A Look at the Nook Color

I haven’t been a big e-reader fan, as I still get comfort from turning off my digital displays and getting my hands around a good hardcover or bendable paperback. (Yes, I enjoy ruining the spines on my paperbacks. Deal with it.) That said, I was duly impressed during my short hands-on time with the new Nook Color at last week’s Pepcom event in New York. As a dedicated reading device, this tablet has potential.

First off, the size, look, and feel of the Nook Color are all immensely satisfying. I have serious reservations about buying an all-purpose tablet with a seven-inch screen, but an e-reader is a different matter. The Nook feels like a book. It’s sturdy and weighty enough without being heavy, and the screen size gives you plenty of real estate for reading both books and periodicals. Regarding the display, there’s simply no other word for it than gorgeous. It’s kind of like going from standard-def to HD video, particularly where magazines and children’s books are concerned. On the library page of the Nook Color, you get three “shelves” to peruse, letting you set up different content categories that are easy to scan at a glance. Click on a children’s book, and it pops up automatically in landscape mode for better picture viewing. Magazines benefit from both pinch and zoom capabilities, and an option to read just the text of an article.

Although the Nook Color is built on the Android platform, it hardly feels like it. You get apps through a Nook-branded shop, and the Nook rep I spoke to made it clear to me that they are working with developers on apps that are focused primarily on content. Although you can get simple games and listen to music on the device, that’s not what it’s designed for. As it turns out, that’s a good thing and bad thing. It’s good because the device is beautifully made for reading. It’s bad, because it’s unclear just how many of these types of gadgets people will buy. At $249, the Nook Color is expensive enough to make you think think twice about whether it’s worth the price, or whether it makes sense to take another jump up and get a full-fledged tablet.

Dave has some reservations about the Nook, including fingerprint magnetism and sluggish software. I didn’t handle one long enough to make a definitive judgement in either case, but the time I did spend with Nook Color didn’t lead me to conclude either was a major issue. On the other side of the coin, the LendMe function that lets you share books with friends is a major plus, and the Nook has a fun social feature that lets you cut and paste passages of text into Twitter, Facebook, email, etc. Social reading: it’s not just for book clubs anymore.

Ultimately, whether a Nook Color is right for you depends on what you want out of a tablet. If you want games, GPS, movies, and more, go with the iPad. If you’re a reader who’s ready to make the digital switch, the Nook Color is a seriously good bet this holiday season.

Check out more in-depth coverage here:

• Engadget: Nook Color Review
• CNET: Barnes & Noble Nook Color
• Gizmodo: Barnes & Noble Nook Color Review
• PCMag: Barnes & Noble Nook Color