Hi, I am hoping that someone can describe some of the relative advantages and disadvantages of the iPad versus the Nook. I'd like to get one for my mom, who is 85 years old and has very poor eyesight. My primary intention was to get her something that she could use to read books, after enlarging the text.
Although I am a long-time Mac user, I have never used an iPad (or a Nook) or really any iOS device. Specifically, I am looking at the iPad 2 (WiFi only) versus the Nook HD+. >From what I've read, the iPad has a 9.7" screen versus the Nook's 9" screen, >so not too much difference, but I guess larger is better for my mom. I'm looking at the 16-GB version of each, though I see that the Nook accepts microSD memory cards, so that's a nice feature if memory becomes an issue. The iPad is wildly popular and I assume it's for a good reason. My guess is that an iPad can do a lot more things than a Nook, though it's unclear how many (if any) of them would be important to my mom. I assume that both the iPad and the Nook are easy to use, though I also assume that my mom would never use either one unless someone tutors her and is around to help (at least at the beginning). Luckily she lives with my sister, who has a Nook (and her son has an iPad). My mom is very adverse to computers, however, so this may not be an easy task. Is either the iPad or the Nook simpler to use for basic things? One of the main reasons to get either an iPad or a Nook is to make it easier for my mom to read books. I'm guessing that both have access to tons of books and probably both allow for text size to be enlarged. I talked to a friend who said there is a "Nook" app for the iPad that allows it to read books designed for the Nook. If that's true, then getting an iPad should not limit my mom's choices of reading material, though I don't know whether one provides a better "reading experience" than the other. My friend also mentioned audio books. He said there are tons of written books and audio books in the public domain, so that they are free to download. He also said that most public libraries now allow people to "check out" books (probably both written and audio) over the internet. His experience is with an iPad. Is this also true for the Nook? I don't know if my mom will ever consider using email, but I suppose it's possible. I know the iPad does email and I'm pretty sure the Nook does as well, so that's probably a wash. One other thing that I had in mind, but it might never work out, is video chatting. The iPads have Facetime, so in theory, my mom and I could use Facetime once in a while for our long-distance communication. Does the Nook have a similar capability, and if so, can it interact with an iPad? Thanks in advance for any information you can provide to help me with this decision. Gregg _______________________________________________ MacOSX-talk mailing list [email protected] http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
