Kindle Review – Kindle Fire Review, Kindle 4 Review

By a strange coincidence there were 4 posts discussing 4 different Kindle rivals open on my browser this morning. It’s surreal to see the wide variety of approaches, strengths, and flaws exhibited by the Kindle’s rivals.

Let’s take a look. 

The Nook – Perennially Late

If there was any doubt that B&N have a huge problem sticking to deadlines it should be removed completely by the list of improvements in their Mega-Update (courtesy CNet) -

1. Their Read in Store feature which didn’t make it to release and then missed the promised January arrival is here. It’s only 4 months late (from the originally promised data - the November release).
2. Bug Fixes – addressing freezing problems with the Nook. These again have been complained about since release. My Nook has frozen both times it tried to get the current update.
3. User interface and Performance Tweaks – Wasn’t this in the magical update that arrived one or two weeks after the Nook was released? What about the January update that was supposed to fix this?

If all Barnes & Noble performance improvement upgrades really worked as claimed Nook would be faster than LCD screens by now.

To be fair there is one solid addition and one useful addition in this upgrade -

1. Nook added a web browser so users can take advantage of the WiFi. 
2. Two Android games – Chess and Sudoku.

This release is a microcosm of Nook’s strengths and weaknesses -

1. The Read in Store feature highlights B&N’s retail presence.  
2. The Browser with WiFi represents the WiFi capabilities and the promise of Android. 
3. The fact that they still have to fix freezing problems and speed problems says a lot about their lack of software expertise.
4. The fact that Read in Store was advertised at launch and has made it out only 4 months later shows just how much overselling B&N do – calling their eReader a ‘color’ eReader and promising Lending of Books without explaining that Publishers could turn it off.

If half of winning is showing up then Nook has been losing half the battle even before it gets started.

Consider this snippet -

It’s also important to note that because the device can now access the Web, you can log in to Wi-Fi networks that require authentication via a Web page.

Nook owners have been asking for the ability to access more public Wi-Fi hot spots since the e-reader’s launch.

B&N actually launched a WiFi capable device that couldn’t handle log-in pages. That’s just amazing.

B&N’s tardiness actually gets worse – B&N’s eReader for the iPad doesn’t arrive until May. They are giving Kindle for iPad and iBooks a whole month plus to gobble up iPad readers.

The Generic Low-Value Low-Price eReaders

In this case it’s the Aluratek Libre eBook Reader Pro and the Kobo Reader – both reviewed at ZDNet review.

Here’s the cookie-cutter formula for budget eReaders -

1. 6″ eInk screen.  
2. $150 price.
3. Go with either openness (support for ePub, PDF, library books) or value for money as the primary draw.
4. Do your best to make it look indistinguishable from every other eReader.
5. Make sure the feature set makes it even more indistinguishable from every other eReader.

Aluratek sticks to it with the minor deviation of using a 5″ black and white reflective LCD display. They manage to take away the single biggest advantage of eReaders, eInk, while embracing one of eInk’s biggest negatives (lack of color). ZDNet think the Kobo is better and from the images and features it certainly seems that way.

Kobo stick to the formula too - except they add a big blue button in the front that looks completely out-of-place. The review is very favorable and Kobo’s service and store are both beginning to impress.

It’s interesting that the review is based on 15 minutes of playing around with a Kobo eReader and that the reviewer thinks that Kobo Reader sets the bar for low-priced eReaders.

Yup – it’s now half a feet off the ground.

It’s insignificant carbon copies and the Press still claims they are Kindle Killers

The Press keep making the mistake of thinking that because they don’t think eReaders are worth $259 people who actually buy eReaders also think the same.

In the Press’ mind every sub-standard $150 clone ereader seem closer to what an eReader should be than a decent eReader like the Kindle or the Sony Reader Touch Edition or the Nook.

The iPad – It looks so good it must be good for something

This iPad review from Concordiensis is impressive in that the reviewer does three very interesting things -

1. In an area he’s qualified to talk about (college and education) he says it’s not usable because it doesn’t have a keyboard (and the keyboard dock takes away whatever mobility advantage it has). 
2. In an area he’s not as qualified to talk about (reading books) he offers up the possibility that the iPad is a good option.
3. Not mention what the iPad is meant for.

The second and third paragraphs sum up this paradox of looking great and not being very useful perfectly -

The most impressive feature of the iPad is undoubtedly the beautiful touchscreen … Equally impressive is the design of the device; it’s clear that aesthetic design didn’t take a backseat to performance.

That said, the rest of it isn’t nearly as impressive. One can’t help but feel that you’re using an iPod Touch that was simply scaled up to the size of a netbook … typing anything substantial on the screen gets old fast.

There’s this strong sense of potential about the iPad – It has so much potential. It looks so pretty. It feels so good to touch. It’s so well designed.

It MUST be usable for something.

The grand assumption is that someone is going to invent a ‘killer app’ that makes the iPad absolutely necessary. Until then let’s keep pretending it’s a dedicated reading device and a dedicated work device and a netbook and a hundred other things.

At some level no one’s really trying hard enough to make a better eReader

B&N’s Nook team keeps delaying things. Sony’s Reader Team seem not to care about providing a service or selling books. Apple wants an App to do what hardware usually does.

Plus a thousand smaller companies want to feed off the edges of the market.  

Which company is actually creating a Kindle competitor?

None.

1. The iPad is a reading killer – it’s trying to kill reading, not the Kindle. Ditto for tablets.
2. The Generic $150 eReaders are just trying to trap uninformed customers.
3. Nook and Sony Reader just aren’t solving the problems of reading.

It’s the ultimate irony that we have tens of thousands of Kindle Killer articles but not a single true Kindle competitor.

Filed under: eBook Reader Devices Tagged: | kindle competitor, kindle killer