[davidspitzer]

I was getting some lunch today, when I noticed the strip mall I was in had a Bed Bath and Beyond. I said to myself “hey I should go look they have that Pandigitial Novel on sale there.

I walked in and the display was up near the front and my first reaction upon seeing was...

…You know when you see something horrible and you unconsciously draw one side of your mouth up while making a sucking sound with your breath.

That was my initial reaction

I got to wondering; Bed Bath and Beyond, it seems like a marketing mismatch of epic proportions. I looked around the store at all the pots, pans, cooking gadgets and towels and thought to myself "is an ebook reader really on the shopping list for the demographic of the store? The price also does not speak to the impulse buyer (at least not to me). I guess this device would fall under the "Beyond" category of the store.

Here is my take
Cons:

Too expensive – Not withstanding special coupons and rebates (which was $20 in that store) $169.99 seemed ludicrous stacked up next to the New Kindle or the Nook. If it was $79 I would say “ok I get it” but when you can have a brand new Kindle 3 with wifi and 3G for 30 bucks more or a wifi only for 30 bucks less I am not sure I can get behind that price point

Cheap Looking and Cheap feeling – It just felt cheaply made - enough said

Little Heavy – The Kindle 3 is a full 3 ounces lighter – the nook is about an ounce heavier

Screen – looked blurry to me, it is 800x600 but it had a washed out look to me

Content – I have mentioned it before but finding your own content and syncing is not as elegant to me as the kindle or nook approach

Support – Who knows but they have had a couple of major quality issues already

Pros:
Its color
Android App store
Backlit for reading in bed

The gadget lover in me said – “ooh look shiny shiny” but the pragmatist in me said meh…