Yes, the LCD turns off pretty quickly- I had to sit down with my Nook and check (darn… had to read a few pages…).
I found a February Nook vs Kindle 2 comparison earlier today (prompted by this thread), and was surprised by how much bigger the Nook is. It’s weird: the e-ink screen sizes are the same, but in that side-by-side photo the Nook’s looks bigger – probably just because the Nook is bigger overall while having a smaller bezel.
There are things about the Nook that I like, but I think I lean toward the Kindle at this point. Any purchase will wait until at least August, though, until the thinner Kindle (Kindle 3?) is released.
That photo doesn’t show the two at the same scale. I have no idea why they did that. According to the specs posted on Wikipedia, they have the same size screen. In terms of overall dimensions, the Kindle is 0.3" longer and 0.4" wider than the Nook, but thinner (0.36" vs. 0.5").
There’s always a better model around the corner… And the Kindle-2 is already extremely thin, thinner than any physical book on my bookshelf. In fact I’m surprised that’s the aspect they decided to improve on the next model.
Oh, I know: it’s the problem inherent with most cool technology. But IMO it’s one thing to wait and see what might come out, but another to know that the next version is just 2 months away. At the very least, prices on the Kindle 2 might fall when the new one comes out!