An Awful Review of the ANN and the Kobo Touch

[RockdaMan]

Yes, Barnes & Noble actually calls it, and capitalizes it, “All-New NOOK.” Not only is that cloying and annoying, like you’re doing their advertising for them (see also: the exclamation point on Yahoo!), but it’s going to look really silly when it’s no longer new. What are they going to call the next models? The Even Newer NOOK? The All-New All-New NOOK? The Newest NOOK Imaginable?

But these are not, ahem, iPads. The screen image doesn’t actually scroll when you swipe up a list; you wait a second, and then the new list image appears all at once. Similarly, these aren’t multi-touch screens. You can’t pinch or spread two fingers on the screen to shrink or reduce the type size.

the clunky primitiveness of the Paleozoic e-book era is finally drawing to a close. At this rate, before you know it, e-book readers will arrive solidly in the Jurassic period.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/te...pagewanted=all


[Mod note: For the benefit of those reading this thread for the first time, note that the thread title has been altered at the request of the Original Poster (OP) to clarify that the review itself "awful" rather than the devices]

[SCION]

The B&N product is called the Simple Touch Reader, not "the ALL NEW Nook". The latter is a marketing description, not the official name. (Copied and pasted from article comments)

[Donnageddon]

Additionally Pogue says this bit of doggerel

they’re smaller, because they do away with the Kindle’s thumb keyboard. Instead, they have the industry’s first infrared-sensor E-ink touch screens.

It's like he has no idea Sony has been using them with their new ereaders for months.

I expected more from Pogue.

[CleverClothe]

Why hello Apple fanatic, nice to see you.

If you actually read the article, you will see that the author has quite a few positive things to say about the Nook and Kobo. You will also see that the real issue he has is that a) it is E-Ink and b) he thinks the name of the Nook is the "All-New NOOK."

[iandix]

sounds like a review from someone who does not like ereaders in general ... I guess he is from the "if it's not an ipad then it's awful school"

[rogue_librarian]

Christ, what an asshole.

[jersysman]

Where did he see the All New NOOK as a name? Has he seen a press release that wasn't made available to the rest of us?

[boswd]

where did you get "Awful" from exactly? Rock are you now doing "click bait" tsk tsk

this is one of his quotes about the nook STR

offers the best combination of size, shape, battery life and features on the market; it’s a superb reading machine.

I don't know how they do things in Chicago but here in Boston superb does not equal awful.

And Scion is right, Pogoue might want to think about editing his review, he kind of went on about how the new nook is actually called the "All New Nook"

Ummm say what?

So he kinda looks silly.

[Donnageddon]

Actually CleverClothe is correct. The actual review is positive for both the nook and kobo.

The "awful" was put in their by the OP, and I assume it is a critique of the reviewer, not the actual devices reviewed.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by iandix

sounds like a review from someone who does not like ereaders in general ... I guess he is from the "if it's not an ipad then it's awful school"

he used to like ereaders, he used to gush over the kindles, but he is now in the LCD color touchscreen camp and it seems he's over eink in general. He actually gave the nook color a very solid review. And by and large he kind of gave the Nook STR ahemm I mean the ALL NEW NOOK. a good review as well. Well as much as he would for an eink device.

When it comes to products that compete with Apple, I pass on him but for digital camera's and photography, he's my go to guy.

[EldRick]

Another error - the Nook is 1/8" wider than K3, not 3/8" wider.

This guy sounds like someone who hasn't actually played with either one.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by rogue_librarian

Christ, what an asshole.

Ok quite possible the funniest post of the Day

[Sil_liS]

Before he went into the long description amounting to: they aren't iPads, he did say:

This week, though, e-book readers just took their first slimy steps out of the primordial soup.

And yes, this is a positive review.

[SensualPoet]

Yup, it IS generally a positive review but it does have some glaring factual errors. No one has pointed out that David Pogue is actually pretty well respected for fairness and NOT being in one camp or another. His reviews are always light-hearted and chummy and sometimes that attempt at "gosh, schucks" humour gets in the way (as it did this time).

And I have to point this out (again): it's quite a coup that Kobo is being discussed at the same level as the Nook and Kindle and here it is just barely reaching one year in market in the US. It is up against Sony and Amazon, both multinational corporations selling their ebook / ereader wares in markets around the world (Amazon reported $34 billion in sales for the year ended Mar 31) as well as Nook's Barnes and Noble which generates $6 billion in sales and has 1340 stores to support it. Kobo recently announced a new round of start-up funding to the tune of $50 million. Kobo, running on a shoestring, is pacing with the leaders: 6" Pearl e-ink, IR touch screen, WiFi, credible bookstore, a synced content platform across many devices, lowest price of all four ... it's pretty astounding.

[RichL]

In my opinion Pogue is a self-serving wannabe pundit whose views should be viewed with extreme skepticism. Actually my view of him is even worse than that but I don't think MR would allow such language in a post. :-)