Nook Tablet vs. Kindle Fire: How The Amazon, Barnes & Noble Gadgets Compare

Barnes & Noble has officially announced its Nook Tablet, and it is clear that B&N means for its new slate to compete against Amazon's Kindle Fire.

Most people will notice right off the bat that the Nook Tablet is $50 more expensive than the Kindle Fire; does it pack the power to justify that bigger price tag? Let's check it out, in a Specs Appeal showdown between the Amazon Kindle Fire and the Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet.

Though we've left out a few of the thing that the companies claim make their tablets special -- Amazon's Silk web browser, for example, and Barnes & Noble's "World's Largest Bookstore" -- most of what you need to know is below. All of the information in this comparison comes straight from the product pages on Barnes & Noble and Amazon, respectively, so if you want to get a little more in depth, head over the pages for the Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire.

The Kindle Fire hits retail stores on November 15, and the Nook Tablet will follow two days later.

Check out a comparison of the tablets' features, and vote for the device you think is the stronger offering via our QuickPoll (below).

LOOK:

Quick Poll

Nook Tablet or Kindle Fire?

Nook Tablet!

Kindle Fire!

Share your vote on Facebook so your friends can take this poll

Take a look at the 11 biggest features of the new Nook in the slideshow (below).

Comments

[SharolynSloat]

07:53 PM on 12/19/2011

I got my kindle at 7inchereader.com... really easy!

[Lionel Fiel]

01:30 PM on 11/16/2011

With the Kindle Fire you'd have to subscribe to Amazon Prime (an extra $80) to utilize all of the cloud .

[MissTake1989]

07:52 PM on 11/11/2011

Do I want my Android forked?

[Tmboy]

01:17 PM on 11/09/2011

Search "rooted nook" and you get a bunch of SD cards that you can insert into the nook color, that automatically roots it. I hope they can do the same for the nook tablet. I will wait 3-6 months and see. Hopefully some geek does it much quicker. If it doesnt happen i'll find a refurbed nook color and root that.

[Tmboy]

01:01 PM on 11/09/2011

If you root the nook, can you use amazom prime on it?

[cigsncawfee]

09:36 AM on 11/09/2011

Nook Tablet wins for me! I currently have a Nook Color... last month my dog chewed up the cord to my charger. I went into my local B&N and was taken care of immediately. My charger was replaced and I was able to purchase an ebook at the counter in cash. This is extremely helpful now that most of us have our bills automatically withdrawn from our accounts,there is enough coming out of the account! Now we can go into B&N and opt to pay cash for any ebook they have to offer. I gave the e-mail address linked to my account and it was downloaded within minutes. Although the Nook Tablet runs $50 more than the Kindle Fire, there is no yearly $80 membership to pay to enjoy the full capacity of the product. You need Amazon prime to access the perks Kindle Fire advertises.
The option of face to face customer service is the most important perk to me. B&N Nook has great phone customer service, but for those of us that are on the phone all day at work and seem to spend most of our lives on hold, its a pleasure to be able to go into a store, have an employee answer any questions I have and show me how to navigate my product in front of me. Its also nice to grab a coffee from their cafe, browse books on their shelves and then buy the ebook format.

[LightShadow62]

11:52 PM on 11/08/2011

The choice is simple:
If you want to read books, buy an e-reader with the e-ink display.
If you want to surf and play games buy a full tablet.

Both of these are lost somewhere in between a reader and a tablet.

[chespen]

10:37 AM on 11/08/2011

I chose the Nook because my regional library has an ebook lending feature and it is a free service. At the time I bought, the Kindle did not have that feature. I love my Nook as it is very easy to use and the lending feature enables me to read more books than If I wait to buy them.

[eri 68]

10:34 AM on 11/08/2011

I have an original Nook Color and it leaves very little to be desired. I can read my books, surf the web, check email, listen to music or audio books and play games plus I already have the option of adding extra storage via the SD slot (which I have). I may give the new Nook a closer look but for now my basic tablet needs are more than met.

The Kindle Fire's biggest flaw, in my opinion, is the same one shared by Apple's devices, the lack of ability to add extra storage. I don't want to have to rely on any cloud service to access my content, I like having the ability to keep it on my device.

[oftheplantation]

10:29 AM on 11/08/2011

Whatever happened to sitting down and reading a book without distractions? I'm currently satisfied with my Kindle.

[dtrobert]

09:48 AM on 11/08/2011

I had to vote for the Kindle Fire, even though the Nook has better specs, because Amazon is a more international company than B&N, and I've had issues dealing with B&N from outside the US before. So the Nook might be a good device, but it's backed by a company which doesn't really have legs, as far as I'm concerned.

[notsotupelohoney]

10:06 AM on 11/08/2011

I am a die-hard B&N buyer, however the issue that they are not available internationally is a big drawback.

I hope they are paying attention.

[LynnTTT]

09:39 AM on 11/08/2011

My biggest concern - will Barnes and Noble be around in 5 years?

[eri 68]

10:36 AM on 11/08/2011

Considering they just bought out Borders I'd say it's a safe bet. Though in the world market Amazon is the stronger competitor.

[nirvana101]

01:06 PM on 11/09/2011

They killed competition with that buyout but still not available internationally. Their title listing gets shorter each year and they are very sparse on international writers unless its something that has been published internationally years before and is a proven success.
The brick and mortar stores are getting worse each year.

[dwill123]

09:08 AM on 11/08/2011

I'll wait for v2.0 on both.

[menschmaschine5]

10:22 AM on 11/08/2011

The Nook Tablet is v. 2.0. It's an upgrade of the Nook Color.

[herfyjo]

07:57 AM on 11/08/2011

As a non-techie user, I could care less about rooting and forking and all that other stuff people do to their gadgets. Can I read books, watch videos and play games? Yes? That's all the average user cares about. Trust me, we outnumber the techies by a large margin. If I wanted more, I'd spring for an iPad. And as an existing Amazon fan with an investment in their books, etc. already, it's a no-brainer. I made the Kindle vs. Nook decision two years ago and have been very satisfied. Why change? The Prime videos are still growing, but I'll bet on them before Netflix at this point. I cancelled that membership months ago! I plan to order a Kindle Fire and apply the $50 savings to next year's Prime membership.

[Gudrun]

09:49 AM on 11/08/2011

I feel the same. I already have the Prime membership, love Amazon's service, so the Kindle Fire was a good bet for me.

[democratsaint]

07:03 AM on 11/08/2011

also the 199 kindle has ads to have the lower price,you can buy the non ad version for 249.so the nook is cheaper than kindle.

[Glowcy]

08:05 AM on 11/08/2011

I wasn't aware that the Kindle Fire has ads. I thought that it was the other Kindles in the Kindle suite that has ads.

[AsheMan]

09:53 AM on 11/08/2011

This is not true.