Like some others here, I made it a point to go to the local B&N store today to see if I could get my hands on nook. I have a pre-order scheduled to ship December 18. First let me give everyone a little background about myself. I'm a professor (Computer Science) with a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering. I also have a B.S. and M.S. (both in Computer Engineering). This is my fourth year teaching full-time, and I've also had the opportunity to work for some large corporations (GE Aircraft Engines and Rockwell Automation) in the quality assurance (QA) and software engineering departments. To this end, I would consider myself very familiar with technology. I mainly use Macs (MacBook Pro at home and Mini with Xserve at work), and I love my iPod Touch. I do not have an iPhone and instead use a Blackberry. I don't consider myself one of these people who wants (or needs) a single device that does everything. In addition to my regular laptop, I have a ultra-portable netbook that I use around the house just for Internet/email and some light typing. I do have some patience with technology, but I am happier when it "just works." This will be my first eReader. I have spent less than 10 minutes with my friend's Kindle 2 and even less than that with a Sony eReader Touch Edition at the local Best Buy. Hopefully that helps you judge my comments below and determine if they apply to you. My main worries, after reading the reviews posted today, concerned the interface being slow and buggy. I am extremely used to my iPod Touch interface, and was ready to experience the worst with nook.
When I arrived at the store, I didn't see their nook display anywhere. I asked an employee if they had received their demo unit, and she said yes and was in the process of setting it up. She was very friendly and told me if I could wait 10 minutes she would bring it to me. I browsed for right around 10 minutes, and then she showed-up with nook.
The first thing I noticed was the weight, and I don't mean that in a bad way. I like devices that don't feel like they're going to break in my hands, and nook had that very pleasing mix of great aesthetics and a comfortable weight. The rubber backing (like some reviews mentioned) is nice; it gave it a little more slip-resistance than I thought it would. She had a book already displayed (Sense and Sensibility, I believe), so I immediately pressed the "home" button (nook 'n') to get me back to the main screen. It required a little bit more of a press (more pressure) than the iPod, but it immediately changed the touchscreen to the home screen. The e-ink display took a second to refresh, but I was shocked at how fast it happened. Keep in mind that I was expecting the worst possible after reading the reviews. I used the touchscreen to navigate to the "Library" section and browse. They only had two books loaded, so I selected the other book. It wasn't until I finally selected the book to read (there are some menus that you have to go through to get there) that I thought about the slow interface/software. Yes, the touchscreen interface is a little slower than that of the iPod Touch, but I didn't notice it because the e-ink display refreshes slower than the touchscreen (as expected).
Before the book is displayed, there is a substantial "rendering" screen that is displayed. I assume this is nook formatting the book according to your settings (font size and style). However, it was nothing that seemed too terrible. As some reviews have mentioned, the Kindle does this much faster than nook, but I only waited around 3-4 seconds for the rendering to complete. I proceeded to flip through some of the pages using the physical forward/backward buttons, and I felt the e-ink display refresh to be adequate. It's certainly not the fastest thing in the world, but it certainly was not unusable. I did appreciate the definite key press of the forward/backward buttons, and they were positioned perfectly on the device for my hands. What I did notice is that on pages are graphics-heavy (such as the book cover), it takes longer (sometimes on the order of 3 or 4 times as long) for the e-ink display to refresh and show the graphics. Having little experience with Kindle, I can't say if this is the case across the board with eReaders.
I tried the searching feature mainly to test out the onscreen (virtual) keyboard. It works really well and, if you haven't seen any new pictures, consumes the entire touchscreen. What you're searching for appears directly above it on the e-ink display. This results in a split second lag between when you press the key and when it appears due to the inherent speed of current e-ink technology. It wasn't anything that I thought would be an issue. To my surprise, the search occurred very quickly. I spent a minute messing with, what Apple would call, the "cover flow" view for books. It worked okay, but you have to forget that there's anything like it on the iPod/iPhone. When I use my finger to scroll, the screen stutters a little before the motion is replicated. In other words, it is nowhere near as fluid as the iPod/iPhone interface. However, it's not a deal-breaker (at least not for me). This is a software issue that can (and probably will) be fixed in subsequent software releases. I did find the scrolling feature very usable when not browsing full-color book covers. When using the touchscreen to move up and down a list, I felt it was just as responsive as my iPod. One thing it did seem to lack is momentum scrolling, but I can easily compensate for this. I continued to play with nook for around 20 minutes and was actually able to teach the saleswoman a few things about the device. I didn't experience any crashes or the dreaded "Android OS crash", but I don't deny that it is a possibility.
For me, this device fills a specific need/desire - being able to read books and my personal PDFs in a compact and easy-to-use fashion. I don't need it to have a Web browser (I have computers, a Blackberry, and an iPod for that), and I don't need it to be a music player (and did not test its music-playing functions). I don't even need it to play audiobooks or read to me. I enjoy reading and can speed read much faster than a device can read to me, and I'm just not sold on the quality of the text-to-speech right now (although it remains vastly improved from just 5 years ago). I am 100% sold on the quality of the hardware B&N has constructed and is delivering to market. Until you actually hold one in your hands, I don't think you can appreciate the excellent weight and near-perfect feel of the device. Yes, it remains a tad "industrial" in its appearance, but I believe it improves (aesthetic-wise) from the Kindle. What I was concerned about, the software, could stand a revision or two in the near future. From many reviews, it appears B&N is aware of the issues and is working on a fix. I don't think anyone knows when this fix might come, but I believe that it will eventually be there. In the interim, nook is completely usable. Once I had the book selected and the touchscreen turned off, it felt just like I was reading a physical book. For me, that's the point of this device - make it as much like a real book as possible. In my mind, I'm trying to look ahead and see where eBooks will be in a year or two (difficult to predict). I like the idea that B&N is supporting the ePub format, and I know several other manufactures have said they support it as well. I feel more limited with the Kindle and Amazon, and that might be something that is just "for now" and changes one day. It also might be due to my limited experience with the Kindle (although I have nothing but good things to say about all of my regular purchased from Amazon).
It was an easy decision to keep my pre-order. If you're on-the-fence (especially after reading some reviews) like I was, I encourage you to see if your local B&N has a demo unit you can try. For me, all I really want is a good quality eReader that lets me forget I'm using technology while I'm reading. Nook satisfies all of those requirements. As a previous software developer and a current computer engineer/scientist, I remain confident that the initial bugs in the nook OS can (and will) be corrected via software updates from B&N. In days when my DVD/BD player has to connect to the Internet to get an update before I can watch a movie, I don't think it's too much to assume a new eReader may need to (occasionally) do the same thing. After all, isn't that one of the advantages of a connected device?
