I've Used nook - Short Review/Impressions

[karmamule]

BartleyR7, usually I find the amount I appreciate/agree with a post is inversely proportional to the amount of time the person spends describing all their bonafides, but yours is a delightful exception!

Thanks much for a very thorough and even-handed description of your first impressions with a nook.  Much of how you described what you're looking to get out of the nook matches my expectations, so as I read your post and others with similar outlooks I'm feeling better about the nook being a good purchase for myself as well.

[jcarn]

Went to B&N this AM expecting a line of eager Nook wanna-bees.  Got there and sure enough there was a line, but both eReaders were sitting there untouched.  So I picked one up and played.

First impressions from someone who has never used an eReader:

1. Heavy .. looks lighter than it is.  Small size and heavy weight may take some getting used to.
2. Touch screen could be a problem for those not used to a “touch screen”
3. Left side buttons have a double clunk when pressed, where as the right side buttons feel more solid.  Both units had this problem.

One of the units actually had downloadable store content (over one million books were available), so I "bought" an issue of the Los Angeles Times (thanks B&N).  The download was quick and the formatting didn’t take too long.  When I tried downloading some book samples, I received an application error and had to “force close”.  This happened twice with two different searches.  I finally got it to work and the sample showed up under my books.  There were only three eNewspapers available.  That is supposed to change with updated content.  The Wall Street Journal was nowhere to be found today.

The touch keypad is OK .. but I hate touch keypads, so I really can’t provide an unbiased review on that.  It is laggy, so if you want to wait for each letter to populate the search field, you will love this feature.  Highlighting and taking notes is a PITA.   I really don’t like using touch keypads.  I had to re-touch the N (upsidedown U) many times and navigating through the menus was tough.  I’ll blame it on my dry hands and light touch.

... Another problem with the screen; I can’t imagine anyone taking this thing to the beach, mainly because it’ll be tough to read the LCD in direct sunlight.  Kindle 2 buttons win in this situation.  I tried to manually turn off the LCD display.  After searching on the Nook, typing and retyping on the touch screen (made many errors because of my touch screen issue), I still can’t figure out how to turn off the LCD display.  It probably dims when you start reading, but this wasn’t the case on the sample content.  So I gave up, and left it on to burn my retinas.  I also noticed slight image retention on the eInk display, but that could have been from the solar glare the LCD projected into my eyeballs.  Not sure.

Overall, it is a really cool gadget.  But, .. it’s for my wife.  She is left handed (clunky left side buttons).  She doesn’t like technology (opposite of me).  All she wants out of an eReader is to get her Wall Street Journal (not available yet) and dive into a novel.  Well done Nook .. but not quite ready for prime time.  I'm sure all the bugs will be worked out.  Stay tuned for Nook 2 ...

[BartleyR7]

I'm glad some of my initial impressions are able to help allay some fears.  I don't typically spend as much time (as in my initial post) discussing my background, but I just wanted to be clear that I approach nook as someone who is used to technology and only wants an eReader (not a "one device to rule them all" kind of thing).

After reading some of the follow-up comments, I'm amazed at the wide divergence of experiences with the device.  I won't pretend to know everything about nook or how it is configured to work on the B&N network, but I'm inclined to believe that some of the issues (e.g., the issue lindag8r reported of not being able to connect to the store) stem from configuration errors, a lack of knowledge by the individual B&N staff, or some combination of the two.  I don't doubt the veracity of the postings at all; I just know that, for me, the store worked just fine.

I did forget to mention that, when browsing the store, the touch screen can be (and is) a little jumpy/jittery (an issue that most reviews as well as MarshallJD2323 and others noted here).  From working with software for a while now, I'm inclined this is due to a combination of three issues: connectivity issues, images not being cached (necessitating download), and miscellaneous software issues.  Like others, I also hope this is addressed in a subsequent update, but I certainly don't feel it makes the device unusable or any less desirable (at least for me).  With my iPod, I'm constantly downloading new music, videos (movies and TV shows), audiobooks, and applications.  With the eReader, I plan to spend more time actually reading and less time downloading (at least that's my thought right now, which, I admit, could change).  For that reason, I'm willing to live with the software issues for a while.  Combine that with the fact that I use Apple's coverflow on nothing, and I'm not really that upset.  I prefer to search than browse, but that's not the same for everyone.  If you're more of a visual browser, I could see how this feature might frustrate you at times.

What jcarn noted about touch keyboard entry (taking some additional time to populate the search field) is absolutely true, but I don't think this is so much of a software issue as it is an inherent limitation in e-ink technology.  The search field is on the e-ink display since the keyboard consumes the entire touch screen.  I didn't get the sense that my keyboard taps/touches were being delayed or lagged so much as I though that it just took a half-second or so for the letter to appear on the e-ink screen.  I hate to keep comparing it to the iPod/iPhone, but it is most certainly a different experience.  However, I was able to continue typing on nook's keyboard as normal (even before previous letters had appeared in the search field), and it would catch-up.

To say there's no room for improvement and it's absolutely flawless would be a lie.  However, I think, for version 1.0 software, it does a decent job.  It might be a sad truth (one which I sometimes agree with), but when purchasing first-version software these days, it's almost never without some issues.  I'm sure we've all experienced it, and I doubt the trend will change in the future.  I think it's more of an individual choice on if you can live with the imperfections (for now) in hopes that your gamble (and isn't any new technology a gamble, HD-DVD adopters?) will pay off in the long run.

[njnookman]

jcarn,

Your reactions are valid, and, while I can't relate to the "left side button issue" (which I haven't experienced), I agree that the device takes some getting used to so that it's used according to the instructions, instead of the way we intuit it to work. 

 I've been going thru the instruction manual to make myself more fluent with the device, and this is one case where the manual REALLY helps my enjoyment and understanding of the device.

With respect to your problems with the LCD display:

....under the "device" tile on the home screen, there are display settings.  One of these is the turnoff interval for the LCD display, with options for 10, 30, and 60 seconds' delay before turning off.  This delay is counted from the last touch action, so that if you're using it continuously (as in typing a word) it won't turn off on you.

         What this means is if you are reading a linear document with little jumping back and forth, or no skipping to bookmarks, then you should keep this timer short, so that it will disappear and get out of the way more frequently.  On the other hand, if you're reading a newspaper, then you want to keep the LCD interval long, so the on/off display is not always jumping around and requiring a wake-up keystroke. A more appropriate in-store demo setting is 60 seconds, because we're always required to demonstrate all the control menu functions rather than just the reading....hence your perception that the light could not be turned off (there is no actual switch to turn it off -- just the timer).

Secondly, the LCD was probably set to either "auto-adjust" brightness to ambient light, or to a 100% brightness.  Again, the "display" options menu allows a brightness control, which is adjustable from 0 to 100%. 

        As others have suggested, the perceived brightness is actually the contrast between the softened reflected light of the reading screen, and the backlit LCD's brightness.  To reduce this contrast -- and save battery light -- experiment with a setting of something between 20-40%, which is where I keep ours.

I believe that the store demo accounts have only limited subscriptions, rather than the full roster of subscriptions.  In ours, we could only get the LA Times and the Washington Post, with the Nation being added as an option today.  I do not believe this is the case with untis that are shipping to customers, only a matter of which papers have agreed to let the stores "sample" their content. 

I too have noticed touch screen performance differences between persons, which I will attribute to the capacitative sensitivity between screen and the individual's galvanic response.  Thus, my electric personality seems to "spread" the physical area I'm touching, so that I do poorly with touch-sensitive devices (like the screens on B&N cash registers!), and typically use function key or button menus until I learn the "right" way to personally position my hands and fingertips.

    This is a sense memory learning process, and it may not be something that can be adapted to in 10-20 minutes of playing with the device in store.  I notice my own progress has grown more comfortable, as I learn the pacing of the device, and the degree of deliberateness that is/is not demanded by each touch action.

   I thank you for your critique, because I've noticed excellent responsiveness from the I/T people behind nook, in their very short bug fix cycles, and their willingness to rapidly address customer needs.  By maintaining this feedback performance, I foresee a highly stable and functional release in just a few short days or weeks -- certainly before the mass of units really starts shipping in January.

[jcarn]

thanks for the info!

I have a 12/11 ship date so I still have time to think and re-think my decision to get the Kindle or keep the Nook for Christmas. 

Like I said, this is mainly for my wife, and she knows nothing about it or my research.  I'm a gearhead and would love to hack into this thing.  Android shows lots of promise (I installed it on my WinMo phone .. really slick).  Tons of potential.

I just need to remember that it's for her to READ .. not me to PLAY with. lol

[DLGDG]

Got my nook last Wednesday and it rocks !!!!  They did a fantastic job,even the packaging is awesome, remind me of all the apple toys.  It is so easy to use and the settings are great.  Best toy for 2009... 

I got also the screen protection but it was creating a reflect and made it difficult to read at night, I trashed it after 30 minutes.

[Undel]

I walked into a B&N today and played with one of the ones they had on display. 

The good:

• Page turns were not half as sluggish as I was anticipating. I was trying to do the "start the page turn on the last sentence and by the time it turns you will have finished the sentence" trick, and honestly it turned too fast for that to work!
• Navigation between the eink and touchscreen was fairly fluid, although I did have a "durp" moment where I tried to touch the eink display.
• The eink display was very easy to read, but as it seems to be the same tech across all ereaders, that's a given.
• Downloads were fast.
• Searching for things with the keyboard was not particularly sluggish. The keyboard was responsive and I had no misstyped letters.

The bad: 

• Cover flow was jerky.
• Formatting did take a bit of time.
• Going into "My library" and navigating down the list of 8 or so books they had in it was mildly time consuming. I could see it being a big issue if you have many many files to navigate through. I read that many people with large ebooks collections are having this problem, and I can see why! I hope B&N eventually allows coverflow for sideloaded ebooks in a future software update.

---

I am new to ebook readers, so I have no basis for comparison, so my opinion may be overly high, haha. On the other hand, since I am completely new to ebook readers, the fact that I was able to navigate around without a manual or help from the lady behind the counter does say something for how easy to use the Nook is. Then AGAIN, I'm pretty handy with gadgets.  I'm very excited for my Nook to arrive. I'm one of the January 4th dates; It'll be a fun treat for the new year!