Kindle Paperwhite vs Nook GlowLight 4 Plus: Which should you buy?

There’s one thing to be stated for e-ink readers.  In an age of TikTok, Netflix, Facebook, and YouTube, they not solely encourage you to learn, however shut out distractions and loosen up. At the second there are solely three main manufacturers in North America  — Amazon, Nook, and Kobo — and of these, solely the primary two have a considerable footprint. Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite and the Nook GlowLight 4 Plus are two of essentially the most outstanding readers out there — so how do they stack up?

Just to get it out of the way in which, there’s nothing a lot to say about efficiency. Neither pill is a pace demon, particularly since e-ink has inherently slower refresh charges than any LCD or OLED panel. Of course that doesn’t significantly matter right here — these units are all about studying and audiobooks, that are inherently low-intensity actions.

We’ll be masking many of the merchandise’ defining options within the sections under, however one obvious distinction is storage. The GlowLight 4 Plus (which we’ll check with because the “Nook” any further) is available in a single 32GB model, whereas Amazon sells 8, 16, and 32GB Paperwhites (32GB is proscribed to the Signature Edition). Even 8GB should be loads if you’re solely studying textual content, but you should positively veer in direction of larger storage choices if you plan on loading audiobooks.

Both tablets are waterproof. The Paperwhite (above) is barely harder with an IPX8 score and even some delicate salt water resistance, however the IPX7 spec on the Nook is greater than adequate. You can use both gadget by the pool or sitting in your tub — simply make sure to fish out your pill and dry it if it by accident takes a dip.

There a few design particulars in regards to the Nook some readers will admire, the primary being the presence of bodily residence and page-turning buttons. The Paperwhite is totally depending on touchscreen gestures, which actually do the job, however aren’t as simple.

The Nook additionally offers Bluetooth and a 3.5mm jack for audiobook listening, whereas the Paperwhite is proscribed to Bluetooth. 3.5mm could also be slowly fading away, however many individuals nonetheless have appropriate headphones and audio system, and state-of-the-art Bluetooth headphones are overkill for audiobooks besides their assist for noise cancelling.

This goes to be the largest differentiator for most individuals. Amazon is the 800-pound gorilla of the e-book business, providing not simply the very best choice however a number of subscription choices. You get a small slice of e-books and audiobooks with Amazon Prime, however much more if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited and/or Audible. Amazon additionally makes it comparatively straightforward to borrow e-books from libraries, and there are many different methods to get free reads akin to Project Gutenberg or Send to Kindle.

With the Nook being bought by Barnes and Noble, you shouldn’t have hassle discovering issues like New York Times bestsellers for it, however count on to purchase many of the issues you learn on a per-title foundation when you’re not sideloading. Although there may be an audiobook subscription possibility, there’s no equal for normal e-books, and you’ll inevitably have to purchase some audiobooks outright except you’re solely listening to 1 a month.

On high of that the Nook solely helps the 2 hottest platform-agnostic e-book codecs, EPUB and PDF. The Paperwhite combines these with assist for MOBI, TXT, HTML, DOC/DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, and naturally Amazon’s proprietary Kindle format, so if there’s little or no you can’t view on it. And it’s more durable to borrow library books on a Nook, since you should obtain an EPUB file to a pc, be sure your Nook is signed into your Adobe ID, then use desktop software program (both Adobe Digital Editions or Android File Transfer) to sync. If you’re anticipating to get most of your books from libraries somewhat than a web-based retailer or free repositories, you’ll virtually actually desire a Paperwhite.

It’s price noting right here that each merchandise have comparatively easy onscreen interfaces, and sync with cell apps if you wish to keep it up studying through a smartphone or a extra superior pill like an iPad or Galaxy Tab.

The Nook pulls forward right here by most metrics, justifying its pricetag with a 7.8-inch, 300ppi (pixels per inch) display screen. The Paperwhite’s show has the same pixel density, however slots in at 6.8 inches. That makes the Nook immediately higher suited to issues like newspapers and graphic novels, and superior for studying total. If your eyesight isn’t the very best, it means having the ability to enlarge textual content and retain extra content material onscreen.

Both the Nook and Paperwhite take their names from their entrance lights, which maintain their e-ink legible whether or not you’re in darkness or direct daylight. We should level out nonetheless that whereas they every let you alter the heat and depth of lighting, solely the Nook and the Paperwhite Signature Edition can robotically alter brightness to your environment. If you purchase a normal Paperwhite, you’ll have to regulate brightness manually. That’s not an enormous deal, however auto brightness might probably enhance battery life and/or defend your eyes when you’re studying in mattress.

The Paperwhite can probably last as long as 10 weeks on a cost, in line with Amazon. That’s going to differ based mostly in your gadget settings, in addition to whether or not you take heed to audiobooks, and the way voracious your total habits are. Amazon’s determine assumes half-hour of e-book studying per day, with Wi-Fi off and brightness set at 13. If you learn for an hour a day and go away Wi-Fi on, count on battery life to drop, if most likely to a couple of month. That’s nonetheless spectacular.

Barnes and Noble will solely promise “weeks” of runtime for the Nook, and we haven’t examined the product’s battery life to say one thing extra concrete. Realistically, we doubt anybody will complain — even charging up an e-reader each week or two is nothing subsequent to charging an iPad each couple of days.

The units primarily depend on USB-C for charging, but when you purchase the Paperwhite Signature Edition, you get the added perk of Qi-compatible wi-fi.

Superficially Amazon may appear to have pricing on lock, since you should purchase a Paperwhite for $60 lower than a Nook, and that’s with out accounting for Amazon’s frequent reductions. The firm is prepared to take a monetary hit to get you into its ecosystem.

The satan is within the particulars, although. The entry-level Paperwhite is proscribed to simply 8GB, which as soon as once more could also be fantastic for pure e-books, however may very well be an issue if you begin loading audio. You’ll then should pay an additional $20 if you wish to maintain advertisements off your lockscreen, which appears like gouging on Amazon’s half — significantly because the firm actually, actually desires you to subscribe to Kindle Unlimited.

In reality the closest match to the Nook is the Paperwhite Signature Edition, and even that also makes use of a 6.8-inch display screen versus its rival’s 7.8. When you contemplate the specs you’re getting, the Nook holds its personal by way of worth.

If easy entry to essentially the most attainable content material is what issues to you, go together with a Paperwhite. However monopolistic it could be, the Kindle platform reigns supreme, and that’s solely aided by wider format assist, non-compulsory subscription plans, and simpler library borrowing. You’ll additionally get monetary savings on the {hardware}, if by advantage of diminished display screen measurement and/or storage.

Those components will most likely resolve the battle for lots of consumers, however the Nook might pull out a victory amongst individuals who need 32GB of storage, bodily page-turning buttons, 3.5mm audio, and/or the largest attainable display screen. You may discover that final characteristic issues greater than you’d count on — even when you’re not studying graphic novels or dealing with eyesight issues, a 7.8-inch show means much less frequent web page flipping. Just keep in mind that if you do go the Nook route, you’ll most likely be shopping for most of your e-books and/or audiobooks, assuming you’re not already planning to sideload from third-party sources.