New Nook Disappointments

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by compusolver

To be fair to the Nook, I don't share any of this poster's complaints. But the paltry selection of newspapers and magazines (less than 20 in all, as I recall) and the rather limited selection of books are serious considerations.

Even more serious is BN's habit of removing your paid books and "limiting" your Nook access. (See my "Nook Beware" post here). Even after a support phone call one day and a support message via their website the next day, my books are still gone and my Nook has "limited access".

And what was their reason? They say someone unsuccessfully tried to access my account several times.

I paid for these books months ago. I paid for the Nook months ago. I now have access to neither and BN refuses a refund saying I've gone past the 14 days.

So they are trying to prevent someone from illegally using your account and you are upset with B&N? If you have not been able to provide them with the info needed to prove who you are, then they are not going to unlock it.

I know when I bricked a lost Kindle with Amazon I have to give them all the info they had on my account and an approximate time of purchase and when it was lost so they could verify I had bought the Kindle and that my story was honest. They asled for a lot of info. Probably to make sure that I had actually owned the Kindle and wasn;t trying to swindle someone by turning off their Kindle. It is about protecting the company and protecting the user.

[Noah98]

Originally Posted by compusolver

To be fair to the Nook, I don't share any of this poster's complaints. But the paltry selection of newspapers and magazines (less than 20 in all, as I recall) and the rather limited selection of books are serious considerations.

Even more serious is BN's habit of removing your paid books and "limiting" your Nook access. (See my "Nook Beware" post here). Even after a support phone call one day and a support message via their website the next day, my books are still gone and my Nook has "limited access".

And what was their reason? They say someone unsuccessfully tried to access my account several times.

I paid for these books months ago. I paid for the Nook months ago. I now have access to neither and BN refuses a refund saying I've gone past the 14 days.

Limited selection of books? So being able to shop at B&N, Sony, Booksamillion, and Kobo stores (plus others) is limited?

A company protecting you from identity theft is bad?

Phantom Shadows?

Am I in the twilight zone, or a Star Trekesque alternate universe...where is evil Spock?

[boswd]

Originally Posted by Noah98

Limited selection of books? So being able to shop at B&N, Sony, Booksamillion, and Kobo stores (plus others) is limited?

A company protecting you from identity theft is bad?

Phantom Shadows?

Am I in the twilight zone, or a Star Trekesque alternate universe...where is evil Spock?

tell me about it

[AndyfromVA]

After a month with the Nook my only "disappointment" is that the battery doesn't last longer. Otherwise I'm perfectly happy with the device. In fact I'm addicted to it.

[superstitious]

I couldn't stress enough how awesome the finger swiping page turn is. I am another happy camper. It'll be more awesome if battery life last longer but it really doesn't bother me to charge it once a week. Otherwise I can't live without it. I switched from the god of all readers, sony 505 for christ sake. That should say something, shouldn't it? Well then again one could say "that's your opinion". Well it definitely is.

[AdrianM]

So, the K3 has arrived and with literally just a few minutes of play time, I can say that my initial impressions are very favourable indeed!

Looking at the Nook and K3 screens side by side I wouldn't say the contrast difference is obvious because it really isn't. The font sharpness, on first inspection isn't greatly different either. This is normal lighting conditions without playing with any of the different fonts and sizes.

However, where the K3 stands out by leaps and bounds is, speed, well designed simple interface that just works and doesn't get in the way, size, weight, look (no distracting nasty shiny stuff anywhere ) and feel with awesome ergonomics (those page turning keys are very, very nice and unobtrusive to use) and build quality. Picking up this with or without the lighted cover fitted is a joy and puts a smile on your face - unlike the Nook which was an instant disappointment for me. My wife agrees too, so, I guess we'll end up buying another K3 for her soon enough and the Nook will be sold off to someone less, um, demanding.

I will post side-by-sides pictures later when charging has finished and I've played some more.

Final words; well chuffed.

[booklover3]

Adrian - Glad to hear you love your K3. You mention that the ergonomics are great (page turning keys) - would you say the page turning is easy on the fingers? I am getting tired of turning pages on my Sony PRS 505 (finger cramps up) and looking for something easier to turn pages. Do you think the K3 fits the bill? Thanks.

[Rebo]

Originally Posted by AdrianM

Looking at the Nook and K3 screens side by side I wouldn't say the contrast difference is obvious because it really isn't. The font sharpness, on first inspection isn't greatly different either. This is normal lighting conditions without playing with any of the different fonts and sizes.

However, where the K3 stands out by leaps and bounds is, speed, well designed simple interface that just works and doesn't get in the way, size, weight, look (no distracting nasty shiny stuff anywhere ) and feel with awesome ergonomics (those page turning keys are very, very nice and unobtrusive to use) and build quality.

It would be great if you can post some comparison pictures. I'm glad that the Nook screen doesn't look too different from the new kindle. So far my only experience with the e-reader has been with the Nook and I'm loving it. I read primarily library books so Nook is a good option for me as I don't know and don't want to strip DRM from library books. However, I really like the 3G web browsing and Text to speech features of the Kindle so I 'm hoping that you can post some feedback on that aspect. I'm debating if I should get the K3 for a second reader or wait for an android tablet so I can read all formats.

[MangaEbooker]

Originally Posted by AdrianM

So, the K3 has arrived and with literally just a few minutes of play time, I can say that my initial impressions are very favourable indeed!

Looking at the Nook and K3 screens side by side I wouldn't say the contrast difference is obvious because it really isn't. The font sharpness, on first inspection isn't greatly different either. This is normal lighting conditions without playing with any of the different fonts and sizes.

However, where the K3 stands out by leaps and bounds is, speed, well designed simple interface that just works and doesn't get in the way, size, weight, look (no distracting nasty shiny stuff anywhere ) and feel with awesome ergonomics (those page turning keys are very, very nice and unobtrusive to use) and build quality. Picking up this with or without the lighted cover fitted is a joy and puts a smile on your face - unlike the Nook which was an instant disappointment for me. My wife agrees too, so, I guess we'll end up buying another K3 for her soon enough and the Nook will be sold off to someone less, um, demanding.

I will post side-by-sides pictures later when charging has finished and I've played some more.

Final words; well chuffed.

Thats good to hear, I almost held out on the nook for the K3 but now that you say the screen is almost the same I am very happy about it, .

[AdrianM]

Originally Posted by booklover3

Adrian - Glad to hear you love your K3. You mention that the ergonomics are great (page turning keys) - would you say the page turning is easy on the fingers? I am getting tired of turning pages on my Sony PRS 505 (finger cramps up) and looking for something easier to turn pages. Do you think the K3 fits the bill? Thanks.

I haven't played with any of the Sony readers so I can't comment but compared to the Nook buttons, the page turn buttons on the K3 are very easy to press. I've heard some complain that they are too thin and they probably are if you'd try to do finger tip presses but they are ideal for pressing with the side of a thumb and no force is required. But because of the design, it's not easy to inadvertently turn a page either. I think they spent a lot of time coming up with these.

[AdrianM]

Originally Posted by Rebo

It would be great if you can post some comparison pictures. I'm glad that the Nook screen doesn't look too different from the new kindle. So far my only experience with the e-reader has been with the Nook and I'm loving it. I read primarily library books so Nook is a good option for me as I don't know and don't want to strip DRM from library books. However, I really like the 3G web browsing and Text to speech features of the Kindle so I 'm hoping that you can post some feedback on that aspect. I'm debating if I should get the K3 for a second reader or wait for an android tablet so I can read all formats.

I had some battery issues on the camera last night and it's taken some time to get decent pictures - my respect for professional photographers went up a notch today!

Anyway, I'm uploading the photos I've done to photobucket now and will post when they are finished. They are quite large but hopefully can be zoomed for a closer look if you want.

Text to speech is very cool but for me it still seems too artificial to be usable and nowhere near as good as a normal audiobook (not that I like them either ).

Web browsing is surprisingly okay considering it's still listed as "experimental" and much better than I expected. Very usable for quick forays onto the interwebs during breaks from reading a book but of course, not as good as a full blown browser on a laptop or iPad.

If you are happy with the Nook, it's probably not worth it to get another dedicated eReader. Then I'd get a multi-use device instead.

[AdrianM]

Originally Posted by MangaEbooker

Thats good to hear, I almost held out on the nook for the K3 but now that you say the screen is almost the same I am very happy about it, .

It's really not as big a difference between the screens as I expected. Perhaps the K3 is a touch better under lower light conditions but I guess they aren't conditions a person should be reading under anyway. In lighted conditions I don't think there's enough of a difference to make it the sole reason for purchasing one or the other.

It's a bit difficult to compare like with like though as the fonts are slightly different and no size (at least the normal ones I use) on either is identical to the other.

The screen differences that do make a difference to me are the much faster page refreshes and the font sizes which suit me better than those on the Nook; those 2 extra (8 as opposed to 6) really do make a difference IMO. 10 would be even better though so you had even finer control over the size.

[AdrianM]

Okay, here are some of the pictures I made today; these are the ones where I've deliberately attempted to be as fair as possible between the two, even to the point of swapping the placement of the Nook and K3 so that they have the same position relative to the light sources I used. The light sources were basically my living room lights, as the weather is not so good today and sunlight is in short supply. I didn't use a flash because I didn't want to get flash glare from the screens so what glare you see is from normal room lighting. I also used a tripod.

I may upload some of the earlier ones in a bit but they were taken without a tripod and are probably less "fair".

Oh, and photobucket seems to have take my nice 14MP shots and downsized them. I will see if I can get the originals uploaded somewhere. But until then;

http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/e...ook%20Vs%20K3/

A couple of samples from that album above comparing Small font (Nook) and Size 3 (K3);





Oh and here's one that shows off the awesome shininess of the Nook.

[AdrianM]

FWIW, and I mean no disrespect to Nook owners when I say this (although I'm sure there are some sensitive souls out there that will take offence anyway), the overriding impression I get when I pick up and use the Nook is that it's something that you'd give a teenager to play with, whereas the K3 is more refined and is something an adult would appreciate more just for reading. The build quality of the K3 to me, feels undoubtedly better and the user interface seems more polished and responsive although there are some quirks to the menu button context sensitivity that weren't obvious at first. YMMV of course.

[harryE123]

sounds like a very idiotic design. Glossy bezels (for no reason) usually are.