Maximum PC

How on earth did your magazine bring itself to conclude that the Kindle Fire beats out the Nook Tablet after finding that the Nook reader bested the Kindle Fire in a clear majority of categories? The explanation given for the unexpected conclusion was so weak as to leave me -- and probably other readers -- dumbfounded and disgusted. Yes, I own a Nook and have compared it to the Fire, and found the Amazon device too much like owning an Apple device: Amazon shows it's too big for its britches by only allowing it's own books to be read on the Fire. And the Fire's lack of a micro-SD memory slot certainly makes it inferior to the Nook Tablet AND the Nook Color. I have already purchased a 16gb directory root card for my Nook that adds memory AND allows me to use it as a straight-up Android device (without voiding the warranty). I downloaded the Kindle for Android app to it and now can read Kindle books on my Nook. You can't do any of that with the Fire! Aside from Amazon's independent book publishers, I have noticed no difference between the Barnes & Noble and Amazon book store offerings, and the Android Market I have access to trumps Amazon's other digital offerings.

It is a shame that your magazine endorsed Goliath over David instead of telling the truth that Goliath really lost and could have and should have done more to live up to expectations. I certainly expected more objectivity from your magazine -- which I read (past tense) on my Nook! Subscription cancelled!

Nook owner: Biased much? Amazon is building a mountain out of a very very high hill in readers. B&N is struggling to take gulps of air. When we battle over socket 1155 being alive or not, we'll bet on B&N not being around in 2013 just the same. Nook and Kindle just have different foundations to grow with, and Nook doesn't have it.

Will HD DVD or BluRay win? Beta or VHS? It's in those lines, and Nook didn't release anything to shock the tech world enough.

Example: WinPhone is dead, iPhone and Android battle. Yet Nokia (dead) and Winphone (dead) release a top of CES 2012 phone in the 900 and I'm buying that awesome phone this March! Nook is dead, and they aren't trying to do anything but Nook. That's a closed mind as much as it is a closed product.

Bye Borders, bye B&N. They're not too big to fail. Amazon lives on as not just a seller of books or hardware. Can I buy ManGrates on B&N.com? Deck chairs? They focused on books too much.

I thought the information on how Nook's storage is intentionally gimped was fairly compelling. When you intentionally limit the user experience in hopes they come back to you to buy more, you're asking for bad comparisons.
I don't own either, and, honestly, would rather a third party stepped up. But I read that result as fair.

fbaerkir, if you've swallowed the Amazon koolaid and gotten tipsy off it, then only time will cure what ails ya'! The Nook's storage is superior with its expandable SD card slot. That's a non-issue, and the Fire's lack of one makes it inferior.

Chumly, it's funny you ask whether I (and other enthusiastic Nook owners) are "biased much!" Ofcourse we are! With good reason. B&N is transitioning to digital -- gradually -- because, believe it or not, there are still a lot of readers who aren't ready to put their old-fashioned books down, and they still enjoy actually perusing book shelves. Your over-confident snark suggests that you, for some reason, are "biased much" yourself in favor of the Walmart of e-shopping. Did I mention that I can buy and read Kindle books and use Amazon apps on my Nook Color? Did I point out that the reverse isn't possible with the Amazon products? Yeah, I did! I don't know why you are so impressed by the ability of an e-book vendor to sell you ManGrates or deck chairs, but the rest of us e-reader users will go with the literary business that focuses on providing the superior device and service -- and we will certainly recommend the Nook Color/Tablet wholeheartedly!

I've been playing with my Blackberry PlayBook 16gb for the last week. I like it over the Kindle Fire I've played with before. It's app market is very limited, but in stock format, it's still very capable. Displays my pdf's very well, plays videos very smooth and the tabbed web browser works as intended. Even the stereo speakers is pretty decent, fairly loud and placed on the front unlike the kindle.

The button's aren't in the way and the touch pad actually functions outside of the lcd area for menu controls, tabbing through multiple apps and going into your device settings in a split second from any screen; very intuitive. Looks exactly the same as the fire in both design and display; for my needs, it hits all the points I want perfectly with double the memory for the same price. I think the best thing about it is fluid menu system and the fact that you can orient your display in any direction and lock it in place in a matter of a second; something that apple lacks.

The biggest down side I've found thus far is that it won't play mkv videos and the device takes forever to charge through the usb cable; they do have a standard power charger, but you have to pay extra for that.


And since owning this, I have started to read 1000% more than I was before I had it. For some odd reason, owning a tablet really does make you want to read "Homer's Iliad" or "Art of War" just for the hell of it. lol

As a hardware guy, and Maximum PC reader, we all care about the hardware. Right? Well I do and the hardware on the Nook Tablet is better plan and simple. The only thing the Kindle Fire outshines the Nook Tablet is the price and software. I don't know about you, but the first thing I did with my Nook was to root it, and install/uninstall what I wanted. So the software portion of the argument is moot, as for the price I am willing to pay extra for the better hardware, of course now B&N are releasing a newer version 50 dollars cheaper, so why get a Kindle Fire again? Oh well I ended up getting a Asus Transformer Prime, which I .... wait for it... rooted in order to install/uninstall apps. Nook Tablet is better hands down.

Screw you guys FreeBSD for life!