Choosing an ereader – Kindle wins out

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And the winner is ... Kindle

I spent the day shopping with my son. He's only 6, and recently discovered the joys of reading, mostly Captain Underpants. He reads the series over and over again, giggling his head off every time. I'm proud to say he was probably more interested in the ereaders we examined at Best Buy than me. I'm not as proud to say he figured out how to use the Barnes & Noble Nook before I did.

I've been researching various devices recently. It really took that trip to the store to handle the devices, mash all the buttons, and especially see the displays to get a real sense of how they match up.

I prefer the Kindle, although the Nook Color has me very intrigued, especially for reading any graphic novels or comics.

But Kindle wins on too many fronts. The current design is much more intuitive to me. I figured out I could change font size and even weight and width in about 3 seconds. That feature alone had me sold — the store display model showed Alice in Wonderland at its medium size, which I found far too big. I was turned off until I found the text settings and reduced the type to the smallest size. That was a key feature for me.

The e ink displays are startling, though I think I'll need some kind of light for night reading in bed. Given recent experiences with my Droid X (where I may be able to read those color comics anyway), I'm amazed by Kindle's battery power claims.