Opinions wanted! Old or new nook?

[williams52977]

I had planned to return the KOBO ereader I got for my birthday last week and buy the original Nook, not the Nook color.

Now I see a new Nook has been released today for $139. But I can get the original on Ebay for $99.

What should I do??

Is there really a difference in the functionality of the old vs new?

I do see the size difference, but other than that?

[Nallia Distinguished Bibliophile]

I can't give you any personal opinion on using the NOOK 2nd Edition, since I just preordered it about 10 minutes ago, but you can see the differences in the spec lists for both devices:

NOOK 1st Edition:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/nook1-features-techspecs/379002697/?cds2Pid=37599

NOOK 2nd Edition:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/index.asp?PID=34323&cds2Pid=35700#logo

[RSC_Nook]

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williams52977 wrote:

I had planned to return the KOBO ereader I got for my birthday last week and buy the original Nook, not the Nook color.

Now I see a new Nook has been released today for $139. But I can get the original on Ebay for $99.

What should I do??

Is there really a difference in the functionality of the old vs new?

I do see the size difference, but other than that?

 IMO:

Battery life is better.  MUCH better.  But for me that is not that big a factor - I never had issues with the battery life, but I have those micro usb chargers all over the house and at my work (use them for nook, smart phone, mp3 player).  so not an issue

Supposedly it says the contrast is 50% better on new device.  not sure what that really does for actual reading.  but it is something

The biggest reason I MIGHT get the $139 new nook is because of future support.  I am not sure but I don't know if the old nook will keep getting releases, the accesories may be harder to find etc. 

If it was me I would spend the $40 more and get the new one. 

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[Tropicseed]

Well, you asked for opinions so here's one! Personally I would cough up the extra $ for a new nook. But them I'm a gadget geek anyway.

The new nook is smaller, lighter and has better battery life. As the other responder said, though, I don't have a problem with my old nook's battery life - I recharge once a week or so.

I really like the idea of the full touch screen, imo that's the single biggest thing missing from the old nook. That alone would cinch he deal for me. But I would want to play with one in a store first, to see how much of a problem fingerprints will be. I don't want to have to be wiping it clean all the time. I'd also want to play with it to get a feel for the new user interface - could be wonderful, could be incredibly annoying! All depends on the implementation. I'm not very impressed with the interface on my old nook, hopefully they've done better for the 2nd Ed.

The new "pearl" screen is obviously the same one as the Kindle3. It is noticeably whiter than the previous generation, but while reading I don't find much difference.

patrick 

[Nallia Distinguished Bibliophile]

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Tropicseed wrote:

Well, you asked for opinions so here's one! Personally I would cough up the extra $ for a new nook. But them I'm a gadget geek anyway.

The new nook is smaller, lighter and has better battery life. As the other responder said, though, I don't have a problem with my old nook's battery life - I recharge once a week or so.

I really like the idea of the full touch screen, imo that's the single biggest thing missing from the old nook. That alone would cinch he deal for me. But I would want to play with one in a store first, to see how much of a problem fingerprints will be. I don't want to have to be wiping it clean all the time. I'd also want to play with it to get a feel for the new user interface - could be wonderful, could be incredibly annoying! All depends on the implementation. I'm not very impressed with the interface on my old nook, hopefully they've done better for the 2nd Ed.

The new "pearl" screen is obviously the same one as the Kindle3. It is noticeably whiter than the previous generation, but while reading I don't find much difference.

patrick 

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Without an anti-glare screen protector you will probably have to wipe it clean all the time.  It's the nature of the beast.

[Nom-de-Nook]

I still prefer the nook WIFI (or nook 3G if we can confirm that you get 3G for life and BN can't just let the contract with ATT expire). 

Think of it this way...you get an e-ink device because it is easier to read than LCD and then you go putting fingerprints all over the screen by making it "touch".  And it doesn't saying anything about special treatments to reduce those fingerprints so I think that will get to be a problem.

But...I would also start looking and try to pick up a refurb of the nook WIFI for under $70.  At that price it should be a no brainer.

[seasanddollar]

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Nom-de-Nook wrote:

I still prefer the nook WIFI (or nook 3G if we can confirm that you get 3G for life and BN can't just let the contract with ATT expire). 

Think of it this way...you get an e-ink device because it is easier to read than LCD and then you go putting fingerprints all over the screen by making it "touch".  And it doesn't saying anything about special treatments to reduce those fingerprints so I think that will get to be a problem.

But...I would also start looking and try to pick up a refurb of the nook WIFI for under $70.  At that price it should be a no brainer.

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I agree here on all points.

[TrippinFelix]

I like that its lighter, longer battery, and updated e-ink, but I will prefer my Nook 1st over 2nd.  I use the browser heavily for my Safari Books subscription and 3G connection was nice to get a book anywhere.  Battery life wasn't that bad for me either on the 1st. 

Since you're looking now, you'll have to weight the addition and loss of features to your needs.  

I'm keeping my 1st and holding out for color e-ink and hopefully not lose important features.

[gstone]

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williams52977 wrote:

I had planned to return the KOBO ereader I got for my birthday last week and buy the original Nook, not the Nook color.

Now I see a new Nook has been released today for $139. But I can get the original on Ebay for $99.

What should I do??

Is there really a difference in the functionality of the old vs new?

I do see the size difference, but other than that?

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If you want pretty go with the original Nook.

If you want long battery life and light weight go with the Nook Simple Touch.

The original Nook has a web browser and a few games. I haven't used them and would prefer they were not there but that's life. So far there is no mention of those on the new Nook.

If the Nook2's touch screen is like Sony's, it will be easier to use than the one on the original Nook. The touch screen on the original Nook is not unusable or even terribly aggravating but it's hardly the best out there.

The difference between the original Nook's Vizplex display and Pearl displays is negligible from what I have seen.

Between the Nook and Kobo brands, that's your call. Kobo announced the other day a new eReader that is substantially the same as the Nook Simple Touch and will be available at about the same time.

I use the original Nook and am not rushing out to replace it just because something new is available.

[wanderer_not_l…]

I agree. I hope that the new Nook will eventually come with 3G. Also, the Specs page says that the storage is expandable for personal storage. I wonder though...there's no reason that we couldn't use the SD cards for books (like on the original Nook) rather than pictures and PDFs, right? I just thought they worded it strangely.

[gstone]

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Nallia wrote:

Without an anti-glare screen protector you will probably have to wipe it clean all the time.  It's the nature of the beast.

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@Nallia

I was in a store the other day that had a Sony Touch on display. The unit was pretty well dinged up from handling and I expected to see a lot of fingerprints. I was surprised at the absence of fingerprints on the screen.

When the unit is turned on and unless you are using a mostly black background I don't think fingerprints are going to be a real issue.

[TNS]

Probably not of concern to a new user, but my problem with the new nook (and the NookColor) is lack of support for PDB eBooks.  I just posted another post about the missing suport for PDB's.

[Rick-in-HB]

I love my old Nook. The new one may have better e-ink screen contrast but the contrast on my original Nook is just fine and has never been a problem.  The deciding factor for me is no 3G on the second edition. I still fly through airports where WI-FI is NOT free. With my original Nook I can still download the latest newspapers via 3G and read the paper on a plane without spreading out to my tightly packed neighbors.

If my current Nook broke, I would probably by another first edition.

[Nallia Distinguished Bibliophile]

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gstone wrote:

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Nallia wrote:

Without an anti-glare screen protector you will probably have to wipe it clean all the time.  It's the nature of the beast.

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@Nallia

I was in a store the other day that had a Sony Touch on display. The unit was pretty well dinged up from handling and I expected to see a lot of fingerprints. I was surprised at the absence of fingerprints on the screen.

When the unit is turned on and unless you are using a mostly black background I don't think fingerprints are going to be a real issue.

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This is true.  They don't show much when the screen isn't black.  The oil from too many fingerprints can cuse problems with touchscreens, though, so it's best to keep them as clean as possible.  Also, I'm expecting this NOOK to have a glossier screen because of the touchscreen, which would increase glare outside.  So I'll be getting the anti-glare screen protector because I've been very happy with it on my NC. 

[underarock]

I'd suggest, if you can, get to a Best Buy. They carry the Kindle 3 and the Nook 1, so you can try both.  The screen on the Kindle is the same one that has been announced for the Nook 2. To me the Kindle screen is significantly better. (Response time was also noticably faster, and the weight difference was immediately obvious. For me personally those are nice, but not as important as the screen.)

The comparison will give you a good idea of the screen quality of the Nook 1 vs. Nook 2.

[Doug_Pardee Distinguished Bibliophile]

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Nallia wrote:

The oil from too many fingerprints can cuse problems with touchscreens

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Just wanted to point out that the new NOOK doesn't use a "contact" touch-screen, so it doesn't care about oil on the screen. It uses the zForce IR system that's in the Sonys and the new Kobo.

[Nallia Distinguished Bibliophile]

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Doug_Pardee wrote:

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Nallia wrote:

The oil from too many fingerprints can cuse problems with touchscreens

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Just wanted to point out that the new NOOK doesn't use a "contact" touch-screen, so it doesn't care about oil on the screen. It uses the zForce IR system that's in the Sonys and the new Kobo.

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Thanks for that.  I'm so used to dealing with capacative touch screens that I just assumed this would have similar limitations. 

[williams52977]

thanks for the input everyone. I think I will go by Best Buy.

[sirwillard]

The biggest new feature that has me drooling hasn't been mentioned. The screen updates nearly instantly. Having not used the new device I can't say definitively, but the video makes this look amazing. The onscreen keyboard, for instance, is an instant display. Contrast that with the extremely slow update when play Sudoku on the NOOK 1. If the display is this fast, I'm hoping that we can get PDF panning, which would make PDFs actually usable on an eInk device (they are barely tolerable on Kindle devices and unusable on NOOK 1).

There's definitely trade offs between the two. Some will prefer the NOOK 1, especially if you have the 3G version. For myself, however, I'm ready to make the switch to the NOOK 2. It's still not the Mirasol device I want, but it's much closer to the reading device I want than anything I've seen until now.

[statomattic]

People have detailed the pros and cons on here pretty well. The new Nook wins on e-ink display and battery life, the old Nook wins because mine has the 3g (and an earlier poster's example of the wifi in airports is a perfect example of why 3g is still important).

On balance, to someone who currently owns no Nook at all, I'd recommend the the new Nook over the old if you usually have access to wifi. If you don't, I'd recommend searching for one of the remaining 3g+wifi models.

As for me, I'll stick with my 3g+wifi 1st edition for now and sit this cycle out, probably taking the plunge and upgrading to a new version next time (Christmas, next year, whenever that happens to be), which will probably represent a bigger leap in technology.

Bottom line: I'm quite pleased with today's announcement because it shows that B&N is committed to maintaining a top-caliber, pure e-ink ereader for the long haul. I'm the sort who prefers technology items that do one thing really well, and as such the hybrid tablet/reader aspects of the Nook Color never quite appealed to me. But when the day comes when we get a Nook with a perfected version of color e-ink (and I do believe that day will come), you'd better believe I will be all over it.

Kudos to B&N for ensuring the Kindle won't be the only game in town. Looks like I'm going to be staying with Nook for the forseeable future.