On my last trip to US, I wanted to buy a Kindle book reader, but the pain of ordering it online forced me to by Barnes and Nobles’ Nook. There is not much difference in Nook and Kindle if you consider the book reading experience but Nook does not have a physical keyboard as Kindle does. I looked at other options such as Sony Reader and Kobo. Nook is a great choice if you want to use this book reader in US as it offers some good freebies but if you want to use Nook in India and do not have a US credit card then it is a pain. Barnes and Nobles online bookshop does not allow you to buy books using Indian crdit cards! I bought it despite knowing this fact as I was not relying on doing a lot of online shopping from Barnes and Nobles. I just wanted to transfer my collection of ebooks which I can transfer to Nook and read.
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Recently I got my hands on a friends’ Infibeam Pi2 and this seems to be the best ebook reader for Indian market. It has more features than Nook and uses the same e-ink technology; the best thing you can buy books from Infibeam bookstore at Indian bookprices (lower than what you pay at Amazon or B&N). The new version has touch screen, so for those pampered by the touch screens of their smartphones and iPads it does gives you a better experience than any Nook or Kindle.
Hi Santosh,
When you say that a particular ebook reader is the best one for the Indian market, do you mean because it allows access to books from Infibeam at Indian prices, or are there other reasons too?
Country specific machines was something that never occurred to me, but it’s definitely worth being aware of.
Also, I’d never heard of Infibeam before, although having watched the video, the Pi2 looks good. However, I guess it’s not available here, as I can’t find it anywhere. It certainly seems very straightforward, which is useful if you’re not too technically minded!
I wish every ebook reader came with an explanatory video like the Pi2!
Hi Santosh,
Thanks for the article. Two months back, i bought Amazon Kindle and it’s amazing. Will shortly try Infibeam’s Pi2 too.
How’s the experience of reading PDFs on Nook? On Amazon Kindle, PDFs are not too great a read through its experimental pdf reader.
I spent some time with kindle and realized that nook scores over it on a number of features. The PDF reading experience is surely better. The nook also scores over kindle on music feature. Nook gives you option to select music files and see what you are going to play.. kindle just plays the music.
Yep.. agreed….
Thanks for the article. I am planning to ask my cousin in the US to buy either a Kindle or a Nook for me. After reading about both, I am leaning towards Nook. Infibeam may be better for the Indian market, but don’t you think it is better to stick to well known brands. I don’t want to buy any ebook reader, I would rather go for the best. I am also not too keen on purchasing ebooks online. I would just like to transfer ebooks from my computer. Which one do you suggest?
If you are not that keen on buying ebooks online then you can go for the new NOOK that is full touch screen (Priced at USD140 approx.).
dear Santosh,
I am also looking for a good ebook reader. it is just to transfer my pdf files in particular. I was tempted to buy “wink XTS” ereader from dcmedia,banglore. it costs rs8000 iinm. I am not employed and does not have even a debit card. what I wanted to tell is, which ebook reader will you suggest to people like Me, who wants a ereader for basic reading usage? I have My relatives in Us and they can buy Kindle ereader for Me. I was told, Kindle needs a username registered and regarding warranty(god forbidden) claim comes, you have to send back to US!
I am not well prepared for this. Is there any sub-10,000rs e-reader which is viable for My use?
I know of Wink Xps/Xlite, Infibeam’s Pi ereader are the 2 options available in India which You can buy without worries. but, Kindle is something everyone assures. what about Nook and other options.
Thanks in Advance,
Roshan from Kerala
@Roshan go for Kindle latest version.. that will serve your purpose.
Hi, I am confused between Nook and Kindle 3. I plan to move my own ebook collection and buy minimal books online. I have lot of text books. Which one lets you make notes etc on the pdf?
Thanks for your help.
close ur eyes n buy simple Nook touch it’s awesome
i really love the design of this 🙂
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Hi, i want to buy an ebook reader, pref kindle, but ordering from ebay or indiaplaza seems too risky as i might get a second hand product, how is the nook, can you get it in india?
hey m selling my 3 month old nook simple touch wifi ( no ads ) in 8200 + free 8gb sd card (if pick up from from malviyanagr , new delhi then 200/- off ) if u interested u can call me 9654787117
nook is behind the kindle just in 2 things first is if book don’t have cover then it show stupid book icon which don’t look good
and other thing is u can’t turn screen @.@
if u have no problem with these 2 things then i think nook is best choice it’s design is really simple n awesome 😀
n u can get kindle in min 12000 in nehru place
but nook is not available in india i bought this from ebay in 12500 /- (nook never launched in india )
n remember u can get nook in 10000 but this will be with ads . No ads nook will be 2000+ more expensive
Hey guys i am selling my Simple nook touch wifi in 8200/- (real price is 11000 for ad free i think )
+ i am giving free 8gb memory card (which cost 300-400/- ) + free shiping (if u live in Delhi then u can pick up from malviya nagar n get 200/- off )
if anyone interested they can call me 9654787171
or add me on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000505966523
Forgot to tell it’s just 3 month old n no scratch ( atleast i din’t find any )
i am selling this caue i no longer pirate stuff from net so it’s no use for me sicne there are hardly any site rom where i can buy digital ebook :
I have been browsing online greater than 3 hours today, but I never found any fascinating article like yours. It is pretty value sufficient for me. In my view, if all site owners and bloggers made good content as you probably did, the internet will likely be a lot more helpful than ever before.
We have two great India e-reader, Infibeam Pi and Wink, unfortunately we Indians think that US products are superior (as when we talk only of Kindle/Nook etc.). I have Wink Xlite and it is an amazing product for the cost (Rs. 6990 online). It has only USB connectivity option, but it is very easy to copy the existing DRM-based ePUB or PDF titles you purchased or borrowed from a library. Also its battery life is amazing. I have just seen the Infibeam PI, but read a lot of good reviews about that. Another misconception is that, for these e-readers you can only buy books from their respective sites. That is not true. You can buy a book from kobobooks.com and can copy to Wink, for e.g. It is unfortunate that the vendors of these products fail to promote these products.
I personally own an Infibeam Pi and a Kindle (4th Gen). The pros of kindle is obviously the latest “pearl” eink screen which has noticeably whiter background, better fonts and faster response. For me online purchase of books from Amazon does not have much value since most of the books I read on them are the ones which I already own and are in my comp. Still the ability to transfer them to my kindle wirelessly free of cost is an aspect which I simply love. However Infibeam PI (original) is a formidable ebook reader. It was available in the market from early 2009, a time where an eink book reader was an alien technology in India. I have extensively user it and am very satisfied with the aftersales service from Infibeam.com. However lately Infibeam has not kept pace with the aggressive price cuts from Amazon making it significantly costlier than kindle in, 2012. Hope they keep innovating pricewise and qualitywise on a product which was undoubtedly the pioneer of sink ereaders in India.