Nook or Nook Color?

[MrToy]

I'm interested in buying my first ereader. The Nooks seem to offer the most quality for the money.

I've also looked at the Velocity Micro Cruz Reader at my local Borders, it seemed "pretty good" but not quite ready for prime time. User reviews on the internet have been all over the map. Some good, some horrible.

My main reason for wanting an ereader is FIRST for reading news articles on the web (I hate reading long articles on a computer screen at my desk), and SECOND for reading books. Any other capabilities would be OK to have but not essential.

Given these priorities, should I get a Nook Wi-Fi or Nook Color?

The Nook Wi-FI's main advantages seem to be long battery life, a user replaceable battery and lower cost. However, the browser looks very awkward to use. I don't need it for things like Facebook or anything fancy. Just for reading articles someplace more comfortable than my desk. Still, I want it to be more functional than frustrating.

The Nook Color seems to have better web capabilities, and the ability to orient the screen horizontally and vertically seems to be a major plus. But short battery life and the higher initial cost are concerns, especially these days.

I mostly read indoors at home, occasionally on the porch or patio under shade, so the type of display (e-ink vs. LCD) isn't particularly crucial, one way or the other.

So, experienced Nook users, Do you think the browser in the Nook Wi-Fi would meet my needs sufficiently or should I splurge and go for color?

[JamieOutlaw]

If you are mainly interested in reading news articles online, I would suggest you go with the NookColor, or save up a little more money and buy an iPad.  Accessing the web on a Nook is a pretty miserable experience

[very-simple]

I'll tell you what I do vis-a-vis news:

First, calibre - it culls the RSS feeds of most major news sources, including many blogs, and compiles them into easy-to-read publications.  You have to connect your nook to your computer to transfer these, but this is something I just do every morning as a routine (I have some sources I download daily, like the newspaper, and some I download weekly, like various magazines).

Second, dotEpub.  it will take the text content of an article you're viewing online and convert it into an epub format.  You can even put a button on your toolbar so that it's a one (or two) step process (I say two, because for multi-page articles, you're going to need to view as one page or view the "print" format first to get all the text).

When I run across a lengthy article that I'd rather read on my nook than my computer, I hit the dotEpub button in my bookmarks toolbar, and in 15 seconds, I have an epub version of the article sitting on my computer desktop.  You can sideload this directly to your nook, or use something like calibre to keep these organized.  

A third option, which I don't use, is to use the wifi browser to use a service like google reader, and when you find longer articles, star them for later or add them to instapaper - calibre has recipes available for both of these services.  I don't use instapaper this way, so it doesn't really work for me, but it might work for you.

I would agree, however, that straight browsing on the internet kinda sucks.

[NanaLou]

In a couple of weeks the NookColor will be shipped.  I would suggest you wait for the customers reviews and then decide between Nook and NookColor. 

[Katie_798]

I'm not completely certain but can't you get the newspaper through the daily on the nook classic?

If you can do that, I would definitely suggest the nook before the nook color!

[MrToy]

Thanks for the replies so far. I don't want to mess with loading articles onto a Nook before reading them. I'd prefer to just surf from my sofa and go through RSS feeds directly to articles. Still, I'd be interested in hearing from people who use the Nook browser regularly to see how  it works for them. The Nook color probably would work better, but I'm still attracted to the original for its substantialy longer battery life and lower cost. I might be willing to put up with some browser inconveniences for that reason.

I've also done a specs comparison between the Nook Color and the Velocity Micro Cruz Tablet, which is hitting the market about the same time. The Nook Color beats the Cruz Tablet on price, and screen resolution, but falls short on battery life and is more limited as to the document and audio formats it supports. Additional apps may fill those gaps, though.

[lovemyereaders]

If you are concerned about costs, I would stick with the Original Nook. I personally don't use the browser on it, because I don't like the way it is displayed.

The Nook Color is too new for us to really know how it will work. I've tried the Cruz, and it is pretty slow, I was not impressed.

The IPad is good, if you want to spend the money for it, but if you want the true ereader experience, stick with the Original Nook.

I guess its really a matter of preference, good luck.

[EvraVon13]

I like the browser but I mainly use it for reading things on my fovorite authors site I really like it. Get the NOOK classic,because it has a longer battery life etc.

[Artful]

Here's my two-cents....of which I know some will have a different opinion....

I have the Nook.  I love it.  But, just pre-ordered the NookColor.  Like you, I would primarily use the NC for reading books, magazines and online news articles, and general web-surfing.

The Nook has been great experience for reading books, especially outdoors and on beach vacations.  I didn't enjoy the experience as much for general web-surfing or reading articles.  The interface was just too clunky to go between columns/articles.  But that's just my opinion. 

I would suggest you go to your local B&N and test drive the Nook.  Use the browser feature.  Pull up sites you would normally go to and see if you like the experience.  When the Color comes out, you can then compare experiences.

If you really can't wait until the Color comes out and you just have to know now what the web-reading experience is like on a tablet, then go into a Mac store and try out the iPad.  Obviously, the screen size will be different, but you can at least compare the navigation experience between the Nook browser's small touchscreen and a full-touchscreen device.

At the end of the day, I pre-ordered the Color because: (1) I love the full-touchscreen; (2) I actually like the backlight feature of an LCD screen as it allows me to read in bed without ambient light -- my Nook + reading light just doesn't work for me, and I've tried lots of different types of reading lights, including the Kandle; (3) I like the magazine subscription/reading experience -- at least from what I've seen on the videos; (4) the web-browsing feature; and (4) I can always return the Color if I don't lilke it and just get an iPad. 

Hope that helps.

[deemure]

I think Artful has the best suggestion here that seems to directly respond to your planned use.  If it were just the matter of ordering a particular newspaper subscription for reading on an ereader, then nook classic would suffice for a variety of reasons.  The browser is usable but not suited to anything other than a lookup here and there.  For searches of different feeds and such, then the browser becomes cumbersome.  It is ok, but not a lot of fun.

The NOOKcolor will make browsing much easier with the touchscreen.  This is a consideration on any smaller device where panning and scaling can be important.  As well the NC will allow for landscape or portrait use.

The thing is it isn't yet known how well this will work.  One must assume that the browser experience due to the interface will be a better one, but since the release is imminent it may well serve you to take a look at one once displays for it are active.  The only thing here is that as it gets closer to Christmas there may be a delay in the order process or it's possible BN has streamlined it for this release.

What it comes down to is that only you can decide for yourself what the right device is for you. 

Other suggestions for RSS feeds may well work great, but if they aren't what you want and you want a browser experience, I personally would check out the nook classic at a BN now and then check out the NOOKcolor when available.  Battery issues are a concern, but the longest charge in the world won't help if you get a device you won't or don't use.

[MrToy]

Thanks for your suggestions. I wish I could test drive the Nooks at a local BN store, but we only have Borders where I live. And Borders e-readers and ebook services are clearly inferior to BN's offerings. I can also apply some credit card awards points to a BN gift certificate to keep the costs down. I 'll wait for user reviews of the Nook Color and go from there.

I'm also considering not buying anything until next year when devices with Mirasol technology will be on the market. Reportedly, Qualcomm is shipping displays to device manufactures right now.

[deemure]

One thought is you can buy a device and you have 14 days to return it if it isn't what you wanted.

I think whether or not you wait for Mirasol is another thing for you to decide.  My thoughts on not doing so are that for one I'd have to wait for an unknown. 

Another is we have no idea on prices or uses as yet.  There does seem to be the ability to create a touch screen overlay, but one device I saw that is supposed to use the tech (a smartphone), uses a separate touch area like the nook to navigate the screen.  For the web I want something that either has no immediate need for me to constantly scale and pan or that uses an easy way to do so.  For smaller devices the full touchscreen is the only logical way to do it.  I'd assume though there would be a premium to pay for any device with a Mirasol screen with touchscreen overlay, so that prices would get closer to what you'd pay for an iPad or laptop.

I also have some qualms about the quality of the Mirasol experience.  The color e-ink technology recently announced has also been said to look muddy and on the Mirasol site, the video they show doesn't look that great to me.  But it isn't here and is much more unknown than LCD use is, warts and all. Just some random thoughts here.

[ms_xxc]

OH, I agree!!! Accessing the web on a nook is torture! I really think the Nookcolor looks like it will be promising. I'm definitely hooked on the idea of getting one!

[MrToy]

OK, thanks everyone. I think the standard Nook is out of the running, since the consensus seems to be that the browser is not that great. And deemure is thinking like I am that color e-ink is too much of an unknown to wait for in the hope that it might be better.I'm kinda assuming that BN considered upcoming technologies while planning the Nook Color and may have found them wanting in some respects.

I'm still a bit concerned about battery life on the Nook Color, but battery life as advertised is no worse than a netbook, so its probably liveable.

But I am willing to wait a bit to see how users like the Nookk Color before making a committment. Thanks again, and I'll be watching.