Learning and Leading - September/October 2010

Students can highlight or type in words using the nook’s touchscreen keyboard, and the device will display definitions. The touchscreen also serves as a basic Web browser when connected to the Internet by Wi-Fi.

The Kindle’s controls turn pages forward or back from either side of the screen, and you can manually reorient the display to a landscape or portrait view.

E-ink is truly a spectacular technology. It doesn’t flicker, the contrast is high, the typography is almost on par with paper, and you can change the font size.

At $189, the Kindle may be affordable for use in the classroom, and you may be able to recoup some of that investment through savings on books purchased. If and when textbook publishers fully jump on the e-book bandwagon, the Kindle is likely to be a supported device. When that happens, the economics will certainly shift. For now, the Kindle would make an excellent addition to a classroom and any library to use as a shared device.

Literally as we were going to press, Amazon announced two new versions of the Kindle. Although delivery dates aren’t set, nor are features, Amazon says the new Kindle models will include Wi-Fi as an option and hinted that along with other improvements, buyers can expect further price reductions.

ports EPUB, an open standard format.

The company claims more than a million titles are compatible with its reader. Although this compares very well with Amazon’s claim of more than 600,000 Kindle titles, the reality is that Amazon is counting only titles in its proprietary format. If you add in the hundreds of thousands of books and other publications in formats the Kindle can also read, the numbers are similar.

The difference in bookstores is perhaps the fulcrum point for buyers. I found Amazon’s bookstore to be easy to use and buy from. Although Barnes & Noble can’t quite compete with Amazon’s e-commerce expertise, the nook’s reliance on the EPUB standard means you are not limited to your vendor’s bookstore. Of course, all of these readers can handle a variety of files, but when it comes to buying a book, you’ll want to stick to the format designed to display best on your device, and the nook does allow you to shop anywhere that sells EPUB titles.

Barnes & Noble nook The nook doesn’t get the fanfare or recognition of the Kindle, yet it is every bit as powerful a reading device. The nook has the same 6-inch E-ink display with 16-level grayscale and has identical storage compatibility (about 1,500 books). The nook even has free 3G cellular technology through AT&T (paid by Barnes & Noble).

The nook is basically the same size as the Kindle—slightly thicker, but smaller in width and height. It also weighs a couple ounces more. The nook features a color touchscreen below the E-ink display instead of a keyboard. It’s small, but I found the touchscreen quite usable. I prefer the Kindle keyboard, but it is a close call, and I’m guessing younger users may prefer the touch controls.

Both nook and Kindle use mini-USB cables for charging (with full-size USB ports and removable AC plugs on the other end). E-ink is an incredibly low-power display technology. Even with the 3G capabilities left on, both devices are easily capable of lasting a week between charges and two weeks if you disable the communications.

The nook adds Wi-Fi capabilities, which is important when you consider that the 3G network is from AT&T. As with all three of the Wi-Fi devices I tested (nook, eDGe, and iPad), connecting to an available network was fast and simple. I also found speeds somewhat higher than 3G.