Help! Kindle, Apple IPad or Android tablet?

with the ipad, you can do both kindle and barnes and noble books.
kindle has different versions, some where you can read books in b & w others where you can get other aps for it.

what would you be wanting to use this devise for? just reading or other things. do you want to read magazines also?

i have a basic kindle and i only read books on it. lots of places to get free and cheap books. i want to get a tablet of some sort but dont know what myself

I have a Kindle Fire HD and I love it, it does everything an iPad does and it is 1/2 the price. I read books on it and also stream movies and TV shows, I browse the web, use my email, and perform document tasks as well. It's really fast and the video quality is incredible, better than any iPad I've seen so far.

I have Amazon Prime which for an annual fee of about $80 there are books I can read for free as well as a lot of movies and TV to watch for free. Also Amazon has discounted prices for Kindle books.

You can transfer data from any tablet device to any computer. I think the Kindle is a bit easier since it's an Android device, but I've used lots of Apple devices (iPad and iPhone) as well and they work just fine too.

Check out the Google Nexus 7. These are built by ASUS for Google. This is a 7" Android Tablet that you can get for about $200. The quality is great and you have apps for all of the readers. I have readers for Kindle, Nook, Playbooks and Aldiko. You can purchase books from anyone.

The Nexus 7 also has apps for everything that you might want to do. Chrome and Firefox browsers for the web. Many apps for news outlets, CNN, Fox, WashPost, Guardian, BBC, NPR, HuffPost, USAToday, etc. Youtube, Netflix, Hulu, etc. Pretty much anything that you want to do while mobile.

I like the size and weight. I have a 32GB Nexus 7 but also keep movies on external flash drives which can be loaded via the microUSB port on the bottom of the unit.

i have heard good things about the google nexus

I love my 1st gen Nexus 7. The second generation is supposed to be even better. For the price of a Kindle Fire you can get a Nexus 7 that does a lot more. My wife just got a IPad mini because QVC had it on sale and side by side I think the Nexus runs circles around it. The other nice thing is that the Android platform is way way more open than Apple. There are also a lot of free books out there on the market that are in the public domain. There is also a neat trick where you can convert PDF files into a format that works in the kindle app like a e-book...

LOVE the Nexus 7!! I use it to read from my Nook account and can purchase books from a variety of other places as well. It is great for watching movies too. I use it when I travel instead of carrying a laptop. Love it, love it, love it!!!
I would not use an iPad - it is not friendly to other platforms...only Apple.

Wow, Thanks all!:@)
Makes it so nice to hear from those experienced with the varoius products.
I really am clueless so any and all help is very much appreciated.
Basically, I would want to read books on it but when traveling would like to be able to leave laptop at home and use for eveything I use my laptop for.

One advantage I will offer with the Kindle HD is that it is very "out of the box" user friendly and has a really slick interface. It is a complete tablet, not just a reader. I have been very pleasantly surprised with all of its capabilities and am much happier than I even hoped to be - the screen really is incredible for both reading and watching video, as well as just doing email and surfing the web and so on. I have the 8.9" version and it is the same size as an iPad. You don't have to install any other applications or anything, just plug it in and go. You can also still download free books off the internet or upload .pdfs if you decide to do that too. And starting next month Amazon is making it where any book you bought from them in the past that was an actual paper book, if you want to download it in the Kindle version, it will be either free or discounted to 99 cents, $1.99, or $2.99, depending on the book. Since I've been buying books from Amazon since 2006 that's huge for me!

No matter which option you choose, I suggest not bothering to pay for cellular service. WiFi is fine for just about any tablet these days, and if you're traveling and need books or movies to watch you can just download them to your device ahead of time. It's not worth the extra $50 - $100 for the device plus a cellular connection for data.

User friendly for this tech challenged individual is a must!
Is the nexus 7 user friendly or am I going to be driven crazy figuring out how to use?

I have an android phone and the Nexus was very user friendly.

The Kindle HD is also an android device and you can install other readers on it as applications - it's not the same as the Kindle of two years ago. One thing I like about Amazon is that they're becoming very "open" about supporting across platforms. Apple isn't doing that. Maybe two years ago I wanted an iPad but definitely not any longer. I have no experience with the Nexus other than my brother has one and he likes it.

I like that out of the box turning it on, it says "Books" at the top (as well as Video, Shop, Web, email, etc) and all I had to do was touch the button and go.

The comparisons.

http://www.gizmag.com/new-nexus-7-vs-kindle-fire-hd/28783/

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2422353,00.asp

I thought I would put my two cents in since everyone seems against the iPad. We have iPads and Kindle fire HDs in this household. I can do everything I want from my iPad and I love love love it. But! I do like reading books on the Kindle. I also have amazon prime and would recommend the $80 investment. My Mom has a Kindle fire HD and was thrilled when I showed her how to watch tv and movies. If your looking mainly into reading I would suggest the Kindle. But if your in the VI, you might want to check out if amazon works the same there. Somewhere I read that you needed a stateside IP address in order to utilize the Amazon Prime benefits, but I could be wrong.

Tottsmom, Amazon now supports Prime in over 60 countries. It works great here in the VI! I stream everything, no problem. Works the same here as when I'm in Texas. 🙂

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Read the reviews. The Nexus 7 has almost twice the processing power, better screen resolution, lighter weight, longer battery life and more RAM than the Kindle Fire HD. For $30 more. Even the Nexus 7 Version 1 was rated better than the Kindle Fire HD and they are available for cheap now that version 2 is out. Check eBay. I would go with a Nexus 7 version 2.
It also comes in a model with 3G/4G.

The Yet To Be Released NEW Kindle Fire HD might fair better in comparisons, I think they have updated the screen resolution to the same as the Nexus and they have increased the processor speed and RAM, but no one yet knows how it will perform. To me the big detractor for the Kindle Fire is that it is not a true Android product. By that I mean that you cannot access the Play Store, you only have access to the Amazon Store which offers far fewer apps. And the Kindle runs an older version of Android, the Nexus runs the latest version.

JulieKay, thanks, that is good to know. We do A LOT of streaming and if we end up on STX it is nice to know we will still have access.

Alana,

If you are the voracious reader i think you are, I would go with the kindle paper white and keep it simple. The e ink display is by far my favorite type of display to read on and it seems to stress my eyes the least and the battery life is fantastic. Your eyes and wallet will thank you.

Full disclosure: I travel a lot and for the last couple of years I've been downsizing. I now carry only my old netbook (for web browsing, media and email) kindle for reading and an iphone for music, camera, navigation and phone (also backs up the netbook). I was forced to get the iphone in the end it let me keep my mp3 player, camera and gps at home. I work with tablets, but couldn't see trying to read a few hundred pages with one.

Hope it helps.

The Nexus 7 has multiple settings for the screen. This makes it easy on the eyes. I use the "night" mode when I read in bed - it is a black screen with white lettering and I put the brightness way down. Very readable and I never get eye strain. I really like using the Nexus to read as it is very lightweight. Also, I get my books from a variety of sources and would not like only being able to get them from one source.

Alana, last time I checked Office Max had most of the tablets in stock so you can go over there and check them out in person. If I hear what you're asking, you're seeking more functionality and ease of use over anything else, so it may be easiest for you to put your hands on several and see which one you like best. If you were here on St. Croix I'd be happy to meet you and check out my Kindle, but it's a bit of a challenge across the water! *grins*

Thank you all! You're awesome.
This is exactly the info I needed!:@):-):D

Kindle Fire HD is awesome.. WITH Amazon Prime. Also, subscribe to Bookbub.com free books and cheap books emailed to you daily.