Barnes & Noble may have slated June 10th for Nook Touch availability, yet shipments have arrived decidedly early — hitting both pre-orderers and retail outlets starting about the 3rd. I’m not sure why the $139 e-Reader has me so fired up, but it does. Perhaps it’s the vacuum of gadget news ahead of the E3 gaming convention and Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC). Regardless of reason, I’ve made several trips to the B&N with the sole purpose of checking out the 6″ Nook Touch.
First off, the (infrared) touch screen technology performs much better than expected and is surprisingly usable. Combined with B&N’s superior interface, the Nook Touch outperforms the similarly equipped Sony Readers. It should also come as no surprise that the touchscreen UI surpasses Amazon’s Kindle physical 5-way rocker, Menu, and Back buttons. In fact, the virtual keyboard is even an improvement. Without a cover, the new Nook feels great in the hand. The contoured soft touch rear and super light weight make it very comfortable to hold with one hand, and page turning can be accomplished via screen taps, swipes, or the narrow, elongated bezel buttons. Although the lightweight plastic also gives the Nook something of a cheapie feel compared to say Sony’s metal enclosure.
As far as rendering goes, something slightly bothers me about the margins and justification in a way I couldn’t pinpoint without having my Kindle with me. Additionally, the improved e-Ink transitions have been oversold by Barnes & Noble. When the text fades in/out for page turns, it is indeed an improvement. But it only does that for a few pages at a time before you’re hit once again with the traditional, somewhat jarring screen flash. In my short period of testing, it’s not clear if frequency is determined via reading speed or content. Otherwise, it’s the current and solid e-Ink Pearl screen variant… that B&N’s competitors also utilize, featuring 16 shades of grey and improved contrast over previous editions.
If I were in the market for a new e-reader, I’d give serious consideration to the Nook Touch over the Kindle 3. Yet, how far away is the Kindle 4? Also, as I previously mentioned, dropping the web browser found on the prior edition is a disappointment. It wasn’t great, but seems like it’d be handy to have around in a pinch. And it surely interests me more than firing off reading highlights to my non-existent “Nook Friends.” Perhaps I’m not the target audience. But my mom is. And if her Kindle 3 were to die today, I’d get her a replacement Nook Touch solely for that more natural touch interface.
So those are my initial impressions after not actually having lived with the device or reading any books. For other short term experiences, also sans case or cover, check out these more extensive official Nook touch reviews:
Engadget
The new Nook is a bit of an enigma, in a sense, simultaneously adding more features while attempting to return to the simple reading experience missing from tablets like the iPad and Nook Color. It succeeds on both accounts.
Marco Arment
It’s easier for Amazon to achieve Nook-like hardware design than for B&N to achieve a Kindle-like ecosystem, so it’s much more likely that the next Kindle will be a better fit than the current (or next) Nook.
This Is My Next
The new Nook enters a highly competitive market, but it’s still a world ripe for new and better ideas — we’re still waiting on the perfect reader. I don’t think the Nook is The One, but it offers up some nice improvements over the standard formula.
PCMag
Hands down, the Barnes & Noble Nook Touch Reader is the best dedicated ebook reader available right now. It’s inexpensive, provides a fantastic reading experience, lasts an insanely long time, and accesses the giant Barnes & Noble library.
Gizmodo
If you’re looking for a no-nonsense e-reader that’s easy to use, connects to an online book store, handles your side-loaded content (like PDFs), lets you interact with other friends who use the Nook store, and rarely has to be charged up, you will love the Simple Touch Nook.
Laptop Mag
Barnes & Noble’s second-generation Nook is a big improvement over the original, which we liked quite a bit. It matches Amazon’s Kindle in style and design, but is even easier to use because of its touchscreen.
CNET
Is the new Nook better than the Kindle? That’s what a lot of people are asking and the short answer–at least at this moment–is arguably yes.
I’d definitely check out Marco’s thoughts above (and thanks for that link Chucky). I, too, noticed some UI quirks and non-intuitive functions like having to tap an article headline versus the more finger friendly excerpt to pull it up. But it still beats the Kindle. (And I’ve been disappointed with most digital editions of newspapers and magazines, other than fullon webpages, across the board.)
Chucky, regarding the possibility of smudging, my hands were relatively clean and the touchscreen has more a matte finish than say a smartphone or tablet. So I suspect smudging would be less of an issue than a glass or shiny plastic screen. During my short time, it never came up as an issue.
“Chucky, regarding the possibility of smudging, my hands were relatively clean and the touchscreen has more a matte finish than say a smartphone or tablet. So I suspect smudging would be less of an issue. During my short time, it never came up as an issue.”
Good to know. That concern had always been why I’d been bearish on touch e-readers.
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“Perhaps it’s the vacuum of gadget news ahead of the E3 gaming convention and Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC).”
Good lord. The last 36 hours of speculation and hints coming out of the Cupertino-sphere have left me utterly exhausted. Big and interesting things possibly afoot.
I’ll have to do something like buying some Sudafed and cooking it up to keep alert for the actual 1pm streaming…
Shame that DRM has people locked up. Kindle owners couldn’t realistically consider a switch, in my case, I’d be jettisoning hundreds of books.
If you re-read books and only have one device, yeah the locked down ecosystem is a problem. My mom is a voracious reader and suspect she rarely to never re-reads a book (on purpose). I’m probably in the same boat and could move on. Worse case scenario, I could re-read on a Kindle app.
Chucky, yeah so many crazy, rumored potential iCloud permutations. But I’m simply most interested in improved iOS alerts and maybe a homescreen of glancable info. I’d also like to see AppleTV inherit a more agnostic iOS implementation and resultant app store. Should be interesting…
“But I’m simply most interested in improved iOS alerts”
Highly likely.
“and maybe a homescreen of glancable info”
Likely.
“I’d also like to see AppleTV inherit a more agnostic iOS implementation and resultant app store.”
Unlikely. Someday, perhaps.
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The big breaking speculation is Kahney’s story. If true, then iCloud just got interesting to me for the first time.
If true, Cupertino is adopting the Plex Media Server model, which I like.
If true, you’ll serve your LAN and WAN from a Time Capsule (for the newbies), or from a Lion OS X box (for the pros). You run your own Dropbox-replacement server. You run your own Music server.
If true, it’d be the first good news out of Cupertino in many moons, from my POV. I like the whole hub/spoke dealee.
(And if true, DRAM manufacturers are going to be unhappy campers today. No need for your phone or touch or pad to load up on the local storage.)
And that’s not all. The plugged-in, Cupertino-shill blogger Gruber has been dropping unsubtle hints about the depth of Twitter integration in iOS 5, and Dave Winer made the logical leap that maybe Apple is buying Twitter today.
Lion, iCloud, and iOS 5 all smushed up together in an hour and a half livecast marks the end of the Mayan calendar. Time to buy that Sudafed…
Looks like it IS a better eReader. For now I’ll still be sticking with the Amazon ecosystem. Both the lockin of the DRM and the better book selection. Most of the time I’m just using the next and prev buttons anyway…
It appears to be very promising. I have had Amazon’s Kindle for quite a while and am happy with it, but I do wish it could do a bit more.
Barnes and Noble’s Nook appears to be competitive in terms of readability, which makes a huge difference in my view. I am going to pay close attention to Nook and see how it all works out. Hopefully it will appear in store for people to take a test drive.
Oh, I recently came across an interesting way to get free shipping at Barnes & Noble. It is definitely worth checking out:
http://www.superfillers.com/index.php?store=barnes
Anyway, it is good that the ebook market has more choices than the past.
I’m waiting for the Nook hack to add the Kindle app.
If they can put Angry Birds on this thing, then I’m sure the Kindle app is just a short time away.
That’s what’s great about having your system based on Android.
Jeff, the original Nook is also based on Android and I’m not sure we saw many/any useful app hacks.
>>>Also, as I previously mentioned, dropping the web browser found on the prior edition is a disappointment.
It’s not dropped, just hidden:
http://mikecanex.wordpress.com/2011/06/07/nook-touch-has-hidden-but-functional-web-browser/
Good to know! I knew the functionality was partially there given what was previously stated about connecting to locked down access points. But who knew it’d be so easy to get at in other ways. At least until they turn it off. Wonder how well it works? May have to visit B&N again…
Just did a little more research… some folks on B&N’s forum are also discussing. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a back/forward button and no ability to bookmark.
http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/NOOK-General-Discussion/N2E-Built-in-Web-Browser-Access-It-Works/m-p/1058166/message-uid/1058166#U1058166
@Dave — I believe the flash happens every 5-6 pages. Even in preview videos you could see it, but having a flash every five pages is still better than flashing every single time :)
I think, this is an excellent move by B&N to clearly distinguish their two offerings – a $139 eInk Touch and $249 Color tablet. I have a Nook 3G and Nook Color and am still pretty tempted to get Touch just because it’s smaller (first-gen Nook and Nook Color are similar sizes) and I don’t have to jump through hoops to look up a word.
For those reluctant to move from one ecosystem to another (e.g., Amazon B&N), there are always options like this — http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/01/how-to-strip-drm-from-kindle-e-books-and-others/
But, as pretty much everyone else has pointed out, Amazon is almost certain to reveal Kindle 4 featuring same tech. They are also supposedly working with Samsung on an Android tablet device.
One thing I’m finding very interesting is that B&N has been able to catch-up and twice one-up Amazon (with Color and with Touch) despite B&N’s late start and not being a tech company.
Ivan, I was able to see it more frequently in my limited testing and the number of pages seemed to vary. Of course, I was flipping them fast as I wasn’t really reading and also many featured opening pages/pictures which could have some impact. I assume it’s getting loading up in memory…
@Dave — I’ll check it out when I visit my B&N, but all materials and reviews (e.g. This is my next…) I’ve seen say six pages. Perhaps you’re right and there’s some caching going on while reading a page. Don’t think they ever claimed that there’s no flashing period, so I’m not holding it against them.
@ Ivan,
I wouldn’t say that B&N has one-upped Amazon.
The Kindle 3 has been selling for almost a year now and given the features that the Nook Simple Touch removed- no 3g, no web browser, no music or audiobook playback…. for some people, I don’t think that a touch screen- an idea that Sony had and implemented over a year ago- is enough to overlook these issues.
@Vi — by “one-upped”, I meant B&N produced HARDWARE one-generation ahead of Amazon’s rumored introduction: Kindle 4 is rumored to use same touchscreen tech as Nook Touch and Amazon Tablet is supposedly something along the lines of Nook Color.
Now, a big question is whether Amazon will lose anything by waiting to release Kindle 4 or their tablet. Kindle 3 sales are spectacular, so I think they’re fine on that end. But I hope they release the tablet sooner than later. They really have a great opportunity to answer Apple since they have similar offerings — books, magazines/newspapers, music, videos, and app store. By customizing Android heavily to make it even easier to use and pushing device on Amazon.com’s front-page, they’ll should do very well.
One of the very best offerings by Barns & Noble with their nooks is not even mentioned!! Did you know that you can have up to six nooks on one account? I now have four nooks; one for me, my wife, a close family friend, and my mother. We are all reading books for my one account all at the same time! How economical is that! Now I’m going to buy the new touch nook and it will be also be a gift to a family member and it will come with the 100+ books in my account. So for any of you with family members also thinking about e-book readers, you would be crazy not share one account. By the nook, then another one and another one…