Touch Nook Simple Touch: First Impressions

[HarryT]

Is anyone able to answer the questions I asked earlier about how annotation works on the new device?

Thanks!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Some other eInk readers experienced screen problems after a few minutes in direct sunlight, but I cannot remember if this was the older eInk or newer Pearl screens. Some of the Sonys had a problem with the screens fading in sunlight after a few minutes, but they corrected themselves after being taken out of the sunlight. I think a firmware update solved the problem, but it was a while ago and my memory is not to be trusted beyond 15 minutes!

That was a faulty batch of screens manufactured by LG. They finished up in all sorts of different devices. They were the older Vizplex screens, not Pearl.

[zwarbles]

I'm sure B&N will fix it with a firmware update, but who knows how long it will take them to put one out.
Mine is going back until the problem is rectified.

Too bad, because I was very impressed with it.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by SCION

I didn't purchase mine tonight. Going to sleep on it. I have until Sunday to pick it up before they make it available to someone else....

Gave it much thought, considered the feedback from folks here. Decided to move forward with the purchase. Going to pick it up now.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by SCION

Gave it much thought, considered the feedback from folks here. Decided to move forward with the purchase. Going to pick it up now.

Wohoo! New gadget, yes... hahaha...

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by SCION

Gave it much thought, considered the feedback from folks here. Decided to move forward with the purchase. Going to pick it up now.

I just knew you'd make that decision! Now I am looking forward to your review after you've played with it for awhile.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by HarryT

How easy is it to annotate your books with the new nook? Does it support "free-hand" annotation using the touch screen, or do you enter annotations using a soft keyboard on the screen? Can you export your annotations?

You can make bookmarks, highlights and annotations and view a summary list of each of these categories. It is very easy. You hold and press to highlight a word. Then you have the option to continue swiping to highlight a passage. A pop-up menu asks if you want to highlight the word/passage, create a note or use the dictionary lookup. [Side note: it is this extra-step of highlight then select look-up which is why some state the Kindle dictionary lookup is faster since it displays the definition on-screen based on where your cursor is.] It does not support free-hand annotations like the Sony. You have to enter them by the soft keyboard on the screen.

I would like also for someone to confirm too whether you can export annotations. I expect it is just like the NOOKcolor that you cannot get access to these files on the device without having rooted it. There are Nook PC & Mac ereader applications. Maybe someone can confirm if you can sync between the Nook STR and the desktop apps? Does it sync just last page read or also annotations? I have never been able to successfully sync my NC with the desktop apps or my iPhone app which is rather frustrating, and some others have reported similar problems. Even if you can sync notes between the Nook and the desktop app, there is not an option to export your annotations from the desktop app either. I believe that you can only export annotations using the Nook Study desktop app which is targeted to the e-textbook market.

[Bookworm_Girl]

I also meant to state that there is a setting that you can turn on-screen display of your annotations on/off.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by zwarbles

I'm sure B&N will fix it with a firmware update, but who knows how long it will take them to put one out.
Mine is going back until the problem is rectified.

Too bad, because I was very impressed with it.

I'm sure they will too, but I'm not sure that there is a fix to ghosting other than doing the full refresh more often.

Since one of the major selling points to this device was the 1-in-6 refresh rate (faster turns, less flash), it'll be interesting to see B&N justify a $140 reader that has no 3G, no audiobook/TTS support, no web browser (despite it having the capability when logging into hotel WiFi spots, which is an odd decision to say the least), and all your SD card sideloaded books are tossed into MyFiles instead of the usual library.

And you get -- what was it? -- 250 MB of space on the device?

For me, the biggest plus to the device was the faster refresh and the reduced flash. If the only way to prevent ghosting is to go back to slow refresh / high flash settings, then that selling point sort of becomes moot.

How odd this all is! Surely the B&N technicians MUST have noticed the ghosting before they pushed the device out the door. And now that they've discontinued the N1 model, they've got all their eInk eggs in a single basket.

[jtdolphins]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

And you get -- what was it? -- 250 MB of space on the device?

Okay, I have a question. I thought your 250 had to be wrong. I assumed that I would have close to 2 GB of storage space, but after your post I went and checked again. The fine print at the bottom of the page says

***Actual formatted capacity may be less. Approximately 1GB available to store content, of which up to 750MB may be reserved for content purchased from the Barnes & Noble NOOK Store.

Well yeah its going to be less. They are blocking 750 MB that you can not use if you don't buy from BN? Its rather vague, but I guess you are right about the 250 MB. BN is the one store I don't have on my ipod so it would be a long time before I would come close to using the 750.

[Antioch]

Well, I don't have an e-Reader and I've really been itching to get one -- so I think I'll pick up the touch and deal with any possible outdoor ghosting. Once the Kindle4 comes out (likely with a touch screen) I'll probably switch to that if the Touch doesn't have a firmware update that fixes (or offers a switch to enable refreshing) the ghosting.

[khalleron]

I'm thinking that the division of the storage space is going to be a deal breaker for me. I read a lot of Google Books and other PD sources - being forced to buy from BN just to be able to access the memory I paid for does not sit well with me.

Looks like if my Sony dies in the near future, I'll be going with the Kobo.

[markdek]

My 3 cents: I went to B&N today, and held and used the new nook.........I'm a Kindle/Amazon universe fan, but I have to admit, the Nook touch screen is nice. If this was sold by Amazon, and if it had a browser, etc., I'd be all over it. If I was buying my 1st ereader, the Nook might be it!.....although, I'm kind of counting on the Amazon universe continuing to dominate the ebook market, and therefore, drive prices down and customer service up.

And w/ Amazon's clout, I'm counting on the Kindle to continue to wow the competition.

[markdek]

Originally Posted by jtdolphins

Okay, I have a question. I thought your 250 had to be wrong. I assumed that I would have close to 2 GB of storage space, but after your post I went and checked again. The fine print at the bottom of the page says



Well yeah its going to be less. They are blocking 750 MB that you can not use if you don't buy from BN? Its rather vague, but I guess you are right about the 250 MB. BN is the one store I don't have on my ipod so it would be a long time before I would come close to using the 750.

I confirmed this w/ a hands on at the store...it showed 236mb free, and it didn't have any book on it to speak of.

[markdek]

Originally Posted by khalleron

I'm thinking that the division of the storage space is going to be a deal breaker for me. I read a lot of Google Books and other PD sources - being forced to buy from BN just to be able to access the memory I paid for does not sit well with me.

Looks like if my Sony dies in the near future, I'll be going with the Kobo.

Agreed....but there will be the Kindle 4 too!