Free-eBooks.net | Download free Fiction, Health, Romance and many more ebooks. Books or Nooks? How Americans’ reading habits are shifting in a dig... How to Buy an Ebook Reader - How to Buy an eBook Reader | Roundup. OB Roundup The transition to digital books is happening faster than anyone expected. After years of false starts—think Stephen King's novella Riding the Bullet, released way back in 2000—ebook readers have soared in popularity over the past few years. Amazon's release of the first Kindle in 2007 was a turning point; now people are buying and downloading digital books at a breakneck pace. Even better: Prices have dropped considerably across the board, to the point where mainstream casual readers can get a quality ebook reader for a lot less than $100. It's no longer an early adopter's game. As a result, you have more choices than ever. But before you settle on a single device, you have some decisions to make.
What Screen Type and How Big? In all cases, E Ink is much easier to read in bright sunlight, while color touch screens on tablets, like the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX tend to wash out, and their glossy displays can show distracting reflections. Amazon Kindle (2011) Review & Rating. Over a decade after the first ebook readers launched, and four years after Amazon debuted the original Kindle, we finally have a device that could conquer the mainstream.
At just $79, the fourth-generation Amazon Kindle is the least expensive, lightest, and easiest to use reader we've ever tested. If you don't need a touch screen or hardware keyboard, and just want to read books, there's little reason to pay more. As a result, it's our new Editors' Choice for ebook readers, toppling the reigning Barnes & Noble Nook Touch ($139, 4.5 stars). Design, Screen, and SetupThe new Kindle measures 6.5 by 4.5 by 0.3 inches (HWD) and weighs six ounces. It's made of a matte gray plastic, with a soft touch back cover that makes it easy to grip. Amazon includes a USB cable, but no longer bundles an AC adapter; this means you must either charge the Kindle from a free USB port on a computer, or order the optional $9.99 AC adapter from Amazon's Web site.
Amazon Kindle Touch 3G Review & Rating. If you're a Kindle fan, but don't want to bother with physical buttons, Amazon finally has an ebook reader for you. The Kindle Touch 3G ($149 direct) adds an impressive array of features to the entry-level Amazon Kindle ($79, 4.5 stars) including an easier shopping experience, the ability to take notes (thanks to the on-screen QWERTY keyboard), and a cool X-Ray feature that lets you delve deeper into your books. The recently renamed Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch ($99, 4.5 stars) retains our Editors' Choice award for touch-screen ereaders, thanks to B&N's $40 price drop, ad-free design, and recent speed improvements, but the Kindle Touch runs a close second. Design, Screen, and Reading BooksThe Kindle Touch 3G comes in four varieties: Wi-Fi only with ads ($99), Wi-Fi only without ads ($139), Wi-Fi + 3G with ads ($149; the subject of this review), and Wi-Fi + 3G without ads ($189).
While reading a book on the Kindle Touch 3G, you don't need to swipe pages. Amazon Kindle Fire Review & Rating. The Amazon Kindle Fire puts the Apple iPad on notice. The Fire is the first small tablet that average users can pick up and immediately use, with a simple, clear interface. Then there's the price: Android along with amazing specs for just $199. It's open enough to attract geeks, too. While the user interface occasionally gets sluggish, we're willing to have a bit of patience to get a first-rate tablet for half of what most competitors charge, thus the Kindle Fire is our first Editors' Choice for small tablets. DesignA solid little brick at 7.5 by 4.7 by .45 inches (HWD) and 14.6 ounces, the Kindle Fire looks and feels a lot like the BlackBerry PlayBook ($499, 2.5 stars), but the Fire is smaller in all dimensions.
There are no slots or tabs; both the memory and battery are sealed in, and the only interruptions in its smooth, black form are the headphone jack, Power button, MicroUSB jack, and dual stereo speakers. Turn the Fire on and the 7-inch 1024-by-600 IPS LCD screen lights up. Kobo eReader Touch Edition Review & Rating. Kobo's not the first name you'd think of when naming ebook reader manufacturers, nor is it the second. Those honors, I'd wager, go to Amazon and Barnes & Noble, respectively (though Barnes & Noble's new Nook Touch Reader ($139, 4.5 stars) might flip that order).
Kobo's swinging for the fences with its latest device, the Kobo eReader Touch Edition ($129 direct). The Touch Edition is slimmer than the Kobo Wireless eReader (3.5 stars), and adds a touch screen along with some performance improvements. It's a good ebook reader, and touch screen operation is a much more natural fit than the directional pad Kobo used before. With no hardware page-turn buttons, though, and a tendency to lag heavily when loading just about anything—even chapters in a book—it's not quite to the level of the big ebook kahunas. Design By virtue of having a touch screen, and thus little need for any other controls or buttons, the Kobo eReader Touch Edition is tiny.
Kobo Vox Review & Rating. The Kobo Vox ($199 direct) aims to douse the Amazon Kindle Fire ($199, 4 stars) as an inexpensive tablet and ebook reader. But despite sharing a similar look and feel to the Editors’ Choice Kindle Fire, the Kobo Vox lacks the power and polish to compete. It does a decent job as a color ereader, but beyond that it feels dated even next to the year-old Barnes and Noble Nook Color ($199, 4 stars). Its sluggish performance, unrefined software, and subpar reading experience make the Kobo Vox a hard sell, even at just $199. Design The Kobo Vox is a black slab, looking a lot like a Kindle Fire or BlackBerry PlayBook ($499, 2.5 stars).
The 7-inch fringe field switching (FFS+) LCD screen is bright and the 1,024-by-600-pixel resolution makes text look clear and crisp. OS, Apps, Book Store The Kobo Vox, Nook Tablet, and Kindle Fire all share the same underlying Google Android 2.3 software. There are four reading-related icons on the bottom of the home screen, along with an All Apps button. N2A Card (for Nook Color) Review & Rating. The Barnes & Noble Nook Color ($249, 4 stars) is already so much more than an ebook reader.
As it has a Web browser, email client, and lots of other games and apps, B&N is right to call it a “reader’s tablet.” But reading isn’t all the Nook Color can do. Plunk in an N2A card and the Nook Color becomes a full-fledged Android 2.3 "Gingerbread" device, capable of running more than 200,000 apps. The N2A card is incredibly easy to use, comes with some useful apps installed, and removing Android is as simple as rebooting your Nook Color. If you own a Nook Color, or are thinking about buying a tablet, the Nook Color/N2A combination is a hard one to beat.
Setting UpThere are three different cards available from N2A: 8GB ($34.99), 16GB ($49.99), and 32GB ($89.99). Each time you start your Nook Color you’ll be greeted by a setup screen that lets you decide whether you want to boot into the standard OS (which is based on Android, but looks nothing like it), or into full Android. Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet Review & Rating. The reader's tablet is back. The new Nook Tablet ($249 direct) delivers the best color e-reading experience available, especially for magazines and for childrens' books.
It's a better e-reader than the Amazon Kindle Fire ($199, 4 stars), our Editors' Choice for small tablets. But the Nook doesn't quite match the Fire on music, video or apps, and the Nook Color ($199, 4 stars) offers the same great e-reading experience for less money. Make no mistake, the Nook is a very good small tablet, but the Fire delivers a better all-around tablet experience, and the Nook Color offers better value as a color e-reader. Physical Design and User InterfaceFeeling a little more 'book-like' than the Amazon Kindle Fire, the Nook Tablet is significantly taller and slightly wider at 8.1 by 5.9 by 0.5 inches (HWD) thanks to its much bigger bezel, but it's lighter at 14.1 ounces compared with Amazon's 14.6. Barnes & Noble Is a BookstoreNobody beats Barnes & Noble when it comes to books. How to download e-books from your local library. North Canton Public Library.
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