Two Nook Touch Shortcomings

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I’m sure many of you are familiar with that gnawing new gadget urge. And it seems to have descended upon me once again. In fact, I’ve blown my own eReader market segmentation theory and have begun contemplating picking up the new greyscale Nook Touch ($139) once it’s released next month. Or perhaps Mom needs a Kindle upgrade. At least those were my thoughts prior to doing some additional research…

The primary selling point of Barnes & Noble’s new Nook is the infrared touchscreen, which theoretically provides a much more efficient and natural interface without impacting screen readability. But another advertised enhancement over Amazon’s Kindle lineup is “smoother page turns and minimized flashing” … yet, those improved page transitions may be a bit of a hack. As we’re told it’s a few pages of graceful text fade… followed by the traditional and somewhat jarring E-Ink screen flash. Nook Touch’s implementation should be an improvement, possibly handled via more memory or a more powerful processor, but the inconsistency (and flashing) isn’t ideal.

Given the Nook’s light weight and exceptional battery life, I also thought it might be useful for someone like my mom to have around for webmail while on the road… as I haven’t yet convinced her to go with a smartphone. However, it turns out that the web browsing functionality of the original Nook has been dropped from the 2nd Edition Nook. While the original browser isn’t great, it is present – and surely better than nothing. I’d think a touchscreen could only improve its function and utility. If nothing else, the decision reinforces my thought of lower-end and higher-end tablet stratifications. But my gadget craving will have to be met elsewhere.

27 thoughts on “Two Nook Touch Shortcomings”

  1. B&N doesn’t provide users a full-on web browser in the new Nook Touch, but they will provide that functionality for folks logging into WiFi hotspots that require web-based interaction:

    http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/NOOK-General-Discussion/N2E-Wifi-at-hotels-airports-amp-other-places/m-p/1042226#M73671

    The All-New NOOK *can* also connect to public Wi-Fi hotspots, including those that require a Terms Of Service (TOS)/entry page before connection. In this case, the All-New NOOK will display the login page served from the local network, and will allow you to sign-in, accept any terms and conditions, or enter any other required information so that you can connect to that public Wi-Fi hotspot

  2. Ugh. It slices. It dices. It’s a floor wax and a desert topping. But that’s not all. It also includes a magnifying glass, scissors, and corkscrew. So here is Chucky’s Simple Summer ’11 Buying Guideâ„¢:

    If you want a mobile web browser, get a tablet with a nice touchscreen – aka an iPad.

    If you want a mobile ebook reader, skip the touchscreen, skip the frills, KISS, and get a Kindle.

  3. “I also thought it might be useful for someone like my mom to have around for webmail while on the road… as I haven’t yet convinced her to go with a smartphone.”

    Cupertino makes this nice cheap, highly portable product for occasional webmail while on the road that they refuse to call an “iTouch”. Get one for your mom and set up the home screen for her…

  5. Chucky, we’ve already got an iPad in our household and my mom has a Kindle. Visually, I’m not sure how my mom would do with a 3.5″ screen, which is why something larger is tempting. But your point is valid… I want the Nook to do something it may not be entirely suited for (despite the prior edition supporting it). Given its size, weight, and cost it’d be pretty killer if it could.

    I played with the 7″ HTC Flyer a bit yesterday. I quite like. Well, I quite like at $350. For $500 as a tertiary (or less) screen, I can’t justify it. Maybe my urge will strike at the exact moment we see another 7″ Galaxy Tab refurb deal for about $200.

    So that covers the Internet functionality. But the Nook page turns are still a concern and possibly no longer a reason to ‘upgrade’ from a Kindle. We’ll have to wait and see what the finished product looks like next month.

  6. “I played with the 7″ HTC Flyer a bit yesterday. I quite like. Well, I quite like at $350. For $500 as a tertiary (or less) screen, I can’t justify it. Maybe my urge will strike at the exact moment we see another 7″ Galaxy Tab refurb deal for about $200.”

    It’s funny. I’m a heavy and proficient tech user, (I just set up my first functional Javascript to PHP to AppleScript bridge – yay!), but as a proud late adopter, I tend to initially adopt new tech platforms at around the same pace as your mom.

    – I didn’t go TiVo and HD until early ’07.
    – I still don’t have a smartphone.

    And I expect I won’t go Android until they make a product that you, Dave Zatz, can imagine successfully giving to your mom.

  8. I must confess that I am actually quite excited by the (admittedly remote) possibility of hacking this to run a full Android build like CM7. There’s something so steampunkishly awesome to have a machine capable of running a full Android build … in black and white :P

  9. rico, yeah I own a 2nd gen Kindle and I gave my mom a 3rd gen model. But the UI can be befuddling and tedious (for a senior) – and partially why I thought a more natural touch interface would work well with some basic browsing.

  10. @Dave,

    Since we don’t have detailed reviews of the Nook Touch yet, I wouldn’t touch it. Wait until Pogue or somebody has had one for a few weeks and writes about it. The reviews where the guys watched some spokesperson demonstrate it aren’t enough. You might even want to wait until you can see one in person. I suspect they’ll be available at your local B&N about the same time you would get your pre-order anyway. Play with the touch implementation and see if it’s adequate.

    I have a 3rd gen Kindle and quite like it, but understand the points you make about its ‘shortcomings’. Certainly the keyboard space could be put to better use, and the interface is not the best. But its tolerable. Honestly, I tried the web browser ONCE and then never used it again. Not sure these ePaper things are really designed for doing that task personally.

    As you say a 7″ tablet would be a nice alternative for your mum if she wants internet browsing, email and book reading. But if she already has a Kindle the third is adequately covered. Wait for lower prices. Certainly an iPad would be the best choice right now, but its still too expensive. I think the only really cheap option right now is a B&N Color rooted with Android, and not sure that would qualify as acceptable for your mom personally…

  11. Yeah, the fact that folks at the unveiling weren’t allow unrestricted hands on only about two weeks out from launch is a little concerning. I swung by our local B&N yesterday and they indicated they’d have devices the same time the pre-orders would arrive, not before. So there’s nothing to do but wait at this point as B&N PR hasn’t reached out. Still somewhat interesting that they’re reducing software functionality.

  12. Another important drawback I heard about is that the new nook won’t support mp3 and audio books… any idea about that?? of course we have the mp3 players for that, but its nice to read a book and listen to some music without fiddling with too many devices…

  13. Good catch, Sid. It does indeed look like they’ve dropped MP3 and audiobook support, along with the headphone jack. Wonder if they also did away with an external speaker. On one hand, I admire their singular focus on the reading experience. On the other, dropping features from an equivalent device is disappointing. I’m still most bummed about that web browser. Perhaps, they’ll add one back in at some point. Although they’re clearly pushing people who want more than just e-reading to the higher tier Nook Color.

  14. As everyone drives towards the target $99 price point, this seems like the sort of thing that is going to happen. Anything that isn’t required for the crucial task of reading books may get tossed for cost savings. Do we really need all this battery life? Isn’t some of this flash unnecessary if people are just reading text? Etc.

  15. “As everyone drives towards the target $99 price point, this seems like the sort of thing that is going to happen. Anything that isn’t required for the crucial task of reading books may get tossed for cost savings. Do we really need all this battery life? Isn’t some of this flash unnecessary if people are just reading text? Etc.”

    That’s what I want to happen. Get rid of the keyboard and replace it with more display real estate. Get rid of the touchscreen. Get rid of the web browser.

    Just give me a nice cheap elegantly functional ebook reader. If I wanted color, I’d buy the dead tree coffee table version of the book. If I wanted a web browser, I’d use a different device.

  16. Hey! Careful calling your betters “Seniors”, sonny.
    Bet your mom was not tech savvy before she became on of us old farts….

    Well back to my Kindle 2 which works fine for me, couldn’t see upgrading to KIndle 3 much less spending a another wad of cash on a Nook. Toyed with idea of a Nook Color to turn it in to a Honeycomb tablet but I have a almost perfectly OK net book. Not sure I would want to smudge the screen of a Nook with my oily fingerprints.

  17. Chucky might change readers after playing with this. Just got my hands on the new nook and it blows my kindle away. I was hoping I wouldn’t like it but it is the perfect size and it’s very responsive. As far as not having a web browser, thats fine. I don’t want those distractions when i’m reading. Who wants e-mail to keep popping up? That’s what our phines are for. E-readers need to focus on reading, for people who really love to read, not gadget guys who just need the latest thing. Now going to be a converted Kindle owner. Damn

  18. “Chucky might change readers after playing with this.”

    I hear what you’re saying, but I do love being an Amazon customer. Bezos’ operation is as good a vendor as I can possibly imagine existing. Also, I wonder about the smudging effect of touchscreens like the Nook.

    But the unsmudged Nook form factor does look good. As a proud late-adopter, I’ll give a serious look when they get to rev 2 on this form factor, if Amazon doesn’t play catch up and release the non-keyboard version I’m looking for.

    (A screen-only Kindle can work without a touchscreen or physical keyboard since I just want to read books I’ve purchased through my web browser on more full-functioned devices. Physical directional buttons can let you scroll through your already purchased library of books.)

  19. What I want to know is is it rootable? Can someone put a customized browser on it?

    I’m just about to order a device and it’ll be this one or the kindle.

    To all the fools that agree to this corporate tie-in crap: Isn’t it always better with an unlocked device with which you have more options?

  20. Marco has a pretty nice Nook Touch vs Kindle side-by-side review that’s worth a look, though he doesn’t address my screen smudging concerns…

  21. I’ve played with it several times this weekend and agree with much of what Marco had to say. Perhaps I’ll write up some hands on thoughts along with a review roundup tomorrow. The lack of email sharing and that hidden browser is still a deal breaker for me. But if my mom’s Kindle were to break out of warranty, I’d probably replace it with a Nook Touch.

  24. If you enter a Web URL into the search of the Nook Touch it takes you to the Web site and some of the functions work but it isn’t real usable. I’m sure Barnes and Noble would say to get the Nook Color if you want more bells and whistles over an excellent dedicated eReader. I have both a Nook Color and Nook Touch and I use them both almost every day.

  25. I had a nook 1st gen wi-fi and I never used the MP3 player, never used it to surf, and loved the screen to just read, read, read. I spend my life in front of computer screens and love my iPhone to do everything the nook doesn’t. I just bought a nook touch and I already love it. Very few places to get sand in (I live in the desert – the dust is everywhere); few moving parts (I killed several blackberry keyboards before going to the iPhone). The only issue I foresee is that some wifi spots need a browser to connect – like airports that give you free wifi but you have to watch their video ad first and accept their terms & conditions. Ditto some hotels. This might be a major issue for me as I spend a lot of time in hotels and airports. Luckily, most of our offices are close to a B&N :-) Email & Music = iPhone;Work & Surfing = laptop; Video editing = desktop; READING = NOOK Touch. As you can see, I am all about a purpose built solution. Yes, I occationally nook on my iPhone… but when I’m in research mode and just want to read, read, read… I’ve only had it for a few hours, but I am already in love. :-)

  26. I agree with Karla: if you just want to read, then Nook is your thing. The display is sweet, the turning speed is ok, although the two months battery life is a lie (a month, if that, if you want to read A LOT). The best of all: the micro SD card slot. Up to 32 GB of extra storage.

    But the web brwoser is still there. If you just type an address in the search dialog, the browser appears :)

  28. I love my nook simple touch. Great reader. I am going to root it soon however because of a VERY glaring problem: no ability to delete books on the nook itself. The only way to delete books (or samples) is online. Problem: There is a book and a handful of sample books on my nook that are IMPOSSIBLE to delete even online (not the manuals). They do not show up in my online library but they sure do show up on my nook. If you plug the nook into your PC you are not able to get to the actual storage location for th books so you cannot delete it that way either.

    I have been in communication with nook tech support repeatedly and as far as they are concerned the books I cannot delete don’t exist in my library…BUT THERE THEY ARE! So…I am going to root the nook, get into the real storage guts of the device and delete them brute force style. I am also going to install the kindle app.

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