[bjones6416]

While on vacation at the beach this week, I ended up in a house with my own Sony Pocket Reader and Jetbook Lite, an Aluratek Libre, and a B&N Nook. The Nook belongs to a friend undergoing cancer treatment, but unfortunately he was hospitalized with some complications before he was able to do anything with it. (Okay, plus he's not particularly technical -- he just wants to read!)

It was a good opportunity to look at some displays side-by-side although unfortunately I forgot to take any pics. I'm a little disappointed to say that my beloved Sony Reader had the lightest display, with the least contrast, of any of them. The two readers with the TFT display (the JBL and the Libre) actually have the best contrast. The Nook is somewhere in between, but definitely darker than the Sony.

BUT, of the four of them, keeping in mind that the JBL and the Libre are virtually identical, the Nook is the least intuitive to me. I'm one of those people to whom people hand their various electronic devices and say, "Show me how to ___________ with this," and usually I can. I had to go online to a Nook forum to figure out some of the Nook navigation, though. I ended up side-loading a few books for him, hoping he'll remember to find them in "My Documents" instead of "My Library."

Of the four readers I had in front of me, I still would pick the Sony Pocket as my favorite, even with the not-great contrast. I like the look of the unit, I like the size (including the fact that's it's thicker than the Nook -- easier to hold on to), I like the battery life, and I like the easy navigation.

Of the two without e-ink displays, it's a toss-up. Sometimes I like the fact that the JBL uses AA batteries, and sometimes I wish I could just plug it in like my other devices. I like the battery bump to hold it by, but it makes it a pain to find a good cover for it. The Libre is fine, but you can't use the multi-directional button to turn pages on an epub book. The various ways to turn pages is one of the best features of these readers, so that's disappointing. (Of course, you could always convert it to another format.)

The Nook: I like the display a lot. I like swiping to turn pages. It's a little thin for me to hold comfortably, but I imagine if I were to put it in a cover I'd be fine. Navigation wise, though, it's a little more intimidating for a beginner in my opinion.

So that's how I spent my summer vacation... :-)


Edit: I should add that I did a good bit of reading in bed late at night when I couldn't sleep -- on my Palm PDA. Yep, backlighting has its place.