Classic Seriously???!!!

[idk]

So I have a kindle and love it but I was in the process of returning it for a nook. The nook just looks better and more like a product of this day and age. I went into the Barnes and Nobles store today to play around with the device and all I have to say is wtf??!!..People actually try these thing out and buy them. Maybe the people in the store did something to mess up the devices but all four on display were really really slow and sluggish. One even managed to completely freeze up on me. I was really trying to force myself into liking this product but i couldn't. Opening a book took like 3-5secs sometimes more. Maybe im spoiled but the touch screen, while it is visually pleasing, was a little confusing and cumbersome. I really want to know if other nook users feel the same way. I really love my kindle..all i do is read books and could care less about any other features but it looks very dated. I left the store thinking that at least the Nook has more room for improvement with software updates and all. I guess I'll just wait for the Nook 2.

[boswd]

Troll alert

[idk]

haha na man not trolling at all


i really wanna know if my experience was just bad luck.. Like i said i still want the product but it seems a little defective to be quiet honest

[boswd]

I'm not understanding what the situation is

Opening a brand new book takes my Nook about 3 seconds (one one thousand two one thousand three one thousand open, that's slow?)

Previously opened book takes literally one second. that's slow?

navigating, I'm not sure what you find cumbersome. When you want to pick up where you left off you touch "Reading Now", If you want to look at your books in your library, you touch "My Library" when you want to turn on or off Wi Fi you touch "Wi Fi" so on and so on.

Now I do admit it does take a little bit to get the hang of it about an hour, with your own speed, but It took me over a week to get the hang of my iPhone but that doesn't mean I want to go back to the Gordan Gecko cell phone.

Honestlly it does sound like maybe a bad experience I don't know not being there. I do know one thing though, we can cause it to freeze up is to punch rapidly like you would an iPhone. that doesnt work because you do have two techs talking to each other, LCD and the Eink, it's a tap and respond, usually a 1/10 of a second, not quite instantaneously but not far behind either. That's what happend to me when I first started playing around with my wife's. I was punching buttons like I would on my iPhone and I actually locked it up for a minute. But once you get to know your device, it becomes very very smooth.

It really is one of those devices that the longer you have it and the better you become the more you love it. I'm seeing that alot with people. You really do end up loving this thing.

just kidding about the troll thing,

[philburkhardt]

Originally Posted by idk

haha na man not trolling at all


i really wanna know if my experience was just bad luck.. Like i said i still want the product but it seems a little defective to be quiet honest

I wouldn't trust the display models. Everyone and their sister has had their hands on those. I also wouldn't be surprised if the display models don't have the most current firmware (there was just another update).

[aagstn]

If you have a kindle there is no way the nook would seem sluggish to you. They open books, turn pages and navigate at pretty much the same speed.

[cvkemp]

Could have been that the ones in the store had the 1.0 firmware and have not been updated.

[Lastblade]

I played around the Nook today at store and pretty much decided on the wifi version. Too bad they don't have it in stock and must be ordered online.

[drjamba]

I had a very bad experience with a display Nook as well. However, that was pre 1.3 and before I had any practical experience with the controls. What sold me on the Nook wasn't the interface and controls, but the variety of formats it is able to read.

Once I got my Nook, it took me a little while to get used to the eInk display's visual delay and the touchscreen swiping technique. But now, I wouldn't give it up for anything.

Seriously!

[SpiderMatt]

Originally Posted by aagstn

If you have a kindle there is no way the nook would seem sluggish to you. They open books, turn pages and navigate at pretty much the same speed.

I don't think that's true. I'm another Kindle owner, so I'm biased, but my experiences with the nook show me that it's still slower and less intuitive than the Kindle. If you like your nook, then that's great. I wouldn't try to change your mind (I couldn't care less), but I have been unimpressed with the nook since it came out. Granted, I've only played with the display units, but I was messing with it the first day they went on display and now look at them pretty much every time I'm in a B&N (which is actually pretty often since there's one just a couple miles from my apartment). I seriously hate the touch screen. I don't know why they set up the menus like they did (I'm sure this is something you just get used to) and it's always unresponsive or slow to recognize my command. When navigating on the e-ink screen, I find myself constantly having to look at the LCD because it's hard to tell if I'm about to press the right direction. It's different with the Kindle joystick, of course. This is why I've always been a bigger fan of hardware buttons. Ironically, I hate Apple but Amazon has kind of become the Apple of the e-reader market. I own a Droid and an iPod Touch, so I think I know the drawbacks for each pretty well. My theory is that Amazon has a smoother UI because it's all custom (even though it's based on Linux). Even their e-book format is proprietary. Apple pretty much does the same thing and that makes it less customizable. This is why I favor my Droid. I can just do so much more with it. On the other hand, I don't know what I'd do different with an open source platform on my e-reader. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think ePub generally takes a little longer to load (I'm not saying it takes a long time to load, just a second or two longer) than other formats like Mobipocket. I know it needs to load each chapter individually, as well. I've also heard about formatting not looking as nice on the Sony Readers compared to LRF files. Even though I think ePub is a great open source format, I don't think that necessarily translates into a better general-user experience. Just a theory, though. Not knocking anyone who likes the nook, but I think there's a reason the general response hasn't been as positive as that to the Kindle.

[Teyrnon]

One thought that occurs to me is that perhaps it's a question of perception. Could it be that having the presumably much faster LCD screen right there working together with an e-ink screen gives the impression the e-ink is particularly sluggish even if it might be close in speed to other e-ink devices?

[boswd]

Originally Posted by SpiderMatt

I don't think that's true. I'm another Kindle owner, so I'm biased, but my experiences with the nook show me that it's still slower and less intuitive than the Kindle. If you like your nook, then that's great. I wouldn't try to change your mind (I couldn't care less), but I have been unimpressed with the nook since it came out. Granted, I've only played with the display units, but I was messing with it the first day they went on display and now look at them pretty much every time I'm in a B&N (which is actually pretty often since there's one just a couple miles from my apartment). I seriously hate the touch screen. I don't know why they set up the menus like they did (I'm sure this is something you just get used to) and it's always unresponsive or slow to recognize my command. When navigating on the e-ink screen, I find myself constantly having to look at the LCD because it's hard to tell if I'm about to press the right direction. It's different with the Kindle joystick, of course. This is why I've always been a bigger fan of hardware buttons. Ironically, I hate Apple but Amazon has kind of become the Apple of the e-reader market. I own a Droid and an iPod Touch, so I think I know the drawbacks for each pretty well. My theory is that Amazon has a smoother UI because it's all custom (even though it's based on Linux). Even their e-book format is proprietary. Apple pretty much does the same thing and that makes it less customizable. This is why I favor my Droid. I can just do so much more with it. On the other hand, I don't know what I'd do different with an open source platform on my e-reader. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think ePub generally takes a little longer to load (I'm not saying it takes a long time to load, just a second or two longer) than other formats like Mobipocket. I know it needs to load each chapter individually, as well. I've also heard about formatting not looking as nice on the Sony Readers compared to LRF files. Even though I think ePub is a great open source format, I don't think that necessarily translates into a better general-user experience. Just a theory, though. Not knocking anyone who likes the nook, but I think there's a reason the general response hasn't been as positive as that to the Kindle.

Interesting because I chose the Nook for the exact opposite reason you don't like the Nook. Now I did buy it post v1.3 so I cant comment on it's past performance in terms of sluggishness but in the here and now it's quite fast and very comparable to the Kindle's speed.

I am fortunate enough to have a co-worker who owns the Kindle. In fact it wa his Kindle that sold me on getting an e-reader. but after playing around with my wife's nook. I went back to use the Kindle and Just couldn't do it. It felt way too antiquited. But anywho my co worker and I have put them up side to side for performance test.

Opening a brand new book: the Nook took between 2.5 seconds to 3 and the Kindle about 2.5. just about dead even. Def. not enough to be a deal breaker in any shape or form

Prev. Opened Book : Both poped up in just about 1 sec if not less. Dead Heat.

Page turning: both are spot on. Kinlde maybe the slightest of the fraction faster. Maybe. Pretty close to call.

Opening out of sleep mode: Both came in under 5 seconds, very impressive on both units.

We didn't test a total shut down. But the Nook takes on average about 1min to 1min and 10 seconds (yes I timed it) Doesn't bother me for two reasons. 1. I only power down about maybe once or twice a week. and 2. one minute just doesn't bother me in the least.

But as far as navigating. I came into the e-reader world on a clean slate, not bias towards any particular brand. In fact I was going actually order a Kindle.

The difference to me in terms of hardware was the Nook is just a better look device, it looks like a device made for today. The Kindle in comparision really is rather ugly and does look like a bad combination of the 1980's electronic games meets a 1990's PDA trying to be a blackberry but in white.
The navigation via the joystick again felt very very outdated. The touch screen navigation of the Nook just felt better. I enjoyed it so much more. Now granted Yes their is a little bit of a lerning curve. But again so does every new technology and new device. I remember when I bought my iPhone, the first couple of days I was ready to toss it in the river, I wanted my old clam shell easy phone back. After a week , I laugh at myself now. You can't go back

That's the same way I felt about using the Nook and then trying to use the Kindle again. I just couldn't go back. And then of course doing more research and DRM's and e-Pub and all the fun extra's you get with the Nook as compared to the Kindle made the choice easier.


I find the response to the commands excellent and not sluggish. I finding out that many people have similiar reactions to the Nook. At first it's kind of like "Hmmm" then after a while it becomes such a joy to use. It's very easy to navigate.
This is another criticism I'm finding very difficult to grasp That it's not intuiative. So I'm wondering what is confusing about navigating.
You touch Shop when you want to shop
You touch Reading Now when you want to pick up where you left off
You touch My library when you want to choose a new book

When reading all your actions are right there. If you want to change the font or text size, it's right on the screen when reading, same as if you want to look up a word or a character or what have not's .

If you need to change your settings You touch Settings. If you can navigate around an Ipod Touch then this is BEYOND EASY.

Anywho, to each his own.
to me the Nook is a joy to use

[bearymore]

No one has mentioned the Nook's swipe to turn a page. This is so much more natural to me than having to press a button for a page turn. Admittedly it takes a minute or two to figure out how to do it right, but once you get it, it is so much better than a button push.

And then, of course, there is the ability to read public library books and the multiple sources to find books to buy...

[aagstn]

Originally Posted by boswd

Anywho, to each his own.
to me the Nook is a joy to use

I agree totally. I borrowed a kindle and read a book on it and played with the menus. I found them dead even in loading books, turning pages and coming out of sleep mode, but I found the navigation on the touch screen to be easier. Maybe it was because I was using an iPod Touch and Palm OS devices before, but I definitely have no issues using the menus while in a book and find the device pretty easy to use and navigate. I don't think there is anything wrong with the kindle, but there is definitely nothing about it that is superior to the nook other than battery life and I would gladly trade that for wi-fi, color touch screen instead of clunky keyboard, SD card support and ePub.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by bearymore

No one has mentioned the Nook's swipe to turn a page. This is so much more natural to me than having to press a button for a page turn. Admittedly it takes a minute or two to figure out how to do it right, but once you get it, it is so much better than a button push.

And then, of course, there is the ability to read public library books and the multiple sources to find books to buy...

good point the finger swipe turning is very very nice.