# The Nook takes a beating in the NY Times



## Eric C (Aug 3, 2009)

The Kindle comes out smelling pretty sweetly by comparison...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/technology/personaltech/10pogue.html?ref=personaltech


----------



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Oh, this is a good one to pass along to those people who are really annoying me by telling me repeatedly that the Nook is going to be "so much better" than my Kindle....


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I like David Pogue, and I hope every media shill who put the Nook on their top ten devices of the year before actually seeing one reads this.  This is a very complete review and he seems to have actually done some research.

I have to say, I didn't find the Nook I tried again today to be nearly as slow as he describes, although I think others on KB have described it as very slow. And I don't see the Nook's color screen as so much of a replacement for the keyboard (although it does that too) as a replacement for the Kindle menu sytem.  I kinda liked navigating with it today.

I didn't like that it took me two clicks to get into a book today--one to select the book from the list and the next click to get past an information page for the book.  Of course, one it's a book in progress, you get to it by clicking on the "Now Reading" menu choice, and it takes you to your current position.

Betsy


----------



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Betsy, where are you finding one to look at?


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

The B&N next to Springfield Mall on Loisdale Rd.   They know me by sight (but don't know I have a Kindle).  If you go, try to talk to the dark haired, bearded guy.  Super nice.  The skinny blonde is hard sell and gets on my nerves.  Two times today she said things that were just wrong, when I pressed her, she then said "well, I don't know much about it."  

Betsy


----------



## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

Too funny... and the lack of TTS at all?  That's a big hit for the Nook.  I didn't even realize they didn't offer that.  Even if their touted extras like the trading of books and reading in their store over wifi were not full of tiny print and red tape making them nothing more than laughable bullet points to use in their ads, I don't think I'd trade TTS for it after it saved my butt last week by reading me a chapter in a book I was about to be tested on as I drove to school.  Add all the other problems and I think them rushing it to market is gonna hurt more than help... I just hope for the sake of the early adopters that they pull through and keep those promises of updating things.


----------



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Getting it out early at all cost while promising updates for later is going to lose them a lot of good will, I think.



Betsy the Quilter said:


> The B&N next to Springfield Mall on Loisdale Rd. They know me by sight (but don't know I have a Kindle). If you go, try to talk to the dark haired, bearded guy. Super nice. The skinny blonde is hard sell and gets on my nerves. Two times today she said things that were just wrong, when I pressed her, she then said "well, I don't know much about it."
> Betsy


That's the one I go to... less than five miles from my house.... when I was last there, they didn't have one yet, though. There's a bearded guy that special-ordered books for me a couple of times, maybe that's the one. 
(BTW I highly recommend the Thai Cafe across the street from there. )


----------



## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

Here's the video that goes with Pogue's review:

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/12/10/technology/personaltech/1247466066592/i-am-nook.html

I posted it in another thread about Pogue's review when I was looking for this one.


----------



## Guest (Dec 11, 2009)

So the "color screen" I keep hearing about isn't actually color books, just a little color navigation strip? Sounds like this thing is a mess.

But I actually do hope they get it sorted out.  Competition, GOOD competition, is good for consumers.


----------



## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

I did a little Nook test driving last night and wasn't impressed. As others have said, the touch screen is slow, non-responsive, or sometimes just wrong. The test unit at my local B&N only had a few public domain books and _The Lost Symbol_, so I touched the Dan Brown icon, but the eink screen above showed the arrow pointing to the adjacent book, Jane Austen. As hard as I tired, I could not get the nookie to select the Dan Brown book. Bad, buggy Nook.

Also, again as others have said, the menu system is not intuitive. As I developer myself, I know the impotence of creating simple, user friendly interfaces, lest I want calls about "How is this supposed to work?" That said, I could not find where to change the font size after searching a few minutes. Bad Nook.

I only played around with it for a 15 minutes, but my overall impression was the touch screen was a dud. I think B&N released the software without enough System & User Acceptance Testing.


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Susan in VA said:


> Getting it out early at all cost while promising updates for later is going to lose them a lot of good will, I think.
> 
> That's the one I go to... less than five miles from my house.... when I was last there, they didn't have one yet, though. There's a bearded guy that special-ordered books for me a couple of times, maybe that's the one.
> (BTW I highly recommend the Thai Cafe across the street from there. )


They had one as of Monday. Sometime when I'm there by myself, I'll try the Thai Cafe or perhaps we can meet there.  I love Thai, and my husband does too but it doesn't love him. 

Betsy


----------



## Jason in MA (Apr 28, 2009)

Haha I loved the video. "I am Nook!"


----------



## davem2bits (Feb 2, 2009)

Does B&N offer a 30 day return full refund on the Nook?  Or a 7 day no questions asked return on their ebooks?


----------



## Meriflower (Nov 28, 2009)

davem2bits said:


> Does B&N offer a 30 day return full refund on the Nook? Or a 7 day no questions asked return on their ebooks?


You can return it within 14 days of receipt and there is a 10% restocking fee.


----------



## Varin (May 12, 2009)

davem2bits said:


> Does B&N offer a 30 day return full refund on the Nook? Or a 7 day no questions asked return on their ebooks?


And e-books are not refundable; it's in their FAQ- ebook sales are final.


----------



## Selcien (Oct 31, 2008)

While I do agree with his overall point, that B&N rushed the nook to the market, I think that he could have done a much better job writing the article. There was no need to undermine everything that nook got right by saying that it's ripped from the Kindle, actually, most of what nook got right, I don't recall him mentioning anything about how the nook can use DRM'd content purchased outside of the B&N store. He also used a pricing study that was done in early November, and while I doubt that B&N is now truly competitive with Amazon's pricing, they have been making improvements.

I had the nook pre-ordered, even pre-ordered an Oberon cover for it, but I canceled the nook, asked Oberon if they could change the nook order to a K1 order (they said that it wasn't a problem, the K1 cover should be here by tomorrow). So it's not like I felt that the device was worth buying, however, I do believe that they made a good device, it's just the current state of the software that is dragging it down.

B&N has made a lot of mistakes with the way it's handled nook and they rightfully deserved to be criticized for it, but by the same token, people like this Pogue fellow should also be criticized for reviewing the nook the way he did, I mean, it had a negative slant even before he got to the parts describing the problems with the device. And the video? I expect to see that kind of crap on video game sites and while it reiterated a couple of key problems with the device, it was clearly done to mock B&N, not to show the device and let people decide what to think based on that.



Meriflower said:


> You can return it within 14 days of receipt and there is a 10% restocking fee.


From what I understand the restocking fee only applies if the nook has been opened. Obviously not useful for trying out the device but at least those that send it back because of the reviews will be able to get all of their money back.


----------



## Stellamaz (Aug 12, 2009)

For me, the deal-breaker on the Nook is that color touch screen. I like the kindle because I think it actually _does_ disappear while reading, and I don't think the color screen would do that for me; it would drive me crazy down there at the bottom of the page all the time.

Now, if there is a way to make that color screen "go away" ... thereby removing the distraction and increasing the size of the reading screen, that would negate everything I just said. Anyone know if it works that way?


----------



## vermontcathy (Feb 18, 2009)

Stellamaz said:


> For me, the deal-breaker on the Nook is that color touch screen. I like the kindle because I think it actually _does_ disappear while reading, and I don't think the color screen would do that for me; it would drive me crazy down there at the bottom of the page all the time.
> 
> Now, if there is a way to make that color screen "go away" ... thereby removing the distraction and increasing the size of the reading screen, that would negate everything I just said. Anyone know if it works that way?


The color screen turns off (goes black) after a set amount of time. You can set the time. If you want to do anything like look up a word or add a bookmark, though, you have to turn it back on.


----------



## BeastMD (Feb 13, 2009)

I can confirm that the screen goes off after a set amount of time(well, most of the time). 15, 30, or more is available in settings.  Sometimes it stays on forever and you have to go to another menu and back before it goes away. Once its out you have to press the power button or on the home "area" of the touchscreen.


----------



## klopus (Dec 8, 2009)

Stellamaz said:


> For me, the deal-breaker on the Nook is that color touch screen. I like the kindle because I think it actually _does_ disappear while reading, and I don't think the color screen would do that for me; it would drive me crazy down there at the bottom of the page all the time.


I know what you are talking about. On Nook it's not on all the time and it dims after delay but it wakes up at a slightest provocation  . And, yes, when I was playing with Nook trying to read the text on a main screen the bright glow of bottom LCD was very annoying and distracting. I somehow found a way to decrease its brightness and it became better.

Like others said my impressions were also that at firmware 1.0 Nook's LCD interface is maddeningly buggy, slow, imprecise, unresponsive and convoluted. Though I'm sure much of this will be fixed with firmware updates. B&N already promised a fix next week and another one in early January.

But frankly all above wouldn't have stopped me from going Nook over K2 if not for the lack at B&N eBook catalog of the stuff I want to read (mostly technical finance). Strong points in Nook's favor is most of all open ePUB (even with DRM) but also replaceable battery and WiFi.


----------



## teiresias (May 26, 2009)

The thing that is perplexing to me is that it's clear the Nook seems full of little things in the UI experience that could (I say could, you see) have been fixed with a little more time in the oven, but they seemed to want to get this thing out the door.  Buy why the rush to get the thing out the door?  Inventory levels essentially make the Christmas shopping season moot in terms of getting a bump from this time of year - you can't bump when there's no inventory to fulfill it.  All they've done is get a half-baked product into the hands of a (few?) reviewers and some notoriously fickle and particular early adopters just prior to the holiday season for no real reason other than to say "we made it before Christmas, buy one as a gift!!!!!" when the reality of the situation is good look trying to buy one at the moment.


----------



## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

One thing I can't quite figure out.... They knew when they were rushing the thing out the door that they didn't have enough units to cover the Christmas orders. So why bother releasing it early with all the bugs?

And another thing: people keep referring to this as a _first generation_ device. I just don't see it that way. E-ink has been available for years, and so have touch screens. At the very least the two items _independently_ should work just fine. To have a page turn lag on the e-ink screen reportedly as poor in some cases as 3-seconds is inexcusable.


----------



## BeastMD (Feb 13, 2009)

pidgeon92 said:


> One thing I can't quite figure out.... They knew when they were rushing the thing out the door that they didn't have enough units to cover the Christmas orders. So why bother releasing it early with all the bugs?
> 
> And another thing: people keep referring to this as a _first generation_ device. I just don't see it that way. E-ink has been available for years, and so have touch screens. At the very least the two items _independently_ should work just fine. To have a page turn lag on the e-ink screen reportedly as poor in some cases as 3-seconds is inexcusable.


Agreed. The page turning is also much slower when there is the slightest graphic on the next page, like even little pictures or graphic script character that some books have at the end or beginning of chapters. It goes to like 10 seconds sometimes. The kindle does the same thing but its a very slight difference.


----------



## kevindorsey (Mar 4, 2009)

pidgeon92 said:


> One thing I can't quite figure out.... They knew when they were rushing the thing out the door that they didn't have enough units to cover the Christmas orders. So why bother releasing it early with all the bugs?
> 
> And another thing: people keep referring to this as a _first generation_ device. I just don't see it that way. E-ink has been available for years, and so have touch screens. At the very least the two items _independently_ should work just fine. To have a page turn lag on the e-ink screen reportedly as poor in some cases as 3-seconds is inexcusable.


They release it early to capitalize on christmas shopping.


----------



## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

kevindorsey said:


> They release it early to capitalize on christmas shopping.


I had _that_ much figured out. The issue is that they knew they didn't have enough units to ship for Christmas.


----------



## Anju  (Nov 8, 2008)

With all the problems I am sure the nook will be a viable competitor, but I agree with Verena, they knew they didn't have enough in stock so why rush something that had not been quality controlled to get it out there.


----------



## suicidepact (May 17, 2009)

I'm not even halfway through the article but I found this really interesting:

“Over one million titles?” Yes, but well over half of those are junky Google scans of free, obscure, pre-1923 out-of-copyright books, filled with typos. (They’re also available for the Kindle, but Amazon doesn’t even count them)."

At least they got someone who was knowledgeable in the area in which he was talking, what a refreshing change of pace after all the recent reviews from people who had no clue about the subject.


----------



## BlackRose (Dec 4, 2009)

pidgeon92 said:


> I had _that_ much figured out. The issue is that they knew they didn't have enough units to ship for Christmas.


They didn't care! They only want you to commit to purchase a nook..........one less sale for amazon one more for them!


----------



## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

BlackRose said:


> They didn't care! They only want you to commit to purchase a nook..........one less sale for amazon one more for them!


Not necessarily.... We have two Kindles, and I will also be the recipient of a nook for Christmas.

... and, with all of the poor reviews, now there are a lot of people who are canceling their nook orders.


----------



## Nytngale (Dec 20, 2008)

I received my Nook today and can attest that all of the complaints are not accurate. It's a beautiful device, responsive and functions as well as my K1 (which when first released was under similar circumstances in it's availability to market i.e. sold out quickly with subsequently long wait times). The WiFi option is great and makes shopping a breeze, the page turns are just as fast as my K1, and the LCD screen is a nice visual and functional interface pad which goes black when not in use. It does not turn on unexpectedly either. I think some of the devices released to the stores might have had issues, but those delivered to the customer are goign to help increase competition in the market which is a good thing. I love my K1, but the Nook is a great device too. We purchased one to have in addition to the K1 as my husband and I share and decided we wanted to try something else. We also have a Sony PRS 505 which is a solid device and so far, no one - Kindle or Nook can top Sony's organizational system which is far superior in its ability to organize titles by genre.


----------



## Nytngale (Dec 20, 2008)

I also wanted to add that my Nook arrived 5 days before my listed ship date.


----------



## suicidepact (May 17, 2009)

I showed this review to coworker who was leaning towards a Nook rather than a Kindle and he said "yeah, but Nook still has color.." So it seems some people will still be impressed by the shiny colored lights, even if they do nothing and drain the battery quicker.


----------



## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

I listened to part of the Kindle Chronicles podcast.  Len Edgerly and the guest were discussing the Nook.  Both said it was slower than K2 and suggested it might be good for light reading; that it had the "wow" factor, meaning it looks flashy or sexy.  Both men have Nooks and Kindles.


----------



## kevindorsey (Mar 4, 2009)

Nook is probably still a version away from being a real competitor. They have the customer base, but not the unit to compete


----------



## OhSoAppy (Nov 28, 2009)

I went an looked at the nook at a local B&N, I was not impressed, and was very happy I went with the Kindle(new e-reader owner, in general!). Costumer service was awful, but I can't say I have ever had a good experience with B&N. I ordered an audio tape for a co-worker, and paid for the 3 day shipping(early Wednesday morning). They didn't get the gift until late the following week. Well beyond 'three days'. The people at the Nook stand didn't even say a word to me. Not even a 'Hi'  . Apparently, they don't want to sell them?? 

I will say, I did like some things on the Nook. When I scrolled through their library, I liked how it gave a quick description of each book before you start reading. I also liked how their pages looked. 

I had a hard time figuring out the Nook though, and how to work the top and the bottom part(the touch screen). The Kindle I was able to figure out without reading the manual. I would definitely have to read the manual on the Nook. 

Look wise. I love the look of the Kindle. I still don't understand why so many think it is an 'ugly' e-reader. I much prefer the real keyboard, over the touchscreen. Finger print galore on the Nook at the store...I hate that with touchscreens!! I really hope Amazon doesn't go the touchscreen route. 

Either way, there are certainly nice things about the Nook. If we could take a little from Nook, a little from Sony, and a little from Kindle...we would have the perfect E-reader LOL


----------



## jaybird123 (Mar 10, 2009)

3 seconds to turn pages?  That is a total reading buzzkill.  
Fail!

It's too bad, some competition would be nice.  Other competitors don't seem to realize that it's about the reading experience, not bells and whistles.


----------



## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

Nytngale said:


> I received my Nook today and can attest that all of the complaints are not accurate. It's a beautiful device, responsive and functions as well as my K1 (which when first released was under similar circumstances in it's availability to market i.e. sold out quickly with subsequently long wait times). The WiFi option is great and makes shopping a breeze, the page turns are just as fast as my K1, and the LCD screen is a nice visual and functional interface pad which goes black when not in use. It does not turn on unexpectedly either. I think some of the devices released to the stores might have had issues, but those delivered to the customer are goign to help increase competition in the market which is a good thing. I love my K1, but the Nook is a great device too. We purchased one to have in addition to the K1 as my husband and I share and decided we wanted to try something else. We also have a Sony PRS 505 which is a solid device and so far, no one - Kindle or Nook can top Sony's organizational system which is far superior in its ability to organize titles by genre.


It may well be as fast as your K1 - I have a K1 also, but we ordered a K2 to give to my daughter for Christmas and we've been playing with it a bit. The K2 is noticeably faster than our K1s. And it was obvious in the Consumer Reports video that the K2 turned pages faster than the Nook.
In the long run I hope the Nook succeeds - competition is good for all of us who love our ereaders and want them to be successful, and want to see them to continue to be upgraded and improved.
(And I agree - I have a Sony 300 and love the "collections" feature. Hate their bookstore, though, and their higher book prices - although I haven't downloaded the new version yet.)


----------



## jaspertyler (Feb 13, 2009)

I went to BN tonight to check out a Nook.  I really wanted to like it because I like gadgets and figure it would be pretty easy to convince my husband I NEED one.  Haha.  I liked the way it felt in my hand, sort of curvy on the back.  Other than that I was not very impressed.  It takes FOREVER to load books.  It says "formatting" when you load a book.  I opened a bunch of different books on Kindle 2 and turned some pages in the time it took to just load a book.  I thought maybe it was the first time that the book was loaded so went out of it and loaded again and it had to format it again.  

I was really trying to make it work better for me so that I could get one but I left disappointed and will not be buying the Nook.  I guess that means more Kindle books!!  Yay!


----------



## mtcoco (May 2, 2009)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> They had one as of Monday. Sometime when I'm there by myself, I'll try the Thai Cafe or perhaps we can meet there.  I love Thai, and my husband does too but it doesn't love him.
> 
> Betsy


 Hi, that B&N is close to my house too!!! I was there last night (for coffee on a way home)... I'll check that Thai Cafe too.
so far... my favorite Thai is "Rice and noodle" on Franconia Rd, and My Thai in Old town, Alexandria!

Mtcoco


----------



## Nytngale (Dec 20, 2008)

jaybird123 said:


> 3 seconds to turn pages? That is a total reading buzzkill.
> Fail!
> 
> It's too bad, some competition would be nice. Other competitors don't seem to realize that it's about the reading experience, not bells and whistles.


The NYT author's review was totally inaccurate - the LCD panel responds very quickly and page turns are brisk. The operation of the device is very intuitive and user friendly. Not sure what the demo units were like - but the author was not using anything remotely like the nook that I just received.


----------



## Varin (May 12, 2009)

Nytngale said:


> The NYT author's review was totally inaccurate - the LCD panel responds very quickly and page turns are brisk. The operation of the device is very intuitive and user friendly. Not sure what the demo units were like - but the author was not using anything remotely like the nook that I just received.


I tried out the nook at a B&N and didn't find Pogue's review to be grossly inaccurate....


----------



## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

I also found the page turning quite slow when I tried one in a B&N store.


----------



## Nytngale (Dec 20, 2008)

Anarel said:


> I tried out the nook at a B&N and didn't find Pogue's review to be inaccurate....


The devices in the B&N stores do not in anyway compare to the real nook. I received mine earlier this week and have found all of the reviews to be inaccurate. Try a real nook that someone has received and you will find that the device is great in form and function. My device completes all functions briskly and I have not experienced lockups, crashes, slow page turns or any of the other issues reported in the reviews of the demo units. There has already been a firmware update that has corrected any previous issues. Everyone can choose their ereader - I own a Kindle, Sony and now nook and find the nook to function as well as the other 2. One of my friends has a K2 and there is no difference between the functions of the K2 and the nook.


----------



## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

Nytngale said:


> The devices in the B&N stores do not in anyway compare to the real nook. I received mine earlier this week and have found all of the reviews to be inaccurate. Try a real nook that someone has received and you will find that the device is great in form and function. My device completes all functions briskly and I have not experienced lockups, crashes, slow page turns or any of the other issues reported in the reviews of the demo units. There has already been a firmware update that has corrected any previous issues. Everyone can choose their ereader - I own a Kindle, Sony and now nook and find the nook to function as well as the other 2. One of my friends has a K2 and there is no difference between the functions of the K2 and the nook.


I've read many reviews from people who have received it that are having problems. Not demo units, although I don't understand why the demo units would be any different or not "real". It doesn't make any sense that they would put inferior units as demos on the very first day.

My experience with the nook at the store was also similar. Couldn't get a book to open, other book took forever to format, very slow page turns, slow response time.


----------



## Selcien (Oct 31, 2008)

Nytngale said:


> The devices in the B&N stores do not in anyway compare to the real nook. I received mine earlier this week and have found all of the reviews to be inaccurate. Try a real nook that someone has received and you will find that the device is great in form and function. My device completes all functions briskly and I have not experienced lockups, crashes, slow page turns or any of the other issues reported in the reviews of the demo units. There has already been a firmware update that has corrected any previous issues. Everyone can choose their ereader - I own a Kindle, Sony and now nook and find the nook to function as well as the other 2. One of my friends has a K2 and there is no difference between the functions of the K2 and the nook.


You're sounding as if you're desperate to make all the bad mojo go away, it's not that simple.

I forget what the guys name is, but there was a twenty five minute video showing the nook. Whatever your experience, the formatting on that nook clearly took a while, and the page changes clearly took longer than my K1 as there was a delay between the time the guy pushed the forward/backward button on the nook in the video to the time I pressed the same button on my K1, and my K1 beat it every time.

As for this firmware update. I've been paying attention to the nookboards, they're saying that the nook has not been updated, and will not be updated until next week. I don't know where you go to check but you should be able to find out what version of firmware is on your nook, if it's 1.0 then it has not been updated.


----------



## Meriflower (Nov 28, 2009)

There's been a lot of talk about the nook lately so I went into a B&N today and was able to check them out.  They did have 3 on display and all of them were available so I didn't have to wait which was nice.  One thing I noticed is that the nook was heavier and the font was different than the Kindle's.  I did experience the sluggishness that has been reported by other users.  The LCD was all marked up with finger prints and didn't respond to all my finger swipes.  It then told me it needed to be recharged which I reported to a woman behind the counter.  I then tried the others and received the same result, slow.  IMO the "world's most advanced eBook reader" is just...ok.


----------



## suicidepact (May 17, 2009)

My first impression when I first saw the color display was that it was nice but that it would needlessly drain the battery quicker. I guess having a $30 replacement battery might be helpful in that case.


----------



## Technotica (Dec 12, 2009)

I don't think the possible market size for the Nook  can be as big as that for the Kindle either.
The international market for the Kindle is probably much smaller than the US market but the Nook has several features that only work in B&N stores, and in my country Germany for instance we don't have any B&N stores, so there is no reason to buy the Nook even if they'd make it available here. Outside the US I would think Sonys readers are more popular than the Kindle but the Kindle is know by more people since everyone knows amazon. 

So I guess the Nook will be a US only device for a very long time which can't help it n the competition against the Kindle.


----------



## PaulGuy (Jul 9, 2009)

Well my nook arrived this past Tuesday and I’ve had some time to play with it. First of all the nook is a beautiful device from a hardware perspective. The e-ink display has nice contrast and the ability to select different fonts (3 currently) is a nice feature. The refresh rate or page turns is slower than my Kindle but not absurdly so. The touch screen interface is a nice approach but its response time seems inconsistent. Sometimes it works as one would expect, sometimes it seems very sluggish. I had no trouble figuring out how to use it and for the most part it is pretty intuitive. Some functions though are painful to use compared to Kindle’s interface the most obvious being the dictionary (word look-up) which is cumbersome and slow compared to Kindle’s joy stick type navigation and definition preview window. 

The first day with my nook went smoothly and had me wondering what everyone was complaining about. Then came day two. On day two I turned on my nook and it’s functions had slowed to a crawl. I’d tap the “My Library” icon and nothing would happen. After waiting 5 seconds I tried again then 3 seconds later the red icon flashed white, and took me to my library. Finally it froze up completely and I could not get it to work at all. I checked the owners manual looking for instructions on how to re-boot and could find none, in fact, there isn’t a trouble shooting section at all. Calling customer service I was told how to re-boot and that fixed the issues. The battery life seems very short (2 days?) so I’m putting it into airplane mode when I don’t need wireless running. The color screen at factory brightness is too bright and a distraction from the e-ink screen but is adjustable. I set mine at 10% brightness which seems just right. The page turn swipes are nice when they work annoying when they don’t. 

But all these problems are a result of B&N’s unfortunate choice to rush a v1.0 product to market before it was ready. The design and concept of the device seems sound to me and the device is a beautiful piece of hardware. The problems cited can and I’m sure will all be corrected via firmware upgrades so the nook in my opinion will be Kindle’s first real competition once the bugs get sorted out and it gets “up to speed”. 

Many of us employ screensaver hacks on our Kindles but you don’t need them with nook. Just create a set of images in a folder and put that folder in the screen savers folder. Your set will now appear as an option to select from on the menu, nice, easy. 

The B&N equivalent to Amazon’s “Manage your Kindle” webpage is pretty spartan and has a long way to go compared to Amazon's. Oh yes, as an example of a not fully evolved concept, you can download eBook samples just like the Kindle, but once on your nook you can’t delete them! You have to go on-line to your account to do that. 

All said nook is not the “Kindle Killer” so many in the tech world seemed to be dreaming of (for reasons I don’t get) and the Kindle in contrast seems much more polished and easy to use. However once the nook reaches it’s true potential which I feel can be done via firmware not nook2, it will be a real, viable competitor which can only be good for everyone.


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

jaybird123 said:


> 3 seconds to turn pages? That is a total reading buzzkill.
> Fail!
> 
> It's too bad, some competition would be nice. Other competitors don't seem to realize that it's about the reading experience, not bells and whistles.


I don't know whether the size of the book being read or something else impacts that or not; the Nook I tested in Springfield, VA did not take anywhere that long to turn pages. I really didn't notice it being slow compared to my K1.

Betsy


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Thanks, Paul--

good, objective, and useful review.

Betsy


----------



## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

Okay... the whole sluggishness of the Nooks instore and Paul's experience with his second day has me wondering if the Nook's Android interface is getting backed up with programs running in the background.  I know this happens with my phone, but it hardly ever slows down to the point of being more noticeable than a jerk in the screen scrolling and even then I can just go and kill running apps.  But I am betting that's an issue which also means there would be a power management issue if that's the case.  They're going to need to learn to rope in that software so things don't build up and lag down the device or give the user a way to manage it themselves.  There is hope though... Motorola put out a Droid update that made the already quick and responsive menus more so, so maybe Barnes and Noble can manage the same thing sooner rather than later.


----------



## suicidepact (May 17, 2009)

Great review PaulGuy, very informative.


----------



## kevindorsey (Mar 4, 2009)

Ah, that's a proper review Paul.  Gracias.


----------



## earthlydelites (Dec 12, 2009)

thanks for the review, very informative. Not that International buyers have much of a choice regarding e-readers (although if it was a TOP device there are ways around all the tape)....

But from what i've read in this post, it seems as though I'll be happy with my Kindle, rather than bothering around with the nook


----------



## Adele (May 30, 2009)

Is it true the Nook has no audio?


----------



## PaulGuy (Jul 9, 2009)

Adele said:


> Is it true the Nook has no audio?


It plays MP3 files, it has no text to speech.


----------



## Adele (May 30, 2009)

PaulGuy said:


> It plays MP3 files, it has no text to speech.


Thanks Paul. That would be a deal killer for me, I love listening to my newpaper on the way to work.


----------



## suicidepact (May 17, 2009)

At the risk of looking like an idiot earthlydelites, (or at least lazy for not searching for it,) what is a TOP device?


----------



## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

suicidepact said:


> At the risk of looking like an idiot earthlydelites, (or at least lazy for not searching for it,) what is a TOP device?


I think she means that if it was a wonderful, top of the line, with no peer device, it might be worth it to some people overseas to get around the limits of domestic-only ownership. The way I understand some people did with the US-only Kindle using Amazon gift certificates and such.


----------



## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

Yeah, I think it stands for Top Of the Pile but I could be way off.  But it makes sense because these are the devices that would have the following and the community doing hacks and such for it like the Kindle.


----------



## happyblob (Feb 21, 2009)

> But all these problems are a result of B&N's unfortunate choice to rush a v1.0 product to market before it was ready. The design and concept of the device seems sound to me and the device is a beautiful piece of hardware. The problems cited can and I'm sure will all be corrected via firmware upgrades so the nook in my opinion will be Kindle's first real competition once the bugs get sorted out and it gets "up to speed".


I think you hit the nail on the head, Paul. Solid review. I'm also having some issues with poor print rendering. It's not quite ready yet but looks promising.


----------



## Jen (Oct 28, 2008)

I have to say, when I first saw the Nook e-mail from Barnes and Noble I had instant envy and wanted it.  I did say to myself that I already have a kindle, and it functions fine, I don't need it......but I still thought it was cool.  
My Nook envy is now completely GONE after I went to B&N on saturday.  It is ridiculously clunky - I couldn't even get it to load the one magazine they had pre loaded on it - once I finally figured it out I absolutely could not believe how slow the page turns were.  Yes, the screen contrast is slightly crisper, I like the fact that you can change fonts - but not nearly enough to make me even think of making the switch.  The lady at the counter asked me what I thought and I told her it was surprisingly inferior to the kindle - and she said that EVERYONE that has a kindle said that.  
I'm so glad that I satisfied my curiosity and envy - I'm more happy with my K1 than ever!


----------

