B&N to release NOOK GlowLight 3

[IvyR]

Originally Posted by barryem

Microsoft went from Windows 8 to Windows 10. Iphone went from the Iphone 7 (or is it 6?) to Iphone 10. Ford had a better idea. You can be sure if it's Westinghouse. Put a tiger in your tank. Nothing new about any of this.

Barry

I wonder if skipping 9 was for the Japanese market. The word for 9 and the word for suffering sound similar, so it's unlucky. We'll probably see a skip of 13 as well.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by IvyR

I wonder if skipping 9 was for the Japanese market. The word for 9 and the word for suffering sound similar, so it's unlucky. We'll probably see a skip of 13 as well.

I thought it had to do with the various '90's Windows (95, 98, 98SE) being referred to as Windows 9x. Makes as much sense as any other reason.

I suspect in an alternate universe, someone uses iTunes to connect their iPhone 9 to their Windows 9 machine

[issybird]

Originally Posted by booklover6

I feel certain that if you see one, you will want one. I handled one yesterday and I was VERY impressed.

Me, too. This is a very nice reader. Sharp display, comfortable to hold, font and margin adjustments sufficiently granular, snappy page turns, (although the buttons are slower than tapping), the natural light. This is a terrific value at $120.

The storage partition is frustrating. And, as so many have said, while 1 GB is enough for most uses, increasing the total memory on one hand but decreasing the amount available for sideloading seems needlessly in your face. It's really not going to force anyone to buy B&N content who ordinarily wouldn't, but it's going to put off (obviously, going by the reaction here) some who would have bought but don't like the restriction. One minor side plaint is that I would have asked/commented about the memory issue, but no one approached me the whole time I stood there playing with the new Nook. With one of the Nooks, didn't they do something where you could take it to the store and they'd repartition the memory for you to make more available? Is this total fantasy on my part?

I'm glad to see B&N is still out there swinging and good luck to them; this really is a superior mainstream device. Now, if only they'll take seriously feedback on the memory!

I also got to handle the new Oasis next door at Best Buy and here's another reason to like B&N: all I could see was on the Oasis was demo mode, which didn't let me try out any of the controls or settings at all. And no salesperson approached me in BB, either.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by raindog89

Fair point about the Nook demographic, but I don't think the Glowlight Plus was partitioned.
I know when I plugged mine into my computer, Windows showed me 2.81GB available.
So it's annoying to have a device with twice the storage and a third available.

The Nook HD and Nook HD+ are even more annoying. Neither of the partitions are accessible without going to some BN website to activate access, which I refuse to do.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I still consider the Nook Simple Touch (with and without Glowlight) to be best ergonomically designed eReader that I've ever used. And I like the UI and software (actually I like it better than the newer Glowlights' software). This is why I was excited to see the GlowLight 3 mimicking the design of the NST.

The best ergonomically designed eReader that I've ever used is the Pocketbook 360, both for reading and configuring. Unfortunately, it was exteremely prone to freezing and crashing and did not support a sleep mode. If a modern version came out with acceptable reliability, a sleep mode (while retaining the ability to power off), and a front light (touch capability would be OK but not a requirement), it would be my favorite reader.

Next would be a revived Kindle 4 NT with a front light and a 200 to 300 dpi screen.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I thought it had to do with the various '90's Windows (95, 98, 98SE) being referred to as Windows 9x. Makes as much sense as any other reason.

I suspect in an alternate universe, someone uses iTunes to connect their iPhone 9 to their Windows 9 machine

I think it was Microsoft making a so-called "clean break" from the past. Supposedly (at least I think I've read this) Windows 10 will be continually upgraded without changing versions. I just settle the issue by calling Windows 8.1, "Windows 9." From what I've seen in 8.0, 8.1 really does bridge the gap between 8.0 and 10.

[barryem]

Originally Posted by issybird

The storage partition is frustrating. And, as so many have said, while 1 GB is enough for most uses, increasing the total memory on one hand but decreasing the amount available for sideloading seems needlessly in your face. It's really not going to force anyone to buy B&N content who ordinarily wouldn't, but it's going to put off (obviously, going by the reaction here) some who would have bought but don't like the restriction. One minor side plaint is that I would have asked/commented about the memory issue, but no one approached me the whole time I stood there playing with the new Nook. With one of the Nooks, didn't they do something where you could take it to the store and they'd repartition the memory for you to make more available? Is this total fantasy on my part?

You just made me think of another possible reason for the partitioned memory. Just a wild guess but being a know-it-all I must be right.

What if the source code from the old model was used for this thing, at least in part, and it was just easier to increase the partition size than to do away with the partitioning? If that's the case it's only there because it was cheaper to leave it than remove it.

In source code things like fixed sizes and minimum sizes are usually constants and changing them is simply a matter of changing a number in a text editor and recompiling. It's likely no change in logic would be needed, reducing the development and debugging time.

I really don't have the slightest reason to believe this is what happened but 35 years of programming tells me it might have happened.

Barry

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by barryem

What if the source code from the old model was used for this thing, at least in part, and it was just easier to increase the partition size than to do away with the partitioning? If that's the case it's only there because it was cheaper to leave it than remove it.

I don't think so, because the Plus (which doesn't have partitioned memory) seems to be running the same software as the 3.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

The best ergonomically designed eReader that I've ever used is the Pocketbook 360, both for reading and configuring. Unfortunately, it was exteremely prone to freezing and crashing and did not support a sleep mode. If a modern version came out with acceptable reliability, a sleep mode (while retaining the ability to power off), and a front light (touch capability would be OK but not a requirement), it would be my favorite reader.

Next would be a revived Kindle 4 NT with a front light and a 200 to 300 dpi screen.

Looking at the Pocketbook 360, it looks like a cousin to the Oasis. Have you tried one of those?

[raindog89]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I don't think so, because the Plus (which doesn't have partitioned memory) seems to be running the same software as the 3.

No but they could have resuscitated the hardware layer to handle the page button actions.

(By the way, did the NST have the double click and long press actions on the buttons? I don't remember that.)

[downeaster59]

Between downloading and sideloading, I've added about 150 books to my Glowlight 3. I turned it off and have now restarted it. It has been on the "Loading..." screen for over half an hour.

Does the Glowlight index new books after downloading or sideloading? That might account for this delay. If not, then I have some kind of problem on my hands. Thanks.

Edit: I managed to get my device "unstuck". Not sure what the problem was.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Looking at the Pocketbook 360, it looks like a cousin to the Oasis. Have you tried one of those?

I've had a 7" Oasis for 10 days and had 0 interest in the original Oasis. The only resemblance I see to the PB360 is that the bezel is wider on one side than the other.

Before I get started, I just remembered the the fatal PB360 flaw for me was its tendency to corrupt microSd cards in very short order. I had resigned myself to dealing with the freezes by unplugging and reconnecting the battery, but the frequent SD corruption just was not acceptable. The K4NT has no SD card and is significantly less ergonomic, but it is almost as pocketable, so that rendered the PB360 freezes unacceptable.

The integral clam-shell cover is easy to put on or off and easy to snap on the back, where it does not interfere with reading comfort and the whole thing earns its name by being very pocketable. The controls layout is equally convenient for holding in left or right hand or landscape, thus the 360 part of its name, though I don't see much use in landscape with buttons up. Changing the orientation mode is very quick and easy and the control fuctions automatically change for each orientation in a way that makes sense. what makes the latter remarkable is that every control can be given a user assigned function for both short press and long press. With the right configuration one can page back and forth, follow and return from links and much more without taking a thumb off the 5-way control.

On top of all that, the default reading application can be set for each book and quickly changed at any time. It's been 5 years since I've used it, so there might be other features as well. Overall, for me, it has the best ergonomic design of any reader but it is so unreliable as to be pretty much useless given that there are alternatives good enough to reluctantly use instead.

[woemcats]

You can take this with a grain of salt if you like, but there is a reason for the partition (though perhaps not why it is so small).

It has to do with engineering a way to handle a partition, keep it stable, while still keeping the device compatible with ADE & Overdrive. From what I have heard, a few solutions were tried to do something different with this device, but there were issues with instability or incompatibility, so they reverted to the same way the NSTwG and other devices worked. The GLP was indeed a different beast, which is what created all those early issues with ADE.

I am hopeful the size of the partition is increased with a software update to at least what was available on the GLP, which would theoretically still leave 4 GB for Nook content.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by woemcats

You can take this with a grain of salt if you like, but there is a reason for the partition (though perhaps not why it is so small).

It has to do with engineering a way to handle a partition, keep it stable, while still keeping the device compatible with ADE & Overdrive. From what I have heard, a few solutions were tried to do something different with this device, but there were issues with instability or incompatibility, so they reverted to the same way the NSTwG and other devices worked. The GLP was indeed a different beast, which is what created all those early issues with ADE.

I am hopeful the size of the partition is increased with a software update to at least what was available on the GLP, which would theoretically still leave 4 GB for Nook content.

If a separate partition actually improves stability, then there is a major problem with something else.

I don't buy books from B&N, but there are those that do, and some of them buy ebooks exclusively from B&N. A separate storage partition robs space from them. A slightly better option than the current situation would allow the purchaser to choose the split proportions on initial boot. A bit over 20 years ago, some laptops gave a choice between windows 3.1 and 95 on initial boot. Implementing initial partitioning is trivial in comparison.

[woemcats]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

If a separate partition actually improves stability, then there is a major problem with something else.

All I can say is that having a shared partition for both Nook and sideloaded content on the GLP made ADE not work. What they initially tried with the 3 ("sparse bundle disk imaging") was unstable. So they went back to what worked on earlier devices.