[jupstin]

I'm taking advantage of the 14 day return policy from Barnes and Noble to try out the Nook STR. I'm coming from a (relatively) long K2 background, though I've also owned the PRS 500, K1, and PRS 600. Here are some impressions that may help others who are considering the switch:

First, and this is definitely a matter of personal opinion, I'm not really a fan of the touch interface. It's occasionally nice to have the option to touch the screen to turn the pages, but I find that I much prefer the buttons.

Unfortunately, the location of the buttons make one-handed reading a bit difficult. The K3 is much better in this respect because you can wrap your hand around the back and pretty easily press the page turn buttons.

But my main problem is that I have a very hard time finding a way to hold the reader comfortably without accidentally touching the screen and turning the page. This is almost a deal-breaker for me. We'll see if I adjust over time. I can imagine a few ways this could have been avoided, but they essentially come down to increasing the bezel on one side which would, of course, increase the size. Maybe if my hands were smaller, this wouldn't be a problem.

Second, while I love the ability to touch a word to look it up, I wish I didn't have to then select the "Look Up" option. For me, at least, I almost always want to see a definition when I select a word. I think dictionary should be a default, or there could be a partial definition as with the Kindle and the option of expanding it to a full-page definition.

Third, I really miss the back button. I didn't know how reliant I was on it until I didn't have it any more. I often use the search function to remind myself of who a particular character is (because I have a bad memory and tend to read books with lots of characters. As many of you know, when you search for a character by name in a book, the first appearance is almost always located near that character's description. It's a useful "trick," and while I can search easily enough, once I select a search result, there is no easy way to return to where I was. If I don't either set a bookmark or remember the page number, then I'm out of luck.

I'm willing to admit that I may just be missing something obvious and that this functionality does actually exist. But I'm not seeing it. The option to go to the furthest read page would help, but often footnote and TOC are located at the end, so even this would not fix the problem.

Is there anything I like? Sure - primarily, I really prefer epubs. I thought I wouldn't care, but after only a day or two, I really prefer them over mobi's. I love the small size and the light weight. I like the UI.

Will I keep it? Probably not. I'll probably return it and get a K3 3g with Special Offers. I was originally tempted by the Kobo because it seems so well supported, but complete reliance on the touchscreen would likely end in frustration. Maybe I'll try the Story HD?