 This is the SF Productions podcast network We're got a business talking e-readers from the pop culture bunker. I'm Nindy and I'm Mark You can check out our audio podcast how I got my wife to read comics on iTunes or on our website SFpodcastnetwork.com so last year we decided to invest in e-readers, but we just couldn't figure out which one we wanted We basically said the iPod or iPad is just still too expensive You know well, and we we were looking for something smaller I wanted an actual reader to read books on mark was looking more for a tablet, right? So we couldn't decide between the Amazon Kindle fire and the Barnes and Noble nook So we ended up splitting we got one of each yeah We each used both of them for like about a week and then I decided I like the nook better And so mark ended up with the fire, right? So let's compare the two Now again, this is based on about a year old So I think both have been updated since then but pretty much they're the same machines as they were before they might just be a Little snappier now a little snappier and nook put on a proprietary cable Boo, yes But both are actually Android based with an added interface So you don't really see the Android interface right unless you want to root them unless you want to root them So the Amazon Kindle fire and this is the first generation unit and here it is so It has a decent screen that I think pretty good Wi-Fi It's pretty easy to bring up and it connects pretty quickly has a decent battery You know because you know this is there's a lot of room there for battery It's pretty reliable and fairly stable. I really don't have to reboot it or try to do much with it very often It does have obviously very good ties to Amazon Amazon's selling it as a a loss leader Because they want you to use their system and buy and you're pretty Right and that's the good and bad really is that you're tied to Amazon great, but you're also tied to Amazon You can't get into the Google Play Store, right? And it is not really a true Google device as you said you can't connect to Google Play So you can't get to a lot of the Google apps now a lot of them are on the Amazon Store but not all of them and And that becomes a hassle especially for me because I've also got a Galaxy Nexus so as do I you're right Yeah, and so it'd be nice if they if all the apps just were on both machines, and I wouldn't have to worry about it But so have you ever read a book on yours? I can't say that I have okay. Yeah in terms of actually e-reading I mean I've read magazines and things like that In fact, I'll mention a magazine and you can get this for a lot of interfaces wired magazine I like that they've made it electronic, but it really has an inconsistent interface And purposely inconsistent right right and you almost have to experiment to go Do I go do I swipe this way this way this way articles you page and some of the articles you scroll It is very weird. Yes, and you have to experiment every every time and we also get on a came a weekly this way And that is a much more consistent more traditional interface although they do extras and it tells you what to do When there's extras why are you pretty much after do you I wonder if there's anything extra here? And both of those magazines we get print and then they come automatically as an e Addition which frankly it'd be great if we could just get the e-addition well since I get them free Yeah, what are you gonna do? The browser is not great the native browser. I highly recommend that you go and get the dolphin browser It's much more stable and it does a lot more the regular browser I don't even think supports flash and it's Not a good idea, but so what do I actually use it for well? I use it for Evernote. I take notes for the shows. I'm doing here and notes for various things. I play games on it I use it mostly as a clock upstairs for Beside the bed to be honest so not using as much as I really had expected to use it for Do you think you would use an iPad anymore than that? I might Especially that iPad mini that seems interesting the seven-inch bigger Nexus tablet or the Nexus tablet. I think that is you know if I had to do it again I probably would go with the Nexus tablet the Nexus 7 well I have the look and it has a lot of the same things that Mark's does although it's tied into the Barnes & Noble store so Every app costs money we don't really get free apps But it's relatively easy to route this if you were really interested in getting other apps I use it mainly for an e-reader. There's a few things that I miss That I might get on a Kindle if I wanted to we have Amazon Prime So the Kindle you can actually check out books. You can borrow books instead of buying them Wait now and that's one thing if you're gonna go ahead and get the fire go ahead and get Amazon Prime I mean, you know go ahead and spring for that right but as an e-reader I really prefer the nook and there's two reasons why which seem kind of silly But one of them is when I'm reading the book it has an icon for my battery life and an icon for the time that show while I'm reading and On the Kindle it doesn't and that kind of annoys me because I kind of want to know what time it is Sometimes when I'm reading and if I have my nook I can just tell if it's time for me to stop right or Or whatever without having to get up or exit my book or yeah And really I think that was the primary reason I picked the nook over But I mean in terms of actual readability. Are they pretty much the same? They're pretty similar. Yeah The other thing is is that the nook has expanded memory slots, right which the fire does not right so I can Store my own content not the content I get from Barnes and Noble because that you can only store in a certain section Which I think is kind of silly right So for example when I download my wires from the Barnes and Noble store They go into this section and I can only keep two of them on my e-reader at a time because well And they take up so much room and the reason they do is because they put a bunch of like video content Which they download along with the magazine which frankly I don't really need the video I wish there was an option to say I don't want the video content right make them much smaller. Yeah But Barnes and Noble does give you a free book every Friday if you go to their website So there's a lot of good things about it and you can store extra content on that memory card So I can put 40 or 50 or more books on my memory card So when I go on vacation, I won't have to do anything else and I won't have to access a wireless network to download it Right, and I think in total the fire is much more of a Tablet that also happens to be an e-reader and the nook is more of an eatery reader that also happens to be a tablet I would agree with that and and they each played to their strengths Yes, so you can check out the audio podcast how I got my way for e-comics on iTunes or on our website sfpodcastnetwork.com From the pop culture bunker. I'm Mindy and I'm mark. Thanks for watching