# Poll: E-book readers - e-ink vs. back-lit color **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 29, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-e-book-readers-e-ink-vs-back-lit-color/562304 "2010-11-29T18:05:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-e-book-readers-e-ink-vs-back-lit-color/562304/61 "2011-04-21T12:04:08Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > Could someone clear up one thing for me? Is the color Nook’s screen the same as a tablet: backlit and reflective? > > And as someone else has asked (but not had answered as far as I can see): can you put the Kindle app on the Nook? (I would expect not.) Yes, it’s a tablet-type screen. I wouldn’t expect to see an authorized Kindle app for the Nook for obvious reasons, but if you root it you can run the generic Android Kindle app (though it might be a bit flaky, not being optimized for the device). ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-e-book-readers-e-ink-vs-back-lit-color/562304/62 "2011-04-21T17:30:46Z")
> [@Blackberry](#): > > Out of curiosity, what is it that you were doing with Calibre? Because I find it very user-friendly, but the only thing I use it for is to strip the DRM from library ebooks and then send them to my Kindle. I don’t use it to organize my collection or anything. There are a bunch of options on it that I don’t have any idea what they do, but I don’t know what else I’d want it to do for me anyway. Well, organizing the collection is what I’d LIKE it to do. I also tried to use it to load a freely-distributed public domain ePub book that I couldn’t get to load right. I’m confident I probably could with more tinkering, but the necessity of tinkering turned me off. I try to avoid using things I couldn’t explain over the phone to my wife. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-e-book-readers-e-ink-vs-back-lit-color/562304/63 "2011-04-21T17:53:36Z")
I have an iPad and recently bought a Kindle (1 week ago)… I LOVE the Kindle, and have had no problem accessing or converting books using Calibre… Overdrive, Guttenberg, and Torrent sites have provided me with more books than I can read in a year… The eInk is amazing, and makes my iPad seem like a glowing lead brick. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-e-book-readers-e-ink-vs-back-lit-color/562304/64 "2011-04-21T19:32:08Z")
> [@phungi](#): > > I have an iPad and recently bought a Kindle (1 week ago)… I LOVE the Kindle, and have had no problem accessing or converting books using Calibre… Overdrive, Guttenberg, and Torrent sites have provided me with more books than I can read in a year… > > The eInk is amazing, and makes my iPad seem like a glowing lead brick. I concur. I’m having a challenge finding a use for my iPad at all, as blasphemous as this seems to people these days. I originally thought it’d replace my Kindle, but in a head to head comparison, the Kindle is simply the superior device for reading books. The iPad is a neat device and all. I just have no use for it. I find typing emails with the virtual keyboard to be cumbersome. I also don’t play computer games, and maybe that’s one of its draws. I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-e-book-readers-e-ink-vs-back-lit-color/562304/65 "2011-04-21T19:55:32Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Yes, it’s a tablet-type screen. I wouldn’t expect to see an authorized Kindle app for the Nook for obvious reasons, but if you root it you can run the generic Android Kindle app (though it might be a bit flaky, not being optimized for the device). I’ve done it and the kindle app works nicely on the nook. I’ve even read a few books on it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-e-book-readers-e-ink-vs-back-lit-color/562304.md?page=3)