Newbie needs some quick answers

[kittyhawk63]

Fourteen of you have already looked at this thread and no one has offered any help. Surely, someone can help answer these questions.
Edit: I meant to encourage someone to answer because I was in a hurry to leave the house. I apologize if it came across as rude or whining.

I apologize for asking for some quick answers, but I just bought a Nook Color yesterday and I need to have some answers to see if I need to return it today for a different reader.

1. My wife is petite and the reader is her birthday gift. She mentioned how heavy the NC is. Do you get used to this weight after having it for a while? She reads sitting in a chair and laying in bed. Would she have a hard time reading with this in bed because of the weight? Would it be too heavy for reading for an hour or so? Chime in ladies.

2. We do not have WIFI at our house. We have broadband cable. I do not want to invest more money changing over to WIFI. I need to know if 3G will allow me to connect for downloading books and if it cost anything to use 3G from my house. How do I know if I have 3G at my house? My wife has a cell phone that uses AT&T and we can use it anywhere we go: home and on the road.

3. It is my present understanding that 3G will not allow me to go onto the Internet, but I would need to use WIFI for that. Is my understanding correct? Is 3G limited to downloading books?

4. I am sure this has been answered, but I want to save time this morning from having to search for answers. Do any of you have any difficulty reading from the LCD screen over the eInk screen?

5. My wife continuously uses hand cream that is oil based. How would she go about using the touch screen without constantly having to clean it from her oily fingers? Is there something she can wear on her finger(s) to keep the screen clean?

6. Is the LCD screen as easy to read as the eInk screen, especially outside in the sun?

7. Is the touch screen superior to the Qwerty keyboard? Is the Nook eInk reader as good as the Kindle eInk reader?

8. My wife wears contacts but reads wearing glasses. Have any of you noticed any difference in eye strain using contacts over glasses?

9. Do any of you download books using your computer and then downloading them to your Nook?

Thank you for taking the time to read and answer my questions. Your answers will determine if I return the NC for a Nook eInk reader and keeping the Nook or trading it for a Kindle.

[deborahjeanne]

LCD screen is not easy to read in the sun at all. I'm pretty sure the color will not work at all with 3G, wifi only, or direct connection to the computer. I have no problem reading the LCD screen over eink. I do download books and then put them on my nook - I don't buy from the nookstore as a rule. I read in bed, but I sit up and prop it in my lap. It would get heavy after a while holding it unsupported.

[geertm]

help:
I apologize for asking for some quick answers, but I just bought a Nook Color yesterday and I need to have some answers to see if I need to return it today for a different reader.

1. My wife is petite and the reader is her birthday gift. She mentioned how heavy the NC is. Do you get used to this weight after having it for a while? She reads sitting in a chair and laying in bed. Would she have a hard time reading with this in bed because of the weight? Would it be too heavy for reading for an hour or so? Chime in ladies.

The weight of the NC is no problem for me. I have a cover so I can hold the NC like a book.

2. We do not have WIFI at our house. We have broadband cable. I do not want to invest more money changing over to WIFI. I need to know if 3G will allow me to connect for downloading books and if it cost anything to use 3G from my house. How do I know if I have 3G at my house? My wife has a cell phone that uses AT&T and we can use it anywhere we go: home and on the road.

The NC has no 3G, only Wifi. If you have broadband cable you router perhaps already has Wifi support. Otherwise a cheap Wifi router that you can connect to your existing one should only cost you about $30 or so

3. It is my present understanding that 3G will not allow me to go onto the Internet, but I would need to use WIFI for that. Is my understanding correct? Is 3G limited to downloading books?

The NC has no 3G, only Wifi.
The 3G of the Nook Classic can only be used to connect to the B&N store to buy books and to download them (the 3G is free). You will need Wifi for the internet browser.

4. I am sure this has been answered, but I want to save time this morning from having to search for answers. Do any of you have any difficulty reading from the LCD screen over the eInk screen?

You can adjust brightness and background color.
I use the grey background with brightness almost completely down, and find this reads just as fine as my Nook Classic did (my personal opinion of course).

5. My wife continuously uses hand cream that is oil based. How would she go about using the touch screen without constantly having to clean it from her oily fingers? Is there something she can wear on her finger(s) to keep the screen clean?

You will need to clean the screen regularly anyway.
You could use a stylus for a capacitive touchscreen (like ipad/ipone).

6. Is the LCD screen as easy to read as the eInk screen, especially outside in the sun?

Winter here, no sun yet. No experience reading in the sun.

7. Is the touch screen superior to the Qwerty keyboard? Is the Nook eInk reader as good as the Kindle eInk reader?

No experience with the Kindle. Both are probably not great for typing a lot, but okay for short texts.

8. My wife wears contacts but reads wearing glasses. Have any of you noticed any difference in eye strain using contacts over glasses?

9. Do any of you download books using your computer and then downloading them to your Nook?

Both Nook Classic en NC support e-pub with Adobe DRM. Install Adobe Digital Editions and authorize you Nook. Connect your Nook to your PC with the USB cable. It will show up as a drive letter on your PC.
Copy the books to your Nook using ADE, or just drag and drop them.
Works fine.
You can also read books from the public libray this way (Kindle does not support this).

You can also sideload B&N books this way. You do not need ADE for B&N books. You can just drag and drop those.

Thank you for taking the time to read and answer my questions. Your answers will determine if I return the NC for a Nook eInk reader and keeping the Nook or trading it for a Kindle.
:thanks

[kittyhawk63]

Originally Posted by geertm

help:
I apologize for asking for some quick answers, but I just bought a Nook Color yesterday and I need to have some answers to see if I need to return it today for a different reader.

1. My wife is petite and the reader is her birthday gift. She mentioned how heavy the NC is. Do you get used to this weight after having it for a while? She reads sitting in a chair and laying in bed. Would she have a hard time reading with this in bed because of the weight? Would it be too heavy for reading for an hour or so? Chime in ladies.

The weight of the NC is no problem for me. I have a cover so I can hold the NC like a book.

2. We do not have WIFI at our house. We have broadband cable. I do not want to invest more money changing over to WIFI. I need to know if 3G will allow me to connect for downloading books and if it cost anything to use 3G from my house. How do I know if I have 3G at my house? My wife has a cell phone that uses AT&T and we can use it anywhere we go: home and on the road.

The NC has no 3G, only Wifi. If you have broadband cable you router perhaps already has Wifi support. Otherwise a cheap Wifi router that you can connect to your existing one should only cost you about $30 or so

3. It is my present understanding that 3G will not allow me to go onto the Internet, but I would need to use WIFI for that. Is my understanding correct? Is 3G limited to downloading books?

The NC has no 3G, only Wifi.
The 3G of the Nook Classic can only be used to connect to the B&N store to buy books and to download them (the 3G is free). You will need Wifi for the internet browser.

4. I am sure this has been answered, but I want to save time this morning from having to search for answers. Do any of you have any difficulty reading from the LCD screen over the eInk screen?

You can adjust brightness and background color.
I use the grey background with brightness almost completely down, and find this reads just as fine as my Nook Classic did (my personal opinion of course).

5. My wife continuously uses hand cream that is oil based. How would she go about using the touch screen without constantly having to clean it from her oily fingers? Is there something she can wear on her finger(s) to keep the screen clean?

You will need to clean the screen regularly anyway.
You could use a stylus for a capacitive touchscreen (like ipad/ipone).

6. Is the LCD screen as easy to read as the eInk screen, especially outside in the sun?

Winter here, no sun yet. No experience reading in the sun.

7. Is the touch screen superior to the Qwerty keyboard? Is the Nook eInk reader as good as the Kindle eInk reader?

No experience with the Kindle. Both are probably not great for typing a lot, but okay for short texts.

8. My wife wears contacts but reads wearing glasses. Have any of you noticed any difference in eye strain using contacts over glasses?

9. Do any of you download books using your computer and then downloading them to your Nook?

Both Nook Classic en NC support e-pub with Adobe DRM. Install Adobe Digital Editions and authorize you Nook. Connect your Nook to your PC with the USB cable. It will show up as a drive letter on your PC.
Copy the books to your Nook using ADE, or just drag and drop them.
Works fine.
You can also read books from the public libray this way (Kindle does not support this).

You can also sideload B&N books this way. You do not need ADE for B&N books. You can just drag and drop those.

Thank you for taking the time to read and answer my questions. Your answers will determine if I return the NC for a Nook eInk reader and keeping the Nook or trading it for a Kindle.

Thank you both for your answers. Here are two more questions.

Will the WiFi connected to my router have a monthly fee?

If I connect the NC to my computer to download books, does that also mean my wife has to sit at the computer (at home) to read library books? Or, do you have to go to the library to do this?

Will 3G be available at my house if my wife can use her AT&T cell phone at the house?

I can't understand why the NC does not have 3G. More money, less way to connect?

[DixieGal]

Did you read the manual?

[kittyhawk63]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Did you read the manual?

I take it that the manual is in the NC. I have not yet setup the NC. I am waiting for a few others to answer the questions. I will have to drive to B&N to setup the NC "if" I decide to keep it.

What kept me from doing the setup is my wife's response to the weight. She is quite small and we are not young. Weight means more as you grow older.

[magicmonster]

Your attitude does not lend you to get responses when you whine about not getting answers....

Here is a few that I have time to answer right now.

I don't find it too heavy while reading in bed. It will depend on how you like to read in bed. If you lay on your side it's fine. If you are propped up on your back you can use a pillow to angle the thing so you don't have to hold it.

You can read outside but you will have to use much more backlighting and it will suck the battery out and you will not be able to read as long.

The nook color does not have 3g. It is wifi only. If it did have 3G you would be able to use it everywhere that has 3g connectivity (ie att cell phone coverage). The Kindle 3g can be used to surf the internet but it is a crappy experience. I do take it on trips though since I can use it to pull up a map if we get lost.

Regarding the hand cream issue. A screen protector helps a lot. You could purchase a stylus that works on capacitive touch devices (like for the ipad). You can try to use a glove liner or a rubber glove after it has been unlocked. It does not seem to work to unlock it.

I don't have problems reading on the device since you can control the back light and the size of the font. Though I wish I could get a back background with green writing.

Buttons - vs on screen - the buttons are nice on a Kindle but sometimes hard to push and the on screen is quicker to type on (like the nook color) but sometimes gives you two letters instead of one.

[kittyhawk63]

Originally Posted by magicmonster

Your attitude does not lend you to get responses when you whine about not getting answers....

Here is a few that I have time to answer right now.

I don't find it too heavy while reading in bed. It will depend on how you like to read in bed. If you lay on your side it's fine if you are propped up on your back you can use a pillow to angle the thing so you don't have to hold it.

You can read outside but you will have to use much more backlighting and it will suck the battery out and you will not be able to read as long.

The nook color does not have 3g. It is wifi only. If it did have 3G you would be able to use it everywhere that has 3g connectivity (ie att cell phone coverage). The Kindle 3g can be used to surf the internet but it is a crappy experience. I do take it on trips though since I can use it to pull up a map if we get lost.

Regarding the hand cream issue. A screen protector helps a lot. You could purchase a stylus that works on capacitive touch devices (like for the ipad). You can try to use a glove liner or a rubber glove after it has been unlocked. It does not seem to work to unlock it.

I don't have problems reading on the device since you can control the back light and the size of the font. Though I wish I could get a back background with green writing.

Buttons - vs on screen - the buttons are nice on a Kindle but sometimes hard to push and the on screen is quicker to type on but sometimes gives you two letters instead of one.

You are sure quick to judge someone that you don't even know. Is your unkind response how you tend to treat newbies? I did not recognize that I had an attitude. I was just hoping to get someone to help by saying that someone surely has an answer to my questions. If you take that as whining, I'm sorry. I apologize if you or others took it that way.

Thank you so much for your appreciated answers.

[Grimm]

1. My wife is petite and the reader is her birthday gift. She mentioned how heavy the NC is. Do you get used to this weight after having it for a while? She reads sitting in a chair and laying in bed. Would she have a hard time reading with this in bed because of the weight? Would it be too heavy for reading for an hour or so? Chime in ladies.

Not a lady here but I read all the time on my Nook Color to include reading in bed and I don't notice the weight at all.

2. We do not have WIFI at our house. We have broadband cable. I do not want to invest more money changing over to WIFI. I need to know if 3G will allow me to connect for downloading books and if it cost anything to use 3G from my house. How do I know if I have 3G at my house? My wife has a cell phone that uses AT&T and we can use it anywhere we go: home and on the road.

Do you have a wireless broadband modem? That's all you need for WiFi. The Nook Color does an excellent job on my home boradband wireless connection.

3. It is my present understanding that 3G will not allow me to go onto the Internet, but I would need to use WIFI for that. Is my understanding correct? Is 3G limited to downloading books?

4. I am sure this has been answered, but I want to save time this morning from having to search for answers. Do any of you have any difficulty reading from the LCD screen over the eInk screen?

No difficulty at all for me, I do not experience the elusive "eye strain" people talk about. In fact, I read more on my Nook Color than I did on my e-ink devices. Also, with the Nook Color there is no need for an awkward clip on light that does not evenly distribute light on the device so when I'm reading in bed with the lights out, I can read perfectly.

5. My wife continuously uses hand cream that is oil based. How would she go about using the touch screen without constantly having to clean it from her oily fingers? Is there something she can wear on her finger(s) to keep the screen clean?

6. Is the LCD screen as easy to read as the eInk screen, especially outside in the sun?

E-ink would be easier but with the anti-glare screen on my Nook Color, I have no problem reading in the sun, expecially with the brightness adjustability.

7. Is the touch screen superior to the Qwerty keyboard? Is the Nook eInk reader as good as the Kindle eInk reader?

I believe it is better than the Kindle 3. I have had both and I prefer the Nook better. The K3 has a better screen (though not by all that much) but I liked the swiping to change pages on the Nook e-ink.

8. My wife wears contacts but reads wearing glasses. Have any of you noticed any difference in eye strain using contacts over glasses?

9. Do any of you download books using your computer and then downloading them to your Nook?

That's how I have gotten every book on my Nook Color. It's ridiculously easy.

Thank you for taking the time to read and answer my questions. Your answers will determine if I return the NC for a Nook eInk reader and keeping the Nook or trading it for a Kindle.

Do what's best for her of course, but I would not trade my Nook Color for a Kindle 3 or an e-ink Nook, and I have had all of these. They are all good devices but the Nook Color is just so much more capable.

[Grimm]

Will the WiFi connected to my router have a monthly fee?

In a word, nope.

Will 3G be available at my house if my wife can use her AT&T cell phone at the house?

It should.

I can't understand why the NC does not have 3G. More money, less way to connect?

Couldn't tell you but I don't miss it a bit.

[Grimm]

Well great, he left, so all that posting was a waste of time. lol.

[geertm]

Thank you both for your answers. Here are two more questions.

Will the WiFi connected to my router have a monthly fee?

No. The Wifi router just converts your existing internet connection to a wireless signal.

If I connect the NC to my computer to download books, does that also mean my wife has to sit at the computer (at home) to read library books? Or, do you have to go to the library to do this?

Both regular books and library books are downloaded to your PC. After that you copy them to the Nook. You can read them on the Nook.

Will 3G be available at my house if my wife can use her AT&T cell phone at the house?

I can't understand why the NC does not have 3G. More money, less way to connect.

B&N pays the 3G phonebill of the Nook Classic, that is the reason you can only use the 3G to connect to the B&N shop and to download books. You can only download small files (there is a 10MB limit). B&N can afford to pay this.
The Nook Color magazines, interactive books and apps are a lot larger than regular e-books so B&N would have to pay a lot more for the 3G, they cannot afford that. An alternative would be to let you buy a seperate 3G plan for the NC, but that would mean negotiations with mobile phone providers and it would be quite expensive. You would have to pay $300 to $400 every year for 3G for your $250 NC.
And more and more mobile phones can be used as a Wifi hotspot so you can connect you Wifi devices to the phone.

[taustin]

Originally Posted by kittyhawk63

Fourteen of you have already looked at this thread and no one has offered any help. Surely, someone can help answer these questions.

I apologize for asking for some quick answers, but I just bought a Nook Color yesterday and I need to have some answers to see if I need to return it today for a different reader.

1. My wife is petite and the reader is her birthday gift. She mentioned how heavy the NC is. Do you get used to this weight after having it for a while? She reads sitting in a chair and laying in bed. Would she have a hard time reading with this in bed because of the weight? Would it be too heavy for reading for an hour or so? Chime in ladies.

It's maybe a little bit heavier than a typical hard cover. I didn't even notice the weight while reading, even at the beginning. (I also read both sitting and lying down.)

Originally Posted by kittyhawk63

2. We do not have WIFI at our house. We have broadband cable. I do not want to invest more money changing over to WIFI. I need to know if 3G will allow me to connect for downloading books and if it cost anything to use 3G from my house. How do I know if I have 3G at my house? My wife has a cell phone that uses AT&T and we can use it anywhere we go: home and on the road.

The Nook Color has no 3G. You cannot even use it until it has been activanted using WiFi. An access point isn't terribly expensive if you already have broadband (less than $50), but it is an expense. You can also activate it at any B&N to get it going, and then download purchases and "sideload" them through your computer, but you can't buy books through the device without WiFi.

Originally Posted by kittyhawk63

3. It is my present understanding that 3G will not allow me to go onto the Internet, but I would need to use WIFI for that. Is my understanding correct? Is 3G limited to downloading books?

The NC has no 3G at all.

Originally Posted by kittyhawk63

4. I am sure this has been answered, but I want to save time this morning from having to search for answers. Do any of you have any difficulty reading from the LCD screen over the eInk screen?

I don't, at all. Some do. Reading for long periods can cause eye strain. I'd guess it's a minority, but it's not uncommon. Only way to know is to try it.

Originally Posted by kittyhawk63

5. My wife continuously uses hand cream that is oil based. How would she go about using the touch screen without constantly having to clean it from her oily fingers? Is there something she can wear on her finger(s) to keep the screen clean?

The touch screen is quite sensitive to wetness on the screen. Normal fingerprints don't cause a problem (other than being smears on the screen that need to be cleaned from time to time). If she's leaving fingerprints, it's not a big deal. Just get a microfiber cloth and wipe it clean when you notice the fingerprints. If she's leaving smears of hand cream, it may well interfere with the touch screen working. A single small drop of water can make it unresponsive, in my experience, and several drops of iced tea make it go crazy.

Originally Posted by kittyhawk63

6. Is the LCD screen as easy to read as the eInk screen, especially outside in the sun?

Again, experiences vary. The brightness is adjustable, and at the brightest value, I have no trouble at all reading outside in direct sunlight. Some do, and some suffer eye strain far more easily when reading in dark rooms, even with the screen as dim as it will go. For most, it doesn't seem to be an issue. (I have a Nook classic, too, and while I found it quite easy to read, and very high quality, I prefer the LCD because it seems to be sharper and crisper, and the contrast between black & white is greater.)

Originally Posted by kittyhawk63

7. Is the touch screen superior to the Qwerty keyboard?

No, a real keyboard is significantly superior. Which should come as no surprise to anyone. But you most likely won't be doing a lot of typing on it anyway, and the touch screen keyboard is OK for most people. (There are sporadic reports of it being a little insensitive near the edges - mine is like that - and many people seem to get multiple input from keystrokes - several of the same letter - when it's plugged in and charging, but if you're careful, it's not a big deal unless you're typing a lot on it.)

Originally Posted by kittyhawk63

Is the Nook eInk reader as good as the Kindle eInk reader?

Opinions vary on that, so it seems to be a matter of preference. The screens aren't much different, but the Kindle has an actual (tiny) keyboard on the device, while the Nook classic has a small touchscreen. From what I can tell, the Kindle is easier to type on, but there are a couple dozen mechanical switches to wear out or break, so it's a matter of how much you expect to type vs. wear and tear.

Originally Posted by kittyhawk63

8. My wife wears contacts but reads wearing glasses. Have any of you noticed any difference in eye strain using contacts over glasses?

I wear Coke bottle bifocal glasses, and have no problems at all. Don't wear contacts, though. I would expect that if she can read comfortably from a paper book, reading from the LCD shouldn't be an issue (in that regard, anyway).

Originally Posted by kittyhawk63

9. Do any of you download books using your computer and then downloading them to your Nook?

I've only bought three or four books from B&N so far. Mostly, I've gotten books from Project Gutenberg or Baen. Sideloading them (through the USB cable) is no big deal, although there is no way to get sideloaded stuff on to the home screen like the B&N purchases are.

Originally Posted by kittyhawk63

Thank you for taking the time to read and answer my questions. Your answers will determine if I return the NC for a Nook eInk reader and keeping the Nook or trading it for a Kindle.

The two biggest reasons to go with the color version is if she's going to read in dim lighting - the LCD is backlight, the eInk screen is not - or if she'll actually need color, like reading magazines or comic books. The one undeniable advantage for the eInk version is that it's available with 3G (though I don't know if there's any charge for using it, as mine's a WiFi).

[kittyhawk63]

Originally Posted by Grimm

Well great, he left, so all that posting was a waste of time. lol.

Thank you Grimm for your answers.
No, actually, I've decided to stay. I can overlook the hits and take advantage of all the help that I have received. I even appreciated the answers from the two that thought that I had an attitude. I honestly didn't intend to offend anyone. I will be more careful on how I word my sentences in the future.

Thanks to all for answering my questions. I think I will stay with the NC and get a WIFI connection for my cable router.

BTW, my lovely wife and I celebrate our 40th anniversary this June.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by kittyhawk63

I honestly didn't intend to offend anyone. I will be more careful on how I word my sentences in the future.
~~~~~
BTW, my lovely wife and I celebrate our 40th anniversary this June.

I wouldn't worry about it. For what it's worth, I didn't see anything rude or whining or offensive in your post.

Congratulations on 40 years. That's pretty impressive in this day and age.