Touch Nook Simple Touch: First Impressions

[boswd]

Originally Posted by thrawn_aj

I've used my Nook2 for a week or so. There is ghosting, but it really hasn't seemed obvious. I don't think I would have noticed it if I hadn't read about it all the time (on compulsive pre-purchase forum lurks ). It's very hard for me to notice it in an indoor setting, a bit more noticeable in bright (and I mean sunburn-level bright) sunlight. Hardly a deal-breaker for me. I still kept mine and retired my old nook (rooted it finally and am planning to pass it on to my cousin who asked for it ).

YMMV but I have to work hard to really see it . If you really want to simulate these conditions, wear a bicycle lamp or a miner's headlamp to your B&N store and ask to see the store model. If the people with the butterfly net fail to catch you, please post the results of the experiment here. The things we do for science .

Other things:
1) Combined library is nice. All covers show up. Non-B&N books STILL do not show metadata other than title and author (like summary, publisher, tags, etc.) This still bugs me a bit but I've given up hope on B&N implementing this. *shrug*

2) Otherwise, there seems to be no distinction in capabilities of B&N and non-B&N books (oh, the highlights and currently being read stuff only syncs for B&N books of course).

3) I put all my sideloads on an SD card. They all show up under "Books" with covers. Highlights, etc. work equally well for both and highlighting is a pleasure to behold (after a few clumsy starts). Highlights and bookmarks are intelligently handled and listed with a few words and page number to remind you what they are.

4) I've been to the Home screen exactly twice. It is entire unnecessary unless you buy heavily from B&N and want recommendations - I don't like it at all. Luckily it is eminently ignorable and you can go straight to the library using the n key menu. No harm done. Every device has unnecessary features. As long as they are unobtrusive - *shrug*.

5) I've given up hope on intelligent shelving and exporting notes, etc. It's a zen thing at this point . Basically, B&N has matured past its "transparently force the reader to buy from us by hobbling basic features for non-B&N books" business model. This is a good thing. Now they can move forward and actually start building a great e-reader. The nook2 is a good beginning towards that end.

6) It's fun to read on it - really .

nice wrap up, thanks.

[Hoyt Clagwell]

I have not noticed any serious ghosting problems on the Nook STR. I have noticed though that when I go back to my old devices the screen flash seems more jarring.

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by thrawn_aj

5) I've given up hope on intelligent shelving and exporting notes, etc. It's a zen thing at this point . Basically, B&N has matured past its "transparently force the reader to buy from us by hobbling basic features for non-B&N books" business model. This is a good thing. Now they can move forward and actually start building a great e-reader. The nook2 is a good beginning towards that end.

Except for the fact that 3/4ths of internal memory is reserved for BN books.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by khalleron

Except for the fact that 3/4ths of internal memory is reserved for BN books.

it does have an sd card slot, I've never understood the whole "Sky is falling' about the 3/4ths storage thing. Now if the nook STR did not have expandable memory then yes I would agree, that would be BS.
but load on a card if you need more space. Heck a 2G card alone should give you plenty storage, let alone a 4G card.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by khalleron

Except for the fact that 3/4ths of internal memory is reserved for BN books.

Does anyone know what happens when the reserved storage fills up? Granted that would represent more B&N purchases than I'll probably ever come close to making, but I'm just curious how it is handled.

There's no way as far as I can tell to determine how much free space there is in the 'reserved' area. 'Device Info' just shows you the 'user' free space (236MB).

[boswd]

Originally Posted by tomsem

Does anyone know what happens when the reserved storage fills up? Granted that would represent more B&N purchases than I'll probably ever come close to making, but I'm just curious how it is handled.

There's no way as far as I can tell to determine how much free space there is in the 'reserved' area. 'Device Info' just shows you the 'user' free space (236MB).

My guess would be a warning dialog box would appear, informing you of space shortage and prompting you to archive some books.

[EldRick]

4) I've been to the Home screen exactly twice. It is entire unnecessary unless you buy heavily from B&N and want recommendations - I don't like it at all.

Totally agree - it's a useless waste of screen space on the Menu bar, and badly done at that.

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by boswd

it does have an sd card slot, I've never understood the whole "Sky is falling' about the 3/4ths storage thing. Now if the nook STR did not have expandable memory then yes I would agree, that would be BS.
but load on a card if you need more space. Heck a 2G card alone should give you plenty storage, let alone a 4G card.

I'm not sure about how quickly the battery wastes with a storage card on the Nook, but using a storage card on my Sony reader would pretty much cut my battery life in half. Also, it is an added expense.

[thrawn_aj]

Originally Posted by khalleron

Except for the fact that 3/4ths of internal memory is reserved for BN books.

Agreed. However, it is ironic in the extreme that the only thing that that reservation hurts is a reader's willingness to buy books from B&N . In that sense, non-B&N books are actually favored (betcha some marketing hack came up with that asinine scheme) over B&N books since the Touch cannot store B&N books anywhere but in that 750MB. Conversely, there is potentially 32GB available (via SD card) for non-B&N books. Talking about shooting yourself in the foot .

Originally Posted by Latinandgreek

I'm not sure about how quickly the battery wastes with a storage card on the Nook, but using a storage card on my Sony reader would pretty much cut my battery life in half. Also, it is an added expense.

That's a good point at first glance. However, the main storage is also (essentially) flash memory. In this case, the distinction between external and internal storage is somewhat artificial. Since there is no multi-tasking as such on this thing, once you load a book from the external SD card, you're not really accessing the main storage so battery life shouldn't be affected at all (unless I'm missing something ).

[boswd]

Originally Posted by Latinandgreek

I'm not sure about how quickly the battery wastes with a storage card on the Nook, but using a storage card on my Sony reader would pretty much cut my battery life in half. Also, it is an added expense.

I guess technically it's an added expense but when you can get a 4G card for around $10, even less than that for a 2G card, it's not exactly causing you to foreclose on your house or force you to eat Ramon Noodles for the next month

[boswd]

Originally Posted by EldRick

Totally agree - it's a useless waste of screen space on the Menu bar, and badly done at that.

but if the kindle did it it would be just magical j/k

I actually like how it displays what your currently reading and and it's page number and on the side I like the displayed recently purchased,(since those tend to be my next reads) and the quick icon to access your library. I think that part of the homescreen is pretty slick.

If I was all into the social networking and the sharing of books and all that jazz the bottom would be really fun, but since I'm not I would prefer to customize it with my "On Deck" shelf. or something. Hopefully first major update will allow the customization of the bottom screen.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by boswd

...

I actually like how it displays what your currently reading and and it's page number and on the side I like the displayed recently purchased,(since those tend to be my next reads) and the quick icon to access your library. I think that part of the homescreen is pretty slick.

If I was all into the social networking and the sharing of books and all that jazz the bottom would be really fun, but since I'm not I would prefer to customize it with my "On Deck" shelf. or something. Hopefully first major update will allow the customization of the bottom screen.

My sentiments exactly. Just change the bottom half.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by boswd

but if the kindle did it it would be just magical j/k

No; I don't personally like all the "social networking" crap that Amazon have put on the Kindle too in recent firmware versions. When you finish a book, it asks you if you want to "share the experience" on social networking sites. The answer, for me at least, is a very definite "no". I've never used Facebook, Twitter, or any other SN site, and have no intention of starting now .

[boswd]

Originally Posted by HarryT

No; I don't personally like all the "social networking" crap that Amazon have put on the Kindle too in recent firmware versions. When you finish a book, it asks you if you want to "share the experience" on social networking sites. The answer, for me at least, is a very definite "no". I've never used Facebook, Twitter, or any other SN site, and have no intention of starting now .

Wow I thought I was the only person left under the age of 50 that doesn't have a Facebook or Twitter account.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by SCION

My sentiments exactly. Just change the bottom half.

might have to start chimming in over at BN.com forums, they usually have a wish list for upcoming software updates. There usually seems to be a BN rep that participates on the forums.

If enough people request that, I think there is a good shot it could be added down the road.