kobo or kindle?

[nature boy]

so i just posted this in the this or that thread but now i'm thinking i probably want more info.

winnie's been reading a lot on her phone and i figure an ereader would be a good gift for her. however, i don't know the difference between a kobo and kindle. although she reads epubs more (kobo) than mobi files (kindle), it seems like the kindle is a better all-around device? and if i go with kobo, what's out there to choose from?

[Duncan]

i assume you don't wanna go all out and buy her a full fledged tablet? although i assume if you do get a tablet, it'd end up being a gaming machine for Ryan haha.

That being said, i haven't read a whole lot about the differences, but i think kindle is the more popular choice, so you'll be getting more options with that platform. Kinda like ios vs android. but don't quote me on that, i'm just thinking out loud based on impressions.

[nature boy]

i thought kobo runs android as well?

and since it's mostly for reading, she doesn't need a tablet. ryan plays on her phone and my tablet enough.

[Duncan]

i think both kobo and kindle can be hacked to run android. not sure if kobo natively supports android.

You could look into kindle fire. It's supposed to be best bang for buck from what i read.

[geForce]

The kobo is natively android, so the programming is already set for the kobo hardware. As compared to the Kindle, it uses their own OS. If you want to run Android on a Kindle, you would have download a homebrew Android OS for it.

[Duncan]

but if android is something you want though, why not get a full fledged android tablet then? is suppose the kobo battery life is probably better, but still...

[geForce]

Actually, sorry... the Kobo colour runs on android. The black and white one just runs their basic e-reader OS.

The Kobo colour has a regular lcd screen, so battery life would be the same as a tablet.
The black and white one has the e-ink screen, so it would have way better battery life and is easier on the eyes.

[Duncan]

ya, i guess to my point, might as well get a tablet tablet if you're considering the kobo colour... but if you're getting the e-ink one, then kindle or kobo, i guess it really depends on how you like which UI and the selection of B&N vs Amazon

[geForce]

kobo is a lot cheaper and smaller than tablets. $150 for kobo compared to $300-$500 for tablets.

[nature boy]

so i did some of my own research on the two. i should have been more clear, it's probably between the kobo vox or kindle fire. both run on android, with the vox running a more familiar ui while the fire has it's own weird ui. the fire has a dual core 1ghz processor compared to the vox's piddly single core 800mhz processor. the video i saw made it look worlds apart.

i said that she might as well get a tablet, but she didn't want one. maybe because of the price/weight differences. the vox is still good because of its selection of cookbooks and kid's books, and its true android app ecosystem. the fire's app ecosystem belongs to amazon, and while it's a much nicer ui, i think you're limited to what amazon puts out. and i think the fire is only at its full potential if you live in the states (you can't buy/rent movies outside the us, and you don't have access to their exclusive cloud service).

kobo it is i guess.

[geForce]

I'll sell you a kobo.

[nature boy]

do you have one? how much?

[Duncan]

probably won it 2 minutes ago with his horseshoe

[nature boy]

yeah, weird that he didn't reply.

GORDON! HOW MUCH?

[Wetundies]

He's testing it out right now, will sell it to you after he's bored with it.