Touch Nook STR: Issues, Bugs, Annoyances, and Petty Quibbles

[cfrock]

Originally Posted by SCION

Just discovered a Borders in Arlington (for those in the area). That's a reasonable driving distance from me. They aren't open yet, but I'll call and find out if they have the Kobo on display. Maybe I can check it out before my deadline to return the NOOK.

I believe Bestbuy is supposed to carry them as of today; maybe that's an option for you.

[Rocketime]

Originally Posted by SCION

Just discovered a Borders in Arlington (for those in the area). That's a reasonable driving distance from me. They aren't open yet, but I'll call and find out if they have the Kobo on display. Maybe I can check it out before my deadline to return the NOOK.

And the result is................................................ ???

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by SCION

Today's the last day to return my device. I have until 9:00pm (central) to do so. There's nothing available (touchscreen) that offers a complete working package of features.

Do I get rid of the NOOK and buy the Kobo Touch which syncs, sorts by recently read (not recently downloaded/added!!!), and has a useful homescreen? Do I get rid of the NOOK and wait for a new Kindle? Do I keep the NOOK and keep posting my dissatisfaction that will eventually annoy the heck out of folks?

Tough decision, SCION! Kobo and Nook both have their shortcomings. If only Sony had the wireless ecosystem you seek (and a more attractive price). If only Kindle had a touch-screen. I'm really curious what the Kindle is going to announce in their next generation. Problem is nobody knows when that will be.

It's an odd decision, really. It doesn't seem to be the usual pros/cons comparison. It's almost as-if the decision is which one will annoy you less. Or maybe that's just me self-projecting because I've been comparing them both and I don't know what I would decide!

I suspect that B&N has limited software development resources. As soon as they launched the NC, they then targeted development on the STR firmware. Perhaps now that the NC & STR have a common software interface it will improve firmware updates?

Good luck!

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by SCION

Just discovered a Borders in Arlington (for those in the area). That's a reasonable driving distance from me. They aren't open yet, but I'll call and find out if they have the Kobo on display. Maybe I can check it out before my deadline to return the NOOK.

The Borders I was at yesterday only had the older models on display. They weren't even advertising "coming soon" for the Touch version.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

The Borders I was at yesterday only had the older models on display. They weren't even advertising "coming soon" for the Touch version.

This location won't receive any until the first week in July. They'll be on display at that time. *sigh* Person mentioned only 30 stores will be carrying them. Sad.

Doubt Best Buy has any on display. Web site shows backordered for all colors.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by John F

Bug: On the book options page (tapping center of screen while reading), the battery indicator is inverted compared to the home page.

I would like to see an option to display the book title on the top of the page while reading. When I pick "continue reading" from the home page, the title is displayed until the first page turn.

They copied this behavior (consciously or otherwise) from Kindle, which does the same thing. To see the title, just tap the middle of the screen, and it will display title & status on the top, as well as the actions/options on the bottom. Tap again and these hide.

I prefer not having extraneous UI on the screen when I'm reading. It's very easy to bring up the info when you need to. So I like it the way it is.

However it is a little baffling that they don't also include wireless status along with Title/battery/time status. There's room, and if you like to conserve more energy it is useful to be able to check to see whether wifi is on or off at any given time. Maybe they just wanted to use it to display longer titles instead.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by John F

Bug: On the book options page (tapping center of screen while reading), the battery indicator is inverted compared to the home page.

I would like to see an option to display the book title on the top of the page while reading. When I pick "continue reading" from the home page, the title is displayed until the first page turn.

They copied this behavior (consciously or otherwise) from Kindle, which does the same 'hiding' thing (and elicited a reaction similar to yours from many users <g>). To see the title, just tap the middle of the screen, and it will display title, battery status and time on the top, as well as the actions/options on the bottom. Tap again and these hide.

I prefer not having the extraneous UI on the screen when I'm reading. It's very easy to bring up the info when you need to. So I like it the way it is.

I have just discovered it's also possible to bring up the name of the chapter you are in and the number of pages left to read in it: tap middle of the screen, then 'go to'. A little out of the way, but not too much so. Cool.

However it is a little baffling that they don't also include wireless status along with Title/battery/time status. There's room, and if you like to conserve more energy it is useful to be able to check to see whether wifi is on or off at any given time. Maybe they just wanted to use it to display longer titles instead.

[tomsem]

SCION, for me the Nook is much better at the moment because of ePub hyperlink support and having more page display options. I think the physical page turn buttons are good to have also, though some would prefer a slimmer form factor. The only question I'd have is how much improvement we can expect over the lifetime of the devices. Kobo has already shipped one (or two?) updates, while B&N (apparently) hasn't established a good track record in the past with respect to bug fixes. Predictions are difficult, especially about the future.

Earlier in this thread, there was a discussion of a Nook Color bug where you could not extend a selection 'to the left', and that it had not been fixed on Nook STR. However, I'm able to do this on my Nook STR.

The only problems I'm having with selection are that it is difficult to extend the selection accurately (because my finger covers up the area of interest), it seems impossible to select a hyphenated word for dictionary lookup (even one that normally includes a hyphen in the spelling, like 'anti-Semitism'), and selection can't be extended to the next or previous page. These are annoying problems but even if they are never fixed, I can live with them. Text selection Kobo looks like it might be a little easier to manage because of the 'lollypop' handles they have but it is hard to say without having the opportunity to try it.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by tomsem

...

Earlier in this thread, there was a discussion of a Nook Color bug where you could not extend a selection 'to the left', and that it had not been fixed on Nook STR. However, I'm able to do this on my Nook STR.
...

Just tried it again. This isn't working for me on the Touch. Select some text, then let go. Now with that selection still highlighted with the two cursors on the screen, extend the first cursor to the left/up. The selected text shifts. The original selected text is no longer selected.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by SCION

Just tried it again. This isn't working for me on the Touch. Select some text, then let go. Now with that selection still highlighted with the two cursors on the screen, extend the first cursor to the left/up. The selected text shifts. The original selected text is no longer selected.

I believe the manual indicates that you can extend the selection forwards or backwards, but not both.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by tomsem

SCION, for me the Nook is much better at the moment because of ePub hyperlink support and having more page display options...

I agree.

If I didn't need the sync function to actually work, I wouldn't consider anything else. Many folks have more than one book in their currently reading list and would like to access them on a device and in an app. How feasible is it to jot down the last page read for each book each time you're done reading?

[SCION]

Originally Posted by afv011

I believe the manual indicates that you can extend the selection forwards or backwards, but not both.

Ahhh!!! Thanks for the info. That explains why the Touch does the same as the NOOKcolor. So it's not a bug; it's intentional.

Other reader apps (including the NOOK Android app) allow extension left and right without it deselecting text. I don't know why I keep expecting B&N to fall in line with expectations.

[SCION]

I'm staying with the NOOK. I'll keep my rants to a minimum going forward. Not willing to give up formatting options (margins, line spacing) and footnote support (many purchases are non-fiction). I'll continue to keep up with Kobo developments.

[EldRick]

Here's a really stupid piece of programming on the Nook Touch: the Library offers two views: Covers and List.

However, apparent complete stupidity lead the programmer to show only five titles in the List view, but six in the Covers view. Dumb, dumb, dumb - the point of a List view is to show MORE items, not fewer...

[mcooke66]

Originally Posted by EldRick

Here's a really stupid piece of programming on the Nook Touch: the Library offers two views: Covers and List.

However, apparent complete stupidity lead the programmer to show only five titles in the List view, but six in the Covers view. Dumb, dumb, dumb - the point of a List view is to show MORE items, not fewer...

I could not agree more, I am sticking with the cover view even though I would rather see a list view, unfortunately the list view shows less and has huge amounts of white space. I want a list view that maximizes the number of elements it shows the thumbnail view is for the nice look and feel.

Not a big deal by any stretch, but stupid. No point in having options that do not actually meet different use cases.