Quote:
Originally Posted by anamardoll
I don't have a dog in this fight, but if you don't mind, I'll weigh in here as someone else slamming the NC stock reader.
I agree with you that the NC stock reader is adequate and functional for "basic" reading, where we define "basic" as:
1. Not taking notes.
2. Not making bookmarks that you want to export later.
3. Not wanting to easily "reset" book data (last page read), etc.
4. Not reading in "night mode".
5. Not reading in landscape mode.
So, basically, pick up the NC, buy the latest Dresden novel or whatever, and read it to completion, and the NC stock app will probably treat you well. And that's great. 
But the thing is: under those circumstances, every reader I've ever tried (Nook, Nook Color, PocketBook 360, Aldiko, Moon+, Cool Reader, etc.) fulfills those criteria. And that's great, too, but it does undermine this meme that the NC stock reader is "wonderful".
Now, you didn't call the NC stock reader "wonderful", but other people have thrown those superlatives around in this thread, and I would ask: If it only does the bare minimum that every other reader does, what's 'wonderful' about it? It's adequate for a very basic set of needs. If that meets your needs, great - but if it doesn't, it's very frustrating.
It's especially frustrating because B&N can't seem to decide if they want this to be a "serious" reading device (which would necessitate major upgrades to their stock readers) or a "tablet" device (which would necessitate a much more robust app store, and - really - SD card installation to the device since they're coming to the app store concept so late in the game).
Now having said all that, here are things that the stock readers don't do well:
1. Library organization. I have 200+ books from B&N alone; 700+ in my Calibre library. The "shelves" feature is bulky and unmanageable - you can only browse the shelves (IIRC) by "swiping" sideways through the covers. I have 100+ books on my "childrens' lit" shelf - I don't want to swipe sideways through 100 books. Compare shelf management to something like the Calibre2opds output - B&N could have done something like that, but didn't. 
2. Book resets. Your husband read on your NC and now you'd like all the "last read" pages reset? I still don't know how to do this on the NC. I think there's a way to delete all the bookmarks and highlights, but you have to do that individually for each book. Compare to my PocketBook 360 that has a "clear device" option that resets all books to an unread/un-annotated state.
3. Custom options in the reader: Landscape mode. More controls over the look and feel of the "night" mode. Ability to load custom fonts. Ability to designate "touch areas" where the user can customize commands (i.e., touching the upper right quadrant will skip ahead 10 pages) (Cool Reader does this, IIRC.) Heck, even just the ability to keep the screen on the book cover after the initial zoom-and-load so that you can show off your pretty color reader table to your friends!
There are other things we can (and have) complained about with regards to the NC stock reader, but I think these things are all pretty major, even for casual readers. I'm not trying to slam on B&N - I really WANT to love them because I *am* fond of my Nook and NC - but these issues are present and it's... frustrating for me and others.
I get that you don't want these features, and that's great too. But I think the person you were responding to was frustrated by all the "What you talking about, Willis, the stock reader is GREAT!" posts. I agree that it's functional. For certain needs. But "great"? To me, "great" indicates that you get something from this reader that you can't get elsewhere - and I can't think of a single thing the B&N stock reader does that the other comparable readers (LCD, touch screen readers) don't do just as well or better.
That's my opinion.  |
This what you wrote:
1. Not taking notes.
2. Not making bookmarks that you want to export later.
3. Not wanting to easily "reset" book data (last page read), etc.
4. Not reading in "night mode".
5. Not reading in landscape mode
1. You most certainly can take notes on the nook color and nook classic for that matter
2. No it doesn't export but you can bookmark
3. Not sure what you mean here. the both nooks holds your last spot where you last read. even withou speciafically book marking. You can juggle three books and when you pull up your book it automaticaly goes to the last page read.
4. Not reading in night mode is again purely subjectable. I don't mind it, in fact like the white on blue text, if it's too bright then bring down the brightness or use another background.
5. Landscape was supposed to be part of this update,not sure what happen and not sure why its not there especially when it's offered in the Nook app. But again to me personally It doesn't affect me because 7 inch's is too small to enjoy reading in landscape, but again those are just my needs and wants.
as to your other complaints
You are comparing Calibre file mangaing system which is designed for a PC to a file mangaing system designed for a small touch screen hand held mobile device. You just aren't going to be able to get the same High level of management on mobile device than you can on a home computer, not a fair argument
Font's. You get a choice of 6 Fonts and 6 text sizes. I mean I know you can't please everyone but egads 6 Font's? IMHO that's more than plenty to choose from.
Night Mode? Again purely subjectable, you may not like the white on blue but have you tried any other backgrounds. You aren't held to only use "Night" when reading at night. Try gray, I think Gray is wonderful
and yes I do find the stock readers UI wonderful. but again that is just my opinon