[Ocean]

The highlights for me:

* the general hardware experience is not wildly dissimilar from its main competitor.

* Once you get the hang of the system it starts to make some sense, but it's nothing we'd describe as intuitive, and your rhythm is thrown off by one major factor: the extremely sluggish response of the device.

* There is little-to-no difference between the contrast and clarity on this screen versus its competitors

* we felt it very slightly outperformed Amazon's option in contrast, though the Kindle has a considerably faster refresh rate when turning pages.

* While the UI is different (not necessarily a bad thing in our eyes), there are also places where it is plain bad (necessarily a bad thing in our eyes). There's instability to spare in the review unit we used.

* B&N's store options and book browsing are far better than what Amazon offers.

* The question one has to weigh is whether or not the software is more of an aid or impediment to what the device was designed to do (book reading, remember?), and in our judgment, it's the latter. It's just downright unpleasant to use sometimes.

* If there's one thing the company knows how to do, it's sell books, and that's clear when using the Nook to browse or purchase titles. The on-device experience shines, and knocks the nearest competition around handily.

* the Nook is an intriguing product launched by a powerful force in the world of booksellers, but the initial offering feels long on promises and short on delivery. With the right software revisions, the Nook could be a tsunami, but as it stands right now, it's only a mild swell.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/07/b...e-nook-review/