The Kindle DX from Amazon and the nook from Barnes and Noble are competing e-Book readers that are among the higher end of such devices. The Kindle DX is clearly the more powerful of the two and costs about twice as much. It is also much larger in size and heavier than the nook with a 9.7" diagonal display compared to the nook's 6 inch display.
Both devices use E Ink displays that do not support colors. The Kindle DX has 4 GB storage capacity, which is twice that of the nook.
The nook, however, runs the Android operating system so it has the potential to support apps, albeit in a very limited fashion. The nook has two displays; in addition to the 6 inch main display (E Ink, no color), there is a smaller color display that serves as the control panel. In an effort to compete against other e-book readers, netbooks and tablet computers like the iPad, Barnes & Noble have launched upgrades to the nook that allow users to:
- Surf the web (beta feature)
- Play a few games
- Read eBooks free for up to 1 hour per day when inside a Barnes & Noble retail store
Apart from being an overall more powerful, larger device with more storage, Amazon's Kindle DX has some unique features too. These include:
- Read-to-Me: A text-to-speech feature so you can have newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books read out loud to you, unless the book's rights holder made the feature unavailable.
- Lower priced books. Amazon takes a loss of $3 to $4 per book to sell eBooks for $9.99.
- An auto-rotating screen that detects how the device is being held and changes orientation accordingly.
Comparison chart
 | Kindle DX | Nook |
|---|---|---|
 |  | |
| Internal Storage capacity | 4GB (3,500 books) | 2GB (1,500 books) |
| Power | rechargeable, replaceable battery | rechargeable, replaceable battery |
| Dimensions | 10.4 x 7.2 x 0.38 in | 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.5 in (196 x 125 x 13 mm) |
| Weight | 18.9 oz | 317 g (11.2 oz) |
| Connectivity | Amazon Whispernet using EVDO/CDMA AnyDATA wireless modem (Sprint network) | AT&T 3G; 802.11b/g Wi-Fi |
| Price | $379 | $99-$249 (Nook Simple Touch $99,Nook Simple Touch with GLowlight $139, Nook Color $199, Nook Tablet 8GB $199, Nook Tablet 16GB $249) |
| Type | E-book reader | E-book reader |
| Display | 9.7" diagonal E Ink® electronic paper display, 1200 x 824 pixel resolution at 150 ppi, 16-level gray scale. | 600 x 800 pixel, 6 inch E Ink display and a 3.5 inch 480 x 144 pixel color control display |
| PDF support | Yes | Yes (rudimentary) |
| Memory card slot | No | Yes |
| Content formats supported | Kindle (AZW), PDF, TXT, Audible (Format 4, Audible Enhanced (AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion. | EPUB, PDB, PDF, JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, MP3 |
| Operating system | Linux-2.6.10 | Android |
| Accelerometer (changes page orientation from portrait to landscape when the device is rotated) | Yes | No |
| USB port | Yes | Yes |
| Web browser | Yes | Yes |
| Manufacturer | Foxconn for Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble |
| Release date | June 10, 2009 | November 30, 2009 |
Price
Current prices for Kindle and Nook are available on Amazon.com:
References
- Kindle Wireless Reading Device (on Amazon)
- Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device (on Amazon)
- http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amazon_Kindle&oldid=330689522
- http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/new-features/?cds2Pid=30197
- http://images.barnesandnoble.com/pimages/bravo/whiteout/nook_product_comparison.pdf
- http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/technology/personaltech/03EBOOK.html
- http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/technology/personaltech/10pogue.html
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Comments: Kindle DX vs Nook