I call out the launch software in particular because Barnes and Noble says that it plans to fix some of the performance issues through a firmware update. With its launch software, the Nook stumbles. Beyond being a navigation tool for the E Ink screen, the touchscreen has an on-screen keyboard for data input (such as for searching or for adding notes) and colorful cover thumbnails that you can scroll through if you flip past the list on the E Ink screen above the touchscreen, the E Ink screen moves to the next page to catch up with where you are in the LCD. The touchscreen also adds a splash to color to a device that remains locked in a world consisting of shades of gray. Where the Kindle’s buttons might feel retro in the iPhone era, the Nook’s touchscreen offers a highly adaptable, context-sensitive means of navigating the device. The touchscreen obviates the need for a keyboard or for multipurpose buttons or other navigational aids, such Kindle 2’s physical keyboard and five-way joystick navigation. The Nook’s greatest design is its innovative use of a touchscreen strip below the 6.5-inch E Ink electronic paper display that dominates the device. And ultimately, despite its progressive design choices and clever navigation tools, the Nook feels like a first-generation product in need of a fair amount of future refinement.
Both models are of similar size, have similar prices, and are the only models that provide direct-from-device wireless access to each bookseller’s e-book store (Sony’s Reader Daily Edition will add wireless connectivity, as will other readers to be announced at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show.Īssessing the Nook necessarily involves evaluating storefront access, title selection, and title presentation as much as it does appraising the device itself. The Nook’s most directly competes with Amazon’s Kindle 2 ( ). The Nook (due for wider availability in January 2010) joins a growing array of e-book readers, led to date by Amazon and Sony. And the Nook will indeed let you read electronic books but unfortunately, not everything about this device makes for a comfortable reading experience. Barnes and Noble’s Nook e-book reader evokes images of curling up in a corner with a good book near a cozy fire, perhaps with a mug of hot cocoa close at hand.
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