Questions For Glowlight 4+ Owners

[Solitaire1]

I've been very pleased with my Nook Glowlight 4+ (NG4+). It's easy to use, and works well with Calibre. The User Interface works well, and I like that it is just an ebook reader. It doesn't have massive number of apps that distract from the reading experience.

Compare that to the Nook Tablet (NT) that I bought to replace my aging Nook Color (NC). I found it unsatisfactory as an ebook reader because, unlike my Nook Color, I had to use several applications to read my ebooks, unlike with my NC where all of the ebooks are in one area of the ereader.

My NG4+ is excellent as an ereader. The screen is easy to read with or without the backlight, it has the options of buttons and screen taps to flip the pages, and it has excellent battery life (I only have to charge it every three to four days of regular use).

About the only negatives are: (1) it doesn't allow you to password protect it, and (2) it doesn't have a memory card slot so you can add additional storage.

Overall, I'd recommend buying a NG4+.

[Sirtel]

3-4 days is actually extremely poor for a dedicated eink reader. Excellent battery life would be several weeks.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

3-4 days is actually extremely poor for a dedicated eink reader. Excellent battery life would be several weeks.

It is likely that I underestimated the battery life since I usually charge it that often just to ensure that it is charged enough so I don't have to worry about it.

[Desertway]

Of course, it depends on how much we read, what brightness settings, whether Wi-Fi is on. Sometimes I read nearly all day, sometimes I can only manage an hour before bed. I would never be able to answer “how long does the battery last” on any of my devices.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Desertway

Of course, it depends on how much we read, what brightness settings, whether Wi-Fi is on. Sometimes I read nearly all day, sometimes I can only manage an hour before bed. I would never be able to answer “how long does the battery last” on any of my devices.

Well, yes, if you regularly read 12+ hours a day, then 3-4 days would be pretty good. But very few people read this much, I think.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

3-4 days is actually extremely poor for a dedicated eink reader. Excellent battery life would be several weeks.

The battery has never lasted more than 4 days on all four eink readers I own. At first, I thought it was a defect, but they all have similar ranges so it must be my reader settings and habits.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Fbone

The battery has never lasted more than 4 days on all four eink readers I own. At first, I thought it was a defect, but they all have similar ranges so it must be my reader settings and habits.

And there have been people here complaining about poor battery life because their battery lasted only about 2 weeks...

I guess with the frontlight constantly in the upper range and wifi always on, plus reading for several hours each day you could get no more than a few days.

Mine have usually lasted for a week or two at least, except for my Sage (that model has notoriously poor battery life for a dedicated ereader). But then I seldom read more than 3 hours a day, often less. And my frontlight is seldom high.

[Solitaire1]

For myself, I haven't worried about charging it since I do it often enough to ever have the battery die. This goes back to my time with my Palm Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).

It was powered by two AAA batteries, and it had powered memory which means if the battery dies you have 30 seconds to replace them or the device is wiped. Plus, it was recommended not to use rechargeable batteries with it because they can quickly die and the power gage would not be accurate because it is based on disposable batteries.

My solution was to change out the rechargeable batteries every other day. Since they will usually last up to 3 days with heavy use, I was always able to change them out well before the battery died. To show how well this worked, I used a Palm PDA for over 15 years and I never lost any data.

[Sirtel]

Personally I only ever use my ereaders at home, so I can plug them in any time the battery goes low enough. I don't charge them "just in case". Still, I'd consider battery life that's less than a week to be poor (my Sage lasts a few days after 5 years of constant use, and yeah, that's poor for sure). Then again, obviously there are people with vastly different reading habits and settings, for whom 4 days is average.

YMMV.

[Strether]

The last time I owned a Nook, the main problem was that you couldn’t customize the size of the print. Has that improved at all?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Strether

The last time I owned a Nook, the main problem was that you couldn’t customize the size of the print. Has that improved at all?

Yes, you can customize the size, although there aren't that many size options (compared to Kobos, for example).

[cgsmom]

Originally Posted by Strether

The last time I owned a Nook, the main problem was that you couldn’t customize the size of the print. Has that improved at all?

I have owned a lot of Nooks. You can change the size of the text in a book on every Nook I have ever owned. However, I do not know how to change the size of text on the Home Screen or in the Library lists. Is that what you are talking about?

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by Strether

The last time I owned a Nook, the main problem was that you couldn’t customize the size of the print. Has that improved at all?

It would depend on the format. If it is a EBUP then it will allow you to change the size of the print, and also the typeface. If it is a PDF then it won't. That's why PDFs need to be sized for the ereader's screen size.