[Prestidigitweeze]

I feel that B&N has to do a few things to make their next e-ink reader the all-purpose device the Nook STwGL ought to have been:

1. Keep the matte surface and unobtrusive color of the Nook ST but put the design on a diet and give the entire device a flat shape. Otherwise, the ergonomic rightness of the naked device is completely negated by bulk and dodgy fasteners for people who prefer to keep it in a cover. Sony stole the matte look and texture of the ST for the PRS-T2; B&N should steal the form factor of the T2 for their next reader.

2. Stop forcing the user to look at ads on the home screen. Yes, rooting does away with this problem completely, but a lot of users will never root, and they deserve to look at their own books and screen-saver graphics rather than advertising for books they don't want and pictures they might not even like.

Amazon has a good idea in creating an ad-populated Kindle and allowing us to choose the ad-free kind. B&N's screens should pertain only to the Nook itself, with the store being located on a subpage instead of aggressively obtruding on the reader's focus and taking up screen real estate.

You're not just selling books, B&N. You're also selling the space in which to read and think in peace.

But for the form factor with cover and the advertising, I think the Nook ST is a great device. Its micro SD slot for memory, additional books and -- coincidentally -- a bootable alternative environment is aces. And since I tend to get more reliable results converting epub to mobi than the other way around, I'd prefer to use an epub device, which the Nooks all are and will probably continue to be.