Tablet for Mom: Kindle Fire or Nook?

[Caiyuo]

My mom has a birthday coming up and I wanted to get her a tablet, but wasn't sure which was best suited for someone who would be completely new to the experience of apps and smart devices. I don't really know how the two compare or if there's any added benefit to a Nook by way of rooting it the way there was with Nook Color. Appreciate any advice.

[Sonomaa]

kindle fire, all the way
they run specials often too, refurb kindle fires with the same warranty as a brand new one for 139.00

you can add apps to the fire pretty easily, and the front screen is very uncluttered, as well as the easy to use whispernet and amazon prime free books/book loaning
plus you know that amazon will be there in the future

[bungiefan]

Nook has a microSD card slot so the storage space can be expanded, and video files can be easily swapped out on it. Also, you can boot it to full Android with the right files on the microSD. Kindle Fire has no external storage slot, you have to use the computer to change files on it.

Really though, I'd almost say just go for a 7" real Android tablet if you want something that size, as you can download the Kindle and Nook apps for them and use all the books from their stores, instead of the device being locked to just one store. The Lenovo A2 and Samsung GalaxyTab2 are pretty similar in specs to the Nook and Kindle.

[Caiyuo]

That's really not a bad idea, the Samsung is only $50 more. My only hesitation is that the Fire seems like it has a user experience more tailored to someone who wouldn't know what the shit to do with a tablet whereas the Samsung would enable her to do more, but without the guiding hand.

[bungiefan]

Android for Dummies...?

[achira]

My mom has a birthday coming up and I wanted to get her a tablet, but wasn't sure which was best suited for someone who would be completely new to the experience of apps and smart devices. I don't really know how the two compare or if there's any added benefit to a Nook by way of rooting it the way there was with Nook Color. Appreciate any advice.

If you haven't made this choice yet, I say nook tablet, and here's why.

First, Nook tablet is the newer generation of the nook color, and at $30 more, it's worth it to have latest generation, especially since these things change so frequently/quickly.

Second, if she's a mom, she'll like that the nook tablet has this feature called "read to me"- when you get certain children's books, the nook will actually read the book to the child. It's full of awesome.

Third, if she's academic at all, or has to deal with pdfs (I'm always needing to read academic articles) the nook is much more pdf friendly than the kindle- there is all this altering that needs to be done before you can read a pdf in a kindle and it's a total PITA.

Kindle is a lot less friendly towards other sources because it is trying to bend other sources to fit them; Nook understands (imo) the market and future of the industry better and is more compatible as a result.

ETA: Don't let the Kindle Fire's "OMG AMAZON PRIME" feature sway you. I've experienced it (I have prime and can access things via my ps3/xbox/etc) and it's the shyt movies people wouldn't want to really watch anyway. I think there was only one or two movies/tv shows where I thought "oh well done". Not worth a whole tablet choice. I think prime should stick to being the reason I get my amazon orders in two days for free, that's it. Just about everyone has a Netflix account, and they are much more robust when it comes to decent entertainment offerings for my $8.99 a month.

[Julian]

Are you getting this to be an e-reader, or to have a multipurpose tablet?

Because, if you just want a device that she can read on, I'd recommend one of the regular nooks or kindles. Eink puts less strain on the eyes, and having a battery life that lasts for a week+ rather than <1day is pretty awesome.

If you want more of a multipurpose tablet device, I can't really give much of an input, sorry.

[kuronosan]

Neither. Get her the Samsung tab 2 7" and root it. You can put kindle software on it and the hardware is awesome.

[Pabst]

I think googles nexus tablet is coming out at the end of the month. Or soon. A 7" tablet for around $200.

[DeathbySnoosnoo]

dude if i gave my mom a regular tablet she wouldn't know how to do much on there, and would prolly just use it for reading and playing on facebook and maybe a game or 2, anything beyond that would be lost on her. in which case i'd just get a kindle fire as they are super easy to use and i wouldnt have to answer a billion questions for her.

[Caiyuo]

I'd lost internet access for the last week so I haven't been able to respond, but I ended up getting her the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2. I figured the better hardware was worth whatever extra learning curve she'd need and that I could fill in that gap and so far it's been a huge hit. She'd gotten in from a flight around 1AM last night and said she was up until 5AM playing games. I hadn't considered the Nook Tablet that was mentioned, wish I had as it seemed like a viable choice, too. At this point I'm just trying to figure out what all she can and would realistically use it for. I'd imagine she's plenty content with a games+netflix device, but without knowing myself I'm not sure what else I could be showing her for uses.

What are the benefits to rooting it and using the kindle software btw? Just simplicity? Does it void the warranty?

[rezn0r]

you aren't assuming you need to root it to use the kindle software right? the kindle app is free and works on any android. what's nice about it is that you have your amazon library across various devices, in case she ever gets an actual kindle or whatever, it'd be the same stuff synced. i use it on my bionic.

the benefits of rooting are another story, it looks like it was first rooted in mid-May, and with the main benefits of rooting android devices being custom ROMs, i'm not sure i'd really bother with tablet already running ICS, but that's a whole other discussion. other people probably disagree and can offer more information, i've only really dealt with a couple phones and the nook (rooted).