more desired product. The iPad is not really designed to be just an e-book reader, but the built-in e-book manager and reader application work quite well. The iPad is great, yes, but the Kindle wins in price. If your purpose is to read, the Kindle is still the value-for-money-delivers-exactly-what-you-need winning choice.

I like to read books and can do so straight from cover to cover. I can't really do that on light-emitting screens. Over time, such screens hurt my eyes. That's why e-Ink wins big time. In addition, I don't want to pay too much for an e-reader. I'm not reading the e-reader... I read books! I'll spend for e-books but I don't think I'll want to spend that much on the hardware.

Meanwhile, I can wait for Amazon to release an e-Ink powered color touchscreen Kindle...

Comments