Galaxy Tab E Nook vs. Kindle Fire 10: Which Pocket-Friendly Tablet Gives You More Bang For Your Buck?

The Galaxy Tab E Nook and Kindle Fire 10 go head-to-head on the touchscreen market, targeting the reading public. What book lovers – or e-book lovers, for that matter – want to know is, which one can deliver the better experience?

To start things off, the Galaxy Tab E Nook has a 9.6-inch display, whereas the Kindle Fire 10 has a 10.1-inch screen. Neither of them really tops the other (a bigger screen doesn't necessarily mean it's better), but considering the market, their price for a pretty large screen makes them both good. They also have 1280 x 800 resolutions.

Both of the tablets come with a 16 GB built-in storage that's expandable up to 128 GB with a microSD card, which means that users will be able to fill it with an abundant amount of e-books, apps and movies. Now for their chipsets, Samsung packed in a Qualcomm APQ 8016 running at 1.2 GHz. Amazon, on the other hand, crammed in MediaTek's MT8135 SoC with two A15 and two A7 cores clocked at 1.5 GHz and 1.2 GHz respectively.

E-book readers will probably hold on to their tablets for quite a while, so Samsung fitted its tablet with a textured plastic back so that it will be easy to grip, and it only weighs 1.2 pounds and is 0.33 inches thin. Amazon went with a sort of shiny finish, which makes the Kindle Fire a bit slippery, but it is thinner and lighter at 0.30 inches thin and 0.95 pounds, boasting that it is "lighter and almost 2x more durable than the latest iPad Air."

Regarding RAM, the Kindle Fire 10 is behind just barely at 1 GB compared to the Galaxy Tab E Nook's 1.5 GB. For the GPUs, they are both fitted with satisfactory units, which means they can run games decently but not seamlessly. Their operating systems (OS) are ordinary in which the Kindle Fire 10 is installed with an Android 5.0 Lollipop and the Galaxy Tab E Nook with a basic OS.

Their cameras are so-so, but when it comes to great pictures, a tablet doesn't exactly pop up in mind, does it? Samsung equipped its Nook e-reader with a 5 MP rear and a 2 MP front camera, and Amazon used a 5 MP rear and a not-so-good front camera, so selfie takers will not be thrilled about either device's front-facing camera.

For battery life, Samsung says that its tablet can run up to 12 hours of use, and Amazon claims that its device can run for 8 hours straight with continuous use.

Aside from the specs, their built-in apps and features define the competition.

The Galaxy Tab E Nook comes with a multi-window feature, which allows users to use multiple tasks at the same time, and it is preinstalled with Microsoft Office apps. The tablet also stayed faithful to the Galaxy appearance. It is almost identical to the Galaxy Tab E in terms of appearance and specs, but the Nook version comes with a custom Nook launcher and a preloaded Nook store, which will offer personalized recommendations and allow book lovers to buy e-books from Barnes & Noble.

Now for the Kindle Fire 10, Amazon went for a more Android-like interface, getting rid of the well-known carousel; however, some people were not happy to hear about this. Its most notable improvement is probably its faster Silk browser.

The battle doesn't end there, though, because when talking about e-readers, content is king. Amazon is more experienced in this aspect, offering an extensive range of e-books, apps, movies and games, as well as bargains and services such as Amazon Prime.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab E Nook is priced at $249.99, but when you bring in an older Nook, you can get $50 off. Also, with select Kindle, iPad and Samsung tablets, you can get a discount anywhere from $25 to $200, potentially reducing the price tag and making it a $49 tablet instead.

The Kindle Fire 10 will cost $229.99, and there is a $244 model that will exclude sponsored lock screens. The device comes in orange, blue or pink, but the largest models are only available in black or white.

Here's a quick summary of the specs and differences of the two devices.