We’ll soon have both of these new e-reader devices for review, but a quick comparison seems in order since they’re so similar on paper. Both are going to be available in early June, and both promise a frills-free touchable reading experience. How do they differ? Let’s run down the specs in this updated chart:
*Kobo unofficially supports images, CBZ, CBR, rtf, HTML, and txt
**Battery life is not a standardized measurement (Kobo has the right idea with total page turns, though)
So the $130 Kobo is slightly smaller and lighter, while the $140 Nook supports images and supposedly has that great battery life. Then there are the intangibles. Which has the nicer interface? Which has social features you’ll actually use?
There really isn’t much to decide on here. What matters is the in-hand feel, the speed and ease of the touch operation, and the readability of the text, which depends on the rendering engine as well as the screen.
No clear winner on specs means it’s down to the real review. We expect to have these devices in our hands during the next couple weeks, and we’ll be sure to compare them very closely.
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