Quote:
Originally Posted by rcentros
I did get to try out the GlowLight 3. Unfortunately "managing" the storage only means deleting files (or, I'm guessing, moving books to the Cloud on the B&N partition). So memory for side-loading definitely appears to be limited to less than a GB. I don't get it, why do you need 5.5 GBs of storage for B&N content when *that* can be moved to the online storage? (Not that this effects me as I don't carry that many books on my eReader, but I'm sure it will be a big disappointment for many). The other thing that threw me a bit was that the screen seemed more deeply inset than necessary for a capacitance screen. Not far from being as deep as my infrared devices. So much for the bad now on to the good.
The screen was nice and evenly lit. The "temperature" adjustment goes from bright blue/white to almost orange, so everyone should be able to find their comfortable setting. (The pictures make it look a little more orange than it actually is, at least in the light of the store.) I found 2/3 to 3/4 towards the warm side was about perfect (at least in the store's lighting). The fonts (on the "darker" setting) are well formed and easy to read. Publisher's fonts' weight can not be adjusted (kind of like the Kindle). Fonts start out with the Regular setting and can be darker or lighter. I'm pretty sure mine would always be on the darker side. For those who haven't used a Nook since the Simple Touch (like me), the interface is a bit more like the Kindle. Font sizes are set with a plus and minus font size, so I don't know how many increments there are. Seems to be quite a few. You get back to settings, light brightness, font settings, etc., via a tap on the top of the screen. (I kind of like the way the Simple Touch worked better here.) There doesn't seem to be a way to turn the Title off on the top of the page, or change the bottom to anything but "page # of total page #." Kindle definitely wins out here. The smallest margin takes you close to the edge of the screen (closer than with the Kindle) so I liked that. I like the feel and size of the GlowLight 3. I'm pretty sure I would get a case for carrying this device, not for reading with it. The keys are easier to push than on the Simple Touch, but they're a bit "clicky," and don't feel as solid as the original ST. I did notice a slight page turn lag, not bad but definitely not as quick as my Kindle Basic. Definitely not a deal breaker, though. If you're *not* a fan of the grayed out chapter titles and dictionary definitions, you're not going to like the way the GlowLight 3 handles those – definitely grayed out. I don't quite get that. It looks like the Nook has some kind of GoodReads type app – but since I never use GoodReads I really didn't look into that. The Nook interface still has a button to take you directly back to your book, which I like (when pushing the Nook "N"). You get to the Settings via the GlowLight icon. Click on that you get to light settings and then you get an "All Settings" button. Kind of seems a little backwards. In the storage settings you can check or uncheck, magazines and newspapers being automatically downloaded (which is probably why they partition the Nook the way they do, they're definitely trying to push magazines and newspapers). They also have a check for automatically storing content online. (Not exactly sure how that works, or what the point is.)
Sorry to ramble. Nothing I saw tonight will keep me from buying the GlowLight 3 – and there was nothing that made me say "I must have it." I do like the screen and its choice of temperatures quite a bit. Fonts are good and clear. But I still like my NST and NST with Glowlight (both of which still work fine) so a new Nook is not really a necessity. At any rate, for what it's worth, those are some of my impressions.
(And I'm still rambling.)
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Thanks for the ramble. It was informative. Boy I hope what we're seeing as far as storage goes is an error. Everything else about the new Nook sounds so nice.
Nook software has never been the best, but one thing I always liked was the little button in the upper left corner that would take you back to your current book if you were in any other screen. It was there on the ST, Glowlight and Glowlight Plus. It was a reminder that the primary purpose of the thing is to read a book and getting back to that was always one tap away.
On the Glowlight 3 that seems to be replaced with some sort of account icon with a cartoon head and a name.