Continued Nook Classic Updates

[KeithK]

Will the Nook classic continue to get software upgrades or will it just ride off into the sunset?

[Nom-de-Nook]

This is a great question given that BN has said they are retiring nook WiFi and nook 3G.  Any official answer from the BN side?

[JulieG8r]

Along the same lines, I would also like to know if there is any chance that original Nook owners will be able to get any benefit from the MyNook portal that was mentioned to be coming soon.

[beckie66]

I was really hoping for an update, too.  Some improvements with the browser, Nook Friends, Recommendations...

[Kristina1306]

I would also like to continue getting technical updates for my Nook. Especially getting the internet option to work correctly would be great. I would also like to be able to stream music from sites like Pandora.

It seems as though Nook Color and the new Nook have replaced our 1st generation Nooks. We were your first customers, B&N, the ones that believed in your product. I feel like we are left hanging with old software and no new accessories. My husband and I bought the 1st generation Nook within a few weeks of each other, so we spent a lot of money. I would like to see a return on my investment. Even computers receive constant updates and are said to last 3-5 years. Why do I get the feeling that our product has already been scrapped after the last update in November of 2010, just 13 month after it's release???

Please, B&N, remind us why we helped Nook to become what it is today and din't buy a Kindle instead. Don't forget your loyal customers who cannot afford to buy a new version of your product every 12 month. We would hate to buy a tablet and start ordering ebooks somewhere else..... 

[Coffeecat]

I really, really, really hope B&N will give us just 1 more update.  I'm not asking for much; just please fix the current highlighting/notes system.  Right now, trying to highlight something on my Nook is practically a minigame in itself. 

[mickeyfinn]

Gee, it looks like everybody is too busy to answer us obselete Nook owners.

[SLevine]

Hi All--

We will continue to support our entire family of NOOK products. In fact, a big differentiator for NOOK vs. other competitive eReader and tablet products is our customer service.  We call it “The Barnes & Noble Promise.” 

Warranties and extended warranties will continue as to their terms (one year for Manufacturer’s warranty and two years for the Barnes & Noble Extended Protection Plan) and will be supported via our Customer Service: in-store, online through digital chat and My NOOK™ as well as 1800-THE-BOOK.

Between our highly trained customer service team, and our 40 thousand booksellers, we can teach, demo, trouble-shoot and add value to the customer experience beyond what any other company in consumer electronics and digital media can do today. 

[Nom-de-Nook]

Not to be rude but all that means is BN will honor warranties (which they are legally obligated to do) and try to be helpful.  OK I get that is possible considered support.  But the question wasn't about whether or not BN will "support" the N1E but whether or not there will be any further updates to fix continued "bugs", poorly designed features (such as the utterly useless note taking), and to allow us to take advantage of some new BN features.

Can you answer that?

[Ya_Ya]

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Nom-de-Nook wrote:

Can you answer that?

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Seriously?  Any thinking person knows she cannot and they won't.  Why bother to ask?  You already know the answer and so does everyone throwing temper tantrums about it.

[Nom-de-Nook]

Any thinking person?

Really?

We got a non-answer to a specific question.  I think it is fair to ask whether or not they are going to answer the question (or are able to) or are just going to give non-answers.  As it is, the answer is much like answering the question "is it raining" by saying "we will continue to replace all umbrellas under warranty and assist customers who have difficulty using their umbrellas"

But thanks for the insult.

[Kristina1306]

Well, it is what it is. We will most likely not get an answer or new updates. Someone on a different blog wanted to trade in their Nook for a Nook Color and was answered by a blogger that you cannot trade in a 6 month old computer for the newest model. But, here is the difference: Computers receive regular updates for as long as they work. So, if my Nook will work for 5 years, then I think it would only be fair to receive updates for that long. After all, there have only been 2 updates (maybe 3) as far as I remember. Not much to fix everything or give us some extras. Nook Color keeps getting new apps and new this and that. Just because our Nook is 12 month older it should not be put in a corner and forgotten.

Personally, I don't want a Nook Color. I love my Nook and I want to be able to use it and receive periodical updates until it dies of age related causes. The only other thing I wish for would be a way to read at night. None of the available night light work without blinding me.

So this is my opinion. B&N's opinion is probably that Nook 1st GEN no longer makes money for them. The new Nook and Nook Color do, so they get the updates and we get a "sorry". 

[Ridiculosity]

B&N could learn a lesson from Apple in this N1E updating hullabaloo.  When new iPhones are released, they typically offer software updates for the previous generation for about a year before phasing them out.  My wife has an iPhone 3G and when the iPhone 4 came out, she got updated to iOS4 whereas the original iPhone (2G) didn't anymore.  Now, when iOS5 comes out, she won't get that update. 

B&N should do the same.  Provide an update to make the device a little more current and then let it go.  It would make a lot of sense for them to give N1E owners MyNook capability to expand the user base and fix a few bugs.  There are a few bugs in mine that drive me insane.

On a personal note, I bought a Nook 1st Edition 4 months ago for 3 reasons.  Most important was the software upgradability, followed by ePub usage and the user-replaceable battery.  I have to say, I'm more than a little annoyed that 2 of the 3 things that brought me to Barnes and Noble for the Nook aren't going to exist anymore.  I don't think they will provide anymore updates, and if they're phasing it out, then batteries aren't exactly going to be available either.  Truth be told, if I had known in January that these things would be phased out, I would have bought a Kindle and just converted my epubs to mobi and dealt with it.  At the time I felt the upgrading capabilities and battery replacements were a better deal than a Pearl screen, and frankly I feel abandoned.  If things continue as they are, you can bet that when my Nook bites the dust I won't be buying an N2E or even an N3E...I'll be buying a Kindle. 

My Nook is also a 3G model, and I use the 3G frequently.  If B&N revokes 3G access their fate is sealed for me.  I would never buy a B&N device again. 

[RHWright]

@Kristina1306,

While your point is well taken, and I generally agree that some form of software update support would be nice for at least the next 12 months, I have to disagree on one thing:

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Kristina1306 wrote:

Computers receive regular updates for as long as they work. 

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No, not really. For a few years after, usually. But "for as long as they work"?

Case in point: My laptop that I purchased in 1994; if I pull it out of the closet and plug it in, it still works. Battery won't hold a charge, but the AC adapter still works. It runs just fine, and it will boot to Windows 3.1 just fine. Will run any old 3.1 compatible programs I have just fine, too.

But due to hardware limitations, if I could even find the OS, I might be able to upgrade to Windows 98 or 2000 at best. Windows XP and beyond? Forget about it.

And while there are many people in various online forums who, I am sure, could offer advice and informal support, Microsoft is probably not going to be any help if I have a problem. They certainly aren't coming out with any "last minute"/end-of-life improvements for a nearly 20-year-old OS or piece of hardware.

So, yes, I think a reasonable amount of technical and software support is to be expected. But as long as someone, somewhere out there has a device that's still working? That might be a bit much.

Just my 2 cents.

[Serendip]

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Kristina1306 wrote:

Well, it is what it is. We will most likely not get an answer or new updates. Someone on a different blog wanted to trade in their Nook for a Nook Color and was answered by a blogger that you cannot trade in a 6 month old computer for the newest model. But, here is the difference: Computers receive regular updates for as long as they work. So, if my Nook will work for 5 years, then I think it would only be fair to receive updates for that long. After all, there have only been 2 updates (maybe 3) as far as I remember. Not much to fix everything or give us some extras. Nook Color keeps getting new apps and new this and that. Just because our Nook is 12 month older it should not be put in a corner and forgotten.

Personally, I don't want a Nook Color. I love my Nook and I want to be able to use it and receive periodical updates until it dies of age related causes. The only other thing I wish for would be a way to read at night. None of the available night light work without blinding me.

So this is my opinion. B&N's opinion is probably that Nook 1st GEN no longer makes money for them. The new Nook and Nook Color do, so they get the updates and we get a "sorry". 

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That isn't correct... they do NOT receive updates as long as they work!

I have a netbook with WinXP that hasn't received updates for quite some time, it is no longer supported. I have a 1st gen iPod Touch, that iOS couldn't be updated for some time, it is no longer supported.

They both still work, and work great...and I'm okay with that. It's MY choice to keep using outdated, no longer supported hardware, rather than get new ones. When my modem and router were beyond end-of-life, and I was noticing they weren't doing what I needed them to, I did replace them - again, my choice.

My Nook is three months old... I hope, and expect, it will continue working for a very long time. And we have already been told that they will be supported with repairs and such through the warranty periods. But I would never expect updates, or think I was entitled to them.

[Ridiculosity]

I do expect updates, but not a prodigious amount spanning the next year or two.  When you tout your device as android based, there is a degree of expected upgrading.  Isn't one of the Hallmarks of Android the fact that it's upgradeable?  And while they have made improvements to the software, there are still bugs and glaring weaknesses.  I really do expect, at the very least, the bugs to be addressed and I think there should be an expectation of a software update in that sense.  I don't agree that they should just suddenly abandon the device...I'd feel the same way if Apple decided not to let me have iOS5 on my iPhone 4 because there's a new iPhone 5. 

[ellsbells930]

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Ridiculosity wrote:

......  When you tout your device as android based, there is a degree of expected upgrading.  Isn't one of the Hallmarks of Android the fact that it's upgradeable?  And while they have made improvements to the software, there are still bugs and glaring weaknesses.  I really do expect, at the very least, the bugs to be addressed and I think there should be an expectation of a software update in that sense.  I don't agree that they should just suddenly abandon the device...I'd feel the same way if Apple decided not to let me have iOS5 on my iPhone 4 because there's a new iPhone 5. 

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Exactly.  One of the selling points that BN listed was that they could continue to give updates so the consumer wouldn't have to buy a new device.

They do need to fix bugs & weaknesses.  One is to return the "last page read" feature.  Another thing that I would like to see is "unshelved" books be listed at the beginning instead of the end.  When you have a few hundred books, it's a pain to page through them all to get to the unshelved ones in order to shelve them. 

There are other things they could do with the shelving system like have sub-shelves & the ability to create shelves in your BN account (that would then get transferred).

[Nom-de-Nook]

Sam just posted an FAQ indicating that the 3G service will be continued.  No answer or mention of firmware updates which could mean anything or nothing.

[deemure]

One of the reasons there may not be a suitable answer for all of you is that at some point firmware stops being upgradable.  Any new OS will most likely not work that well on lesser hardware.  And the older OS may not allow for the functions you want.  For instance, I cannot play DVDs on my Windows 3.1 PC.  And they can't add color support to the N1E.

As far as newer things like NOOKfriends and all, well these are new features that are part of what makes the new nook desirable and marketable.  It helps to sell the new nook.  It would be doubtful that they would put time, effort, and money into a device they no longer plan on making.  That is reality. It is not fiscally sound.  And they don't only answer to customer's wishes, but to stockholder's demands and expectations. 

And for the person that keeps saying what Apple will do for iphones, well any upgraded firmware will only add on features that are compatible with the iphone's hardware.  Concurrent with that is that Apple has full control of what features any version of their OS will allow and will program accordingly.  B&N is using an OS they did not create and basically create a program or set of programs that works on top of that which uses a certain amount of resources just to be.  They are bound by what the device and this OS will allow-memorywise, storage space wise, and all other resources wise.

Beyond that, some of these overlay programs do not all work in quite the same way.  If you ever used Windows 3.1 and made the leap to Windows 95, you might understand.  Everyone said that 95 was the first to move away from Windows on top of MSDOS, but that was not quite true.  It still was on top of MSDOS to an extent, but did some things differently.  And in so doing, it used more resources, it needed more "things" just to boot up and so on.

[Ridiculosity]

I don't expect B&N to provide updates with new features.  They did plenty of that with 1.5.  Plus I understand that they can't put the same firmware on N1E that's on N2E because they're different versions of Android.  Maybe saying "Firmware Upgrades" is a bit of a misnomer; in reality we should be discussing "Bug Fixes" or "Firmware Tweaks" or something in that vein.  The N1E, functionally, is about as good as you're going to get with that combination of hardware and firmware.  Any added functionality would be a bonus and BN is under no obligation to provide it.

My N1E has a fair amount of bugs.  It crashes far too frequently.  Quite frequently (maybe every 20 page turns or so), I'll hit the next page button and move forward two or three pages instead of 1.  Some aspects of the UI are laggy and the process of switching from BN Library to My Documents is tedious and sluggish.  These are the things I expect B&N to address in some way.  People are going to be owning these devices for a long time, and even if BN doesn't make them anymore, I think they're still obligated to provide a basic level of improvement for a short period of time.  I think to even say "Continued Bug Fixes" is misleading...just shore up a few of the glaring inadequacies in the original device, even if just for customer loyalty.