E-readers are still around in today’s marketplace, despite the increasing use of tablets. For a while, the e-reader market was dominated by Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes and Noble’s Nook. Recently, however, a new competitor called Kobo has entered the market with products like its Aura H2O that rival the Kindle. All the while, the Nook has stagnated, and has lost much of its popularity among readers.
E Ink
The Kindle, Aura, and Nook have a few things in common. All three use E Ink in their e-book readers. This is a type of display technology that arranges particles into characters using electronic charges, creating the appearance of ink on paper. Displays that use E Ink reflect instead of emitting light like LCD displays do. This is why the screen is visible in sunlight, and why readers don’t strain their eyes while reading in the dark. Unlike other screens that use power constantly while they are on, those that use E Ink only use power while producing an image. This is due to the process of arranging particles mentioned earlier. A second similarity between the three devices is that the performance speed for the Kindle Voyage, the Aura H2O, and the Nook GlowLight are all about the same.
Amazon
Amazon’s Kindle Voyage has a slick design, and is comfortable to hold for an extended amount of time. While both the Kindle Voyage and Kobo’s Aura H2O aim for a seamless design, the Voyage has a slight edge over the Aura. The Voyage’s power button is located on the back of the device, allowing it to be easily reached while holding the e-reader as if it were an actual book. The convenient buttons on the left and right sides of the screen on the Kindle Voyage let readers turn a page with just a press of their thumb. The Kindle Voyage is also slimmer than its competitors at 7.6mm, making it more appealing to travelers who may be short on space in their bags.
At six inches, the Voyage has the same size screen as Barnes and Noble’s Nook. As for picture quality, however, Amazon’s Kindle Voyage clearly stands out from both the Nook and the Aura. While the Aura H20’s picture display is good, the Voyage’s 300 ppi, or pixels per inch, still surpasses all others. The screen resolution makes the Kindle Voyage’s text and picture clarity the closest to an actual book print book. The display of the Voyage is also equipped with an auto-brightness feature that automatically adjusts the brightness level of the screen based on the surrounding light. All of this provides readers with a more pleasant reading experience that’s easier on the eye than its competition.
While the Kindle doesn’t natively support EPUB, the open-standard format often used for freely available e-books, the issue is a fairly easy one to overcome. There’s free software out there that can reformat EPUB files into Kindle’s format. Amazon’s library of e-books for the Kindle is very extensive, and there are also sites, like http://www.librosso.com, that offer Kindle format e-books.
Kobo
Kobo has revealed itself over the past few years to be Amazon’s main competition in the e-reader market. Kobo’s Aura H2O has both its advantages and disadvantages when compared to the Amazon Kindle. Kobo’s e-readers are able to read more of a variety of file formats, including graphic novels. Kindle users, however, have found a bit of a way around this. The variety in types of compatible files for the Kobo may be due to the limited selection of e-books in the Kobo store. The pages on the Aura turn quickly, and the device’s battery life has a slight edge of the Kindle.
Like Amazon’s Kindle Voyage, the design of the Aura H2O from Kobo is slick and seamless. However, the Aura’s bezel is a bit more prominent. The Aura is also comfortable in readers’ hands for long periods of time. The MicroSD slot and charging port are covered by a flap, adding to the Aura’s smooth design. The screen display of the Aura is a slightly bigger than the Kindle Voyage and Nook at 6.8 inches, with a screen resolution of 256 ppi.
As the name would suggest, Kobo’s Aura H20 is waterproof, for up to thirty minutes, up to one meter. A feature that no Kindle possesses, giving the Aura an obvious edge for anyone who like to read near water. The Aura can be read by the pool or at the beach with no worries about sand or water damaging the device. The Aura H2O might have a slight edge over the Kindle Voyage for those who lead a more active lifestyle. The general functionality and page turning works in baths, lakes, and even the ocean. This is mostly due to the bottom cover of the Aura H2O. As long as the bottom flap is closed, the Kobo Aura H2O will remain waterproof. The device is also dust-proof.
The Aura H2O obviously tries to appeal more to readers who enjoy reading near or in water, rather than people more interested in specs. Even so, the Aura can still appeal to the latter with its anti-glare coating, subtle illumination thanks to five LED lights along the bottom edge of the device that allow readers to use it in the dark. There’s only one button at the top of the Aura to turn it on and off, while the touchscreen feature handles everything else. The Kindle Voyage is, however, slimmer at 7.6mm than the Aura H2O at 9.7mm.
Barnes and Noble
Compared to the designs of the Kindle Voyage and Aura H2O, the design of Barnes and Noble’s Nook GlowLight is simple and plain. The form is compact and there are no buttons. The device is all touch screen. This may seem good at first, but the lack of buttons can make turning pages difficult, especially while holding the device with one hand. Like the Kindle Voyage, the Nook has a six-inch screen display.
While there’s a decent library for the Nook, seeing as Barnes and Noble is a bookstore, Amazon’s Kindle library still has the advantage. However, the Nook Glowlight can read EPUB files, unlike the Kindle, but since there’s free software to convert these files to the format Kindle uses, it gives the Nook only a slight edge in that regard. The Nook GlowLight Plus does have one other edge over any of the Kindles in the fact that is water resistant up to one meter for up to thirty minutes. The home button is also convenient with its location right in the center of the bottom bezel, similar to a tablet or smartphone.
The lighting of the Nook GlowLight’s screen also puts it at a bit of a disadvantage compared to the Kindle Voyage. It also doesn’t have the supporting services of Amazon’s Kindle. Another thing to note is that, as stated before, the Nook is on the decline. Barnes and Noble has really updated their e-reader in years, so in the long run, support might be uncertain.
The Winner
When it comes to prices for these three e-readers, all three are in the $100-$200 range. The Amazon Kindle Voyage comes in at the highest, followed by the Kobo Aura H2O, with the Barnes and Noble Nook GlowLight Plus as the least expensive. While the Kindle Voyage and Aura H2O may be cost more, there’s more reason for it with their better specs and support than the Nook.
The winner in the e-reader battle, however, is the Kindle Voyage. It possesses better built-in lighting, the best screen resolution, and is the lightest e-reader model. The Kindle library is also extremely robust, and readers can convert other e-books to be read by the Kindle easily through freely available software. It’s more expensive than the Aura and the Nook, but the specs and user experience make up for the small cost difference.