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Nook Color vs Kindle Fire

Girevik

Android Enthusiast
Dec 18, 2010
681
23
Hello all,

We're considering getting my 11-year old son (and maybe 7 year old brother) an e-reader for Christmas, and I've been debating an Android based one over an ink reader for the extra stuff he can do. I was looking pretty heavily at the Kindle Fire, but now I see that B&N is mataching the price on the color so I wanted to get a feel for how they compare.

I really like the extra memory and SD slot on the Color, and I already have a Nook so am kinda of hooked to B&N. What I'm trying to get a feel for is the aps that might be available for the Color vs. the Fire (proabably mostly games, since it's for kids). Is there a good number of games available for the Color as compared to the Fire. What kind of ap store does it have? I don't think it has the Android Market, does it? I know the Fire used the Amazon Appstore (go figure)...can the Color access this as well, or how do you get apps?

I'm also wondering about the browser. How fully functional is it? I'm guessing that my son could get on Facebook, but probably not play the games (the boy loves his Backyard Monsters).

Thanks in advance for any tips!
 
I debated the same thing and ended up buying a refurbished Nook Color for $149.

I chose this one for the option of rooting it, and thus having access to the full Android market. I'll be doing that in another week or so.

In the meantime I've found this to be a VERY nice device. So far absolutely no regrets.
 
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I debated the same thing and ended up buying a refurbished Nook Color for $149.

I chose this one for the option of rooting it, and thus having access to the full Android market. I'll be doing that in another week or so.

In the meantime I've found this to be a VERY nice device. So far absolutely no regrets.

Okay, one more thing. Did you just root it, or did you replace the OS? From what I'm reading, I like the idea of being able to put the Android OS on an SD card.
 
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Have not rooted it yet. I plan to buy a pre-loaded card, either n2a or from rootmynookcolor.com.

For now there are a lot of apps available on the B &N site. Though I'm not buying much till I get the card.

Again, even as is, I've no complaints. It is nice. And will be even better soon ...

Hey guys, I just got my hands on a Kindle Fire last week and was able to give it the once over. In my opinion it is very similar to the Nook Tablet (or the Nook Color 2, if you're a Nook purist ;) ) in spec with the exception of the additional SD card you can add to the Nooks. Both unrooted limit you to their respective stores and app repositories and as such charge a good bit for otherwise free apps.

As an e-reader it looks to be about on par with the the Nooks, although the battery life is a little less (again solely going on spec.)

Willie, I don't know what they are charging for the preconfigured SD cards, but before you go that route, i'd check into rooting yourself. Read this post on the XDA forums about Manual Nooter. I've got mine rooted with the stock B&N OS 1.3 and it for me is the best of both worlds. I get the true Nook interface plus i can access the Android Market (not just the B&N one) and put the Kindle app on it so i can buy content from Amazon, if B&N doesn't have the books i want.

I wouldn't recommend running a rom from the sd card for any length of time. It's great for recovery, updating and evaluation, but it will be a little laggy and prone to force close many apps.
 
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i wouldn't get a Fire for the same reason I wouldn't get an iphone. Locked capacity. While 8gb is a lot of data and the cloud will hold a lot of the data when you're full and shuffling around it's just so much nicer having unlimited storage with cards. They're cheap, easy to find and you can buy as many as you need or want to.

Hardware wise a $200 Nook color is a nice piece of equipment, for $50 more you get the new 'tablet' with all the hardware goodies, including twice the internal storage of the fire.
 
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I've seen specs compared between the Nook Tablet and the Fire and the NT wins hands down.

The NC on the other hand is not a dual core cpu and I haven't seen the specs compared. IMO, the sdcard slot makes a BIG difference if you plan on installing a custom rom since it's your life raft and keeps it from becoming bricked.

The NT does appear to have a protected boot loader tho so rom developers will have a little extra work, but they got around that on the DroidX (which I use) and there's LOTS of roms available for that.
 
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Okay, one more thing. Did you just root it, or did you replace the OS? From what I'm reading, I like the idea of being able to put the Android OS on an SD card.

Ok - Just received my card last night. I'm not a techie - I was specifically looking for a "plug in & play" deal to root my Nook. I bought a 16gb card through rootmynookcolor.com.

Plugged it in last night, and WOW. I have much to learn with it, but the capabilities are definitely interesting. No question at all now - I'm VERY glad I went this route. $200 total (Refurbished Nook @ $149, and $50 for the card) and I have a sweet machine to play with.

For what it's worth ... :D
 
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That's fine. 80 he's a week @ work, 4 kids to keep up with ... Costs me about 35 for someone else to phart with it. Sorry, I just don't have the time or need the headache.

I'm good with it.

Wish I had more time. I have nothing but respect for those who like to set up their own ...


:pI can sure dig what your saying about having enough time Willie! The used Nook Color that I purchased came with a N2A card already, however I am unable to register the damn thing. Just running the N2A now from the card, which is a Sandisk 8gb class 4 card;)

The hell of it is, if I am not able to register this unit, Previous owner has it still registered, I will probably find the time to just install the CM7 on the internal card and be done with it.

none the less, it was a toss up between the Nook Color and the Kindle Fire.

Picked the NC due to being more mature and having better mods.
 
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I would jump all over a new nook color if I didn't have to repartition the dam thing to the old setup, so I could enjoy all the "goodies" it is capable of. I thought about buying a card from rootmynookcolor, but I start adding up the cost and to me its just not worth it.

I think I am going to go with the Kindle Fire because before long, its going to hacked to pieces and then let the games begin.:D
 
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rushmore is right both are android based. The Nook tablet is just generation 2 of the nook color.

in any case they're both great in their native forms. When full root and custom rom's show up for them, it'll be even better except for the caveat that the Fire has half the internal memory and no expansion memory slot
 
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Ok - Just received my card last night. I'm not a techie - I was specifically looking for a "plug in & play" deal to root my Nook. I bought a 16gb card through rootmynookcolor.com.

Plugged it in last night, and WOW. I have much to learn with it, but the capabilities are definitely interesting. No question at all now - I'm VERY glad I went this route. $200 total (Refurbished Nook @ $149, and $50 for the card) and I have a sweet machine to play with.

For what it's worth ... :D
I used the Cyanogen 8 gb and it significantly improved the performance of the nook. I didn't like the Nook. Going all in on a Tablet.
 
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