Kindle or Galaxy?

[xxwabbit]

I want to get my wife a tablet for her bday and her sister has the Kindle and wants her to get one too so they can share books. I would like to see my wife get something that is multi-faceted rather than just a dedicated Ereader.
1. Does the Kindle app have full capabilities like that of the Kindle?

2. Will she be able to have full access to her sisters book collection? Her sister thinks my wife has to have the Kindle to gain full access to her collection.

3. What's the best way to purchase a Galaxy without having to buy into a data plan?

 

[BMWAP]

I have the kindle app on my Galaxy, Droid and my wife's old Devour. All log into the same account and mirror each other. No problems.

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[xxwabbit]

Awesome. Good to know. Hunting around for a tablet now. Thanks for the reply. :icon_ banana:

 

[jeffnucci]

I actually went and retrieved my forgotten password for this forum because I feel so passionately about answering.

I own a Verizon Galaxy Tab and a Kindle 3 (the current generation). If your wife likes to read I would buy the Kindle. I love my Tab and I love my Kindle but I take my Tab everywhere and my Kindle stays beside my bed. This isn't because of a lack of usability the Kindle is hands down the best device to read books on period. However I don't need to tote around a dedicated e-reader for 20 minutes of light reading here or there, my Tab is just fine for that. However, if you like to read for longer periods of time you MUST own a Kindle. I absolutely loathe reading on LCD's for extended periods of time. I repeat, if you are a heavy reader stop being cheap and buy a Kindle. Yeah sure it's nice to turn the lights off and use the backlit screen of a Tablet but its not good on your eyes or your body as your brain can't interpret the difference between artificial and sunlight and it keeps you awake. Lastly, the Kindle app is fully featured and works quite seamlessly with Amazon's Whispersync technology but the app doesn't support newspapers or magazines right now. So if you are looking to share books you will be just fine. Log into your friends account and you will have access to everything they have purchased.

In summary, if you want a multi-purpose device that you can do some light reading on and is amazingly portable, powerful and underrated, buy the Galaxy Tab. If you read a lot and don't do a lot of tablet things, buy a Kindle. Shoot buy a Kindle anyways, they are really fun devices for how cheap they are.

 

[xxwabbit]

You know you're making sense about how lcd is hard on the eyes for long durations. My wife and her sisters are nutso's over reading. I hadn't really thought of the duration part. Hmm.. I was thinking the wifi only Kindle should be sufficient. Have you been in a situation where 3g was a must have? $140 for a Kindle is really a good price. I think I will go that route instead. Thanks for your valuable insight. Anything to make my reading nut happy, will of course make me happier! :icon_ banana:

 

[jeffnucci]

You know you're making sense about how lcd is hard on the eyes for long durations. My wife and her sisters are nutso's over reading. I hadn't really thought of the duration part. Hmm.. I was thinking the wifi only Kindle should be sufficient. Have you been in a situation where 3g was a must have? $140 for a Kindle is really a good price. I think I will go that route instead. Thanks for your valuable insight. Anything to make my reading nut happy, will of course make me happier! :icon_ banana:

Not having 3G has never been an issue. Once the books are downloaded, nothing needs to be accessed online. Plus Wi-Fi seems to be everywhere. It helps that I have Wi-Fi tether on my phone but I've never used it with my Kindle.

On a slightly related note I love both Apple and Android so I dont feel bad in saying this. If she wants a tablet go find a 16GB Wi-Fi iPad on craigslist for $250 bucks. That plus the Kindle is less than a Tab if she isn't going to need one device to rule them all.

Feel free to tweet, PM or respond here with any other questions. Happy to help.