Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet

[zokudu]

Which of these would you guys grab?

I don't know a lot about tablets but the only thing really putting me off about the Fire is no SD slot. Is this a huge problem?

I don't plan to do any modding to it so the ability to run custom kernels is not a huge deal but the Nook does have a locked bootloader which kind of puts me off for messign with it in the future. The Nook can also play a few more video filetypes than the Fire namely MKV.

Is there really any huge pro to the Fire?

 

[DaveSimmons]

> Is there really any huge pro to the Fire?

See the other Nook and Kindle Fire threads for more information.

Does the Nook app store carry the Kindle app and Amazon cloud player app? (I haven't looked). If not you'd need to root the Nook to read Kindle books.

If you have Amazon Prime (full not the student version) you can stream some videos free and buy others. You can also borrow one Kindle book a month for free.

You can upload all of your MP3s to their Cloud Drive for streaming -- 5 GB space free, or unlimited music space + 20 GB general space for $20/year. MP3s bought from Amazon don't count towards your space limit.

Both can stream Netflix, both allow buying non-DRM books from other sources like Baen.com and using Project Gutenberg.

My guess is that the Amazon app store is going to grow much more quickly than the Nook store now that the Fire is out.

I've read that Amazon does let you side-load APKs without rooting the Fire (people have posted about doing it) but haven't tried this myself.

 

[Raduque]

Kindle Fire has a better SoC than the Nook.

 

[BladeVenom]

Kindle Fire has a better SoC than the Nook.

Don't the Fire and the Nook Tablet both use the same OMAP 4430?

 

[Bateluer]

Kindle Fire has a better SoC than the Nook.

Don't the Fire and the Nook Tablet both use the same OMAP 4430?

Yes, same SoC. The Nook Tab has 1GB of RAM vs the 512MB in the Fire though, plus the Nook Tab has more internal storage. Though that comes with restrictions. OP could have gotten this information from the other Nook Tab/Fire threads.

 

[Raduque]

Yes, same SoC. The Nook Tab has 1GB of RAM vs the 512MB in the Fire though, plus the Nook Tab has more internal storage. Though that comes with restrictions. OP could have gotten this information from the other Nook Tab/Fire threads.

Don't the Fire and the Nook Tablet both use the same OMAP 4430?

Oops, my bad. I keep thinking Nook Color for some reason.

 

[shortylickens]

I was just digging around on Amazon looking at other small tablets and large phones. Realized both of them are MUCH better deals for the money than most other devices. You get a pretty fast system and large screen for a very good price. Of course its with the assumption they can milk you dry later on, but smart users are getting a lot for very little.

Overall I liked the Nook better cuz of the larger internal storage the inclusion of an SD slot, which is practically necessary these days. Oh, and double the RAM, which seemed to speed up everything else.

 

[zokudu]

Yea I ordered a Nook Tablet. I couldn't really see a ton of advantages for the Kindle if I didn't buy into the whole Amazon ecosystem.

 

[shortylickens]

Since its been hacked you can still have your Amazon ecosystem.

 

[randomlinh]

Since its been hacked you can still have your Amazon ecosystem.

I thought the video app for Prime wasn't very stable yet? though, I wonder how long (and if it'll happen) till we see an amazon video app like the amazon mp3 app.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I was conflicted at first because of the Nook being locked down, but of course the hacking wizards have already rooted the Nook Tablet. So I think I'm going with that - double the RAM and an SD card slot is well worth the extra cost.

 

[ipadaltkc]

I think the differences in these two tablets are sometimes major in consideration for purchasing. I would much rather go with the Kindle Fire because they have browser that is better than decent and the Nooks browser is just decent. For me fast internet browser is awesome because I'm on the internet so much. Also the Kindle comes with access to a video and music store while the Nook does not. As far as internal storage, To run up all your memory on one of these things you would have to be careless I would imagine.

 

[shortylickens]

I thought the video app for Prime wasn't very stable yet? though, I wonder how long (and if it'll happen) till we see an amazon video app like the amazon mp3 app.

Web based flash vids work in Android.

 

[zokudu]

I think the differences in these two tablets are sometimes major in consideration for purchasing. I would much rather go with the Kindle Fire because they have browser that is better than decent and the Nooks browser is just decent. For me fast internet browser is awesome because I'm on the internet so much. Also the Kindle comes with access to a video and music store while the Nook does not. As far as internal storage, To run up all your memory on one of these things you would have to be careless I would imagine.

Did you read Anands review of the Silk browser? It's actually slower than the default android browser. You can also sideload apps onto both devices so you can get Dolphin or Opera Mobile on both.

 

[randomlinh]

Web based flash vids work in Android.

true, but that's not as nice as actually having a dedicated app =)

 

[Bateluer]

Did you read Anands review of the Silk browser? It's actually slower than the default android browser. You can also sideload apps onto both devices so you can get Dolphin or Opera Mobile on both.

Shhh! I'm getting attacked for saying that in my Silk Browser thread.

 

[tfinch2]

Shhh! I'm getting attacked for saying that in my Silk Browser thread.

I think your history here is why you're getting attacked.

 

[Bateluer]

I think your history here is why you're getting attacked.

Ah yes, my history of pro-open source, pro-freedom, etc, composed in well written posts, backed up with hard data and evidence. Its usually a hard pill to swallow for some people though.

Its especially humorous that I get attacked for calling Silk slow, when I link the AT article showing it to be slow, when in a previous Fire/Nook thread, the Pro-iOS crowd went off on a tirade on how browsing on Silk was pretty much unusable.

 

[fumanstan0]

Ah yes, my history of pro-open source, pro-freedom, etc, composed in well written posts, backed up with hard data and evidence. Its usually a hard pill to swallow for some people though.

Its especially humorous that I get attacked for calling Silk slow, when I link the AT article showing it to be slow, when in a previous Fire/Nook thread, the Pro-iOS crowd went off on a tirade on how browsing on Silk was pretty much unusable.

You're not getting attacked, that's quite the hyperbole. You're getting a rebuttal because you're calling Silk unusable, which again, is also a hyperbole. Big difference.

 

[Bateluer]

You're not getting attacked, that's quite the hyperbole. You're getting a rebuttal because you're calling Silk unusable, which again, is also a hyperbole. Big difference.

I said its slow and laggy. Others called it unusable in other threads, I merely referenced it.

If an individual is happy with the performance of the Fire's browser, which is at the bottom of the heap, then they should more than content with any browser on any main stream phone, because they're all faster.

 

[fumanstan0]

I said its slow and laggy. Others called it unusable in other threads, I merely referenced it.

You're saying far more then its slow and laggy.

 

[upsdriver]

Are there any videos of Opera or Dolphin running on the Kindle Fire? I'm thinking of getting one for my brother for Christmas but Silk's poor performance when it comes to scrolling and pinch to zoom is making me reconsider. I'm relatively okay with the load times, but the choppiness is disconcerting.

 

[Zaap]

Heh. Bought a Nook Tablet. I couldn't find any Target or other discounts, but luckily B&N gave me a $25 member discount. I'll probably give it to my wife for Christmas, but I'm definitely going to play with it for the time being.

First things first- I HAD to root it right out of the box. I just simply HATED the stock experience. A cluttered and jumbled mess. I hate the way B&N tried to box the user in. I didn't find it pleasant.

Luckily, the new root method is bone simple. Took me all of five minutes to root, install GoLauncher, Market, Amazon Market, a bunch of apps and games. Someone on the xda forums came out with HomeCatch that makes the stupid N button into a normal Home Button- bye bye B&N crap unless I choose to see it!

Now it actually looks and feels like a quality device, not a B&N app store/ad machine device.

So far it seems very hit and miss of what's compatible and what isn't. Luckily a lot of stuff works fine. (Awesome playing Reckless Getaway on it now!)

I think a lot of people are going to be pissed to get their Nook Tablet home and find out it absolutely has to have Wifi to even set the thing up for initial use- all part of the heavy-handed B&N experience.

 

[Zaap]

My Nook Tablet, rooted and running GoLauncher.

So far, the only decent third party browser I've been able to install from the Market is Opera Mini. It's okay, but I'd really love Dolphin HD, but from the market it says incompatible, therefore no download link. (Unfortunately, it's hit and miss with a lot of apps).

In the first screen shots of a rooted NT, an icon on the desktop was Dolphin. I'm wondering- did they possibly side-load it, rather than direct from the Market?

Another minor issue- widgets on the GoLauncher desktop all work fine, but after a reboot many of them come back blank, saying "Error loading widget". Luckily, this isn't with all widgets, and I've found all I need that don't suffer this problem. I'm not sure if it's a specific GoLauncher problem, or a general issue with the device being rooted. I'll try ADW or LauncherPro and see if those have the same issues.

Bought a 32GB MicroSD card- just a class 4. I'm wondering if it makes any difference the class of SD card with the Nook? Movies (using MX Video player) photos and files all seem to load perfectly speedy. I haven't been able to find any stats on the this, but I'm guessing the Nook must have some sort of speed cut-off where it wouldn't make any noticeable difference with say a class 6 or class 10 SD card.

I'm extremely satisfied with this choice vs. the Fire. This thing just looks, feels and performs solid- nothing like the cheaper level of Android tablets I've seen. About the only thing better would be a total ROM replacement, but enough works perfectly and performance is speedy to where it's definitely good enough as-is.

I'm tempted to keep it and get my wife something else for Christmas... but nah, I'm giving it to her.

 

[Deeko]

Are there any videos of Opera or Dolphin running on the Kindle Fire? I'm thinking of getting one for my brother for Christmas but Silk's poor performance when it comes to scrolling and pinch to zoom is making me reconsider. I'm relatively okay with the load times, but the choppiness is disconcerting.

I have Opera Mobile running on mine (its sideloaded) - runs great. I'll take a video of it sometime over the weekend if you'd like.