Classic Who has a Nook? - Page 2

binkman71 · 12-11-2009, 03:28 PM

I like my nook, and updated my profile to include it. The 16 gray scale screen is very nice. I even like the built in screen saver images of the B&N "woodcut" style authors.

I am on hold right now trying to get some straight answers about replacing mine due to the faulty SD card slot, but otherwise it appears to be in perfect working order!

K.

afv011 · 12-11-2009, 04:03 PM

Another owner here, has some issues, granted, but it is a wonderful device nonetheless.

Kris777 · 12-11-2009, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

That vrash sounds to me like the nook is not yet ready. Crashing and losing your content is not a good reading experience at all. I did have my 505 crash when testing the beta for Calibre 6 and that was due to a faulty BMP to JPG conversion. The 505 did not lose my content, bookmarks, or last read page.

I would suggest people stay away from the nook until these serious crashes are fixed. As of now, my assessment that Sony Reader's are overall the most stable (for devices with ADE) still stands.

I think that jetBook is the most stable

stangri · 12-12-2009, 01:53 AM

Wow, nice to see another enterprising canuck who's got a nook already (btw, would they call it canook when they release it in Canada?).

Got mine on Wednesday (and I know that people who have placed their order an hour or so before me got theirs a good day earlier). Yeah, it looks a bit slower to refresh than prs-505, but even in its current form I like it better and I still hope for the better, it has so much potential.

slothrop · 12-12-2009, 10:53 PM

I like mine better than my K2 and PRS-500. I'm sure I will like it even better after they patch it a few times.

Texan08 · 12-13-2009, 08:33 PM

Got my my Nook on Tues. the 8th,

PaulGuy · 12-13-2009, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the great

It took me a few days to notice, but there doesn't seem to be all that many Nook owners here. This is something of a surprise. When the latest Sony Readers were announced, a dozen or so members bought one and posted their opinions.

If you have a Nook, please feel free to start a thread. I want to hear what you think of it.

Well my nook arrived this past Tuesday and I’ve had some time to play with it. First of all the nook is a beautiful device from a hardware perspective. The e-ink display has nice contrast and the ability to select different fonts (3 currently) is a nice feature. The refresh rate or page turn is slower than my Kindle but not absurdly so. The touch screen interface is a nice approach but its response time seems inconsistent. Sometimes it works as one would expect, sometimes it seems very sluggish. I had no trouble figuring out how to use it and for the most part it is pretty intuitive. Some functions though are painful to use compared to Kindle’s interface the most obvious being the dictionary (word look-up) which is cumbersome and slow compared to Kindle’s joy stick type navigation and definition preview window.

The first day with my nook went smoothly and had me wondering what everyone was complaining about. Then came day two. On day two I turned on my nook and it’s functions had slowed to a crawl. I’d tap the “My Library” icon and nothing would happen. After waiting 5 seconds I tried again then 3 seconds later the red icon flashed white, and took me to my library. Finally it froze up completely and I could not get it to work at all. I checked the owners manual looking for instructions on how to re-boot and could find none, in fact, there isn’t a trouble shooting section at all. Calling customer service I was told how to re-boot and that fixed the issues. The battery life seems very short (2 days?) so I’m putting it into airplane mode when I don’t need wireless running. The color screen at factory brightness is too bright and a distraction from the e-ink screen but is adjustable. I set mine at 10% brightness which seems just right. The page turn swipes are nice when they work annoying when they don’t.

But all these problems are a result of B&N’s unfortunate choice to rush a v1.0 product to market before it was ready. The design and concept of the device seems sound to me and the device is a beautiful piece of hardware. The problems cited can and I’m sure will all be corrected via firmware upgrades so the nook in my opinion will be Kindle’s first real competition once the bugs get sorted out and it gets “up to speed”.

Many of us employ screensaver hacks on our Kindles but you don’t need them with nook. Just create a set of images in a folder and put that folder in the screen savers folder. Your set will now appear as an menu option to select from, nice, easy.

The B&N equivalent to Amazon’s “Manage your Kindle” webpage is pretty spartan and has a long way to go compared to Amazon's. Oh yes, as an example of a not fully evolved concept, you can download eBook samples just like the Kindle, but once on your nook you can’t delete them! You have to go on-line to your account to do that.

All said nook is not the “Kindle Killer” so many in the tech world seemed to be dreaming of (for reasons I don’t get) and the Kindle in contrast seems much more polished and easy to use. However once the nook reaches it’s true potential which I feel can be done via firmware not nook2, it will be a real, viable competitor which can only be good for everyone.

superhero · 12-13-2009, 10:45 PM

I am new to the forum but have been lurking for quite some time. I got my Nook a few days ago and I have been playing with it for a while. I currently own and love my Sony PRS 505. I have only briefly seen a Kindle so I can't really compare this to that unit. I did compare the Nook's screen to my Sony and found the contrast on the Nook to be noticeably better. I really like the form factor of the Nook and believe it is well built, sturdy and comfortable to use. I also like the removable battery, and ability to use an sd card but I believe the SD card could have been placed better instead of needing to remove the back of the Nook to access it but that is just a minor quibble.

As to the experience of reading a book, it is pretty good, not great...yet. Certainly far better than some of the reviews I read. I have to believe the reviewers had more beta software since I have experienced no crashes and nothing really wonky...yet. Several things I like: the screen, ability to change fonts and sizes much faster than the Sony. The page turns while definitely slower than the Sony are not so slow as to be painful but they should be much faster. My 4 year old Sony device should not be faster than the new Nook. I also like the touch screen and use it to turn pages. Once you get the hang of it, it is very easy, works every time and gives the feeling of really turning a page which I like. To explain, once the touch screen goes dark, it can be used to turn pages or you can hit one of the side buttons. In order to use the touch pad, you have to quickly swipe your finger or thumb on it. Not the entire length just a small twitch will do but if you don't do it fast enough it won't recognize the motion. It also has to distinguish a "swipe" from a "tap". A tap causes the screen to light up so you can then choose the options there.

What I did not like is the inability to sort my books according to my preference as I can with the Sony. From what I can tell so far, it sorts the books by author's last name and then according to book title. I would prefer to sort by most recently read, etc. I also dislike not being able to go to a specific page, not being able to quickly jump through pages as you can with the Sony (if you hold the button it jumps 10 pages I think). I would also like to browse side loaded books by cover like you can books downloaded from B&N. That is another weird thing. The Nook separates content downloaded from B&N from that sideloaded into the Nook. I would prefer to have it all together.
I also believe the unit should start up faster after it sleeps.

Another minor aggravation, everytime you go back to or open a new book, the unit briefly (5 seconds or so) displays "formatting". Again, this seems like a software error and should be resolved with a software update.

Shopping at the store is just OK. There is no ability to filter the content except by genre. I would prefer the ability to sort by price, author, rating, new to paperback, newly released, etc. As to ratings, if I am interested in a book I would like the ability to read the reviews which the Nook does not allow but at least the number of stars is shown.

Battery life seems fine but not as good as it probably will be. I do believe there is a memory leak which should be fixed in a firmware update. I generally keep my unit in Airplane mode which basically turns off the wifi and 3g. I don't see any reason to keep them on all the time anyway and thus, I expect significantly longer battery life.

I primarily read side loaded materials since the 505 didn't have the ability to download wirelessly.

My overall impressions are positive. I think this is an upgrade to my Sony. As an early adopter, I expect problems will arise and will be fixed in software along the way.

Now, a few reasons why I chose Nook over Kindle. Don't need a keyboard. I will not use a Kindle to surf the web and believe it is silly for people to expect to do this. It is a book reader. If you want something to surf the web buy a net book or use a smartphone. I also hate DRM and do not like that Amazon uses a proprietary format that I cannot transfer to anything else. Yes, I know software hacks exist to strip these out but I shouldn't have to go to the trouble. I read a fair amount of PDFs and, at the time I ordered my Nook, Kindle could not read them natively.

Finally, as to hacks, I really hope people who are far smarter and more creative than me will take advantage of the android platform and make a decent reader into a fantastic one by adding wonderful features. If the hacks that have come out for Kindle and other book readers are any indication, I believe people are going to be very satisfied with Nook and will be able to eventually customize it to their liking. Just my two cents.

One final point, I want to thank the creator of the Calibre software. I know he frequents this site and I use his software all the time. It has saved me a lot of frustration and the new version works with the Nook. I am not affiliated with this in any way, just a fan who appreciates the hard work on that program.

binkman71 · 12-13-2009, 11:44 PM

The Sony's screen has 8 shades of grey, whereas the nook has 16. This is the difference in contrast, I imagine.

K.

AznSstar · 01-11-2010, 10:49 AM

i have my nook!!! i love it. now i dont have to buy the actual textbook for school. this device makes it easier on the pocket and lighter in the backpack! anyone want to trade books?

desertgrandma · 01-11-2010, 10:54 AM

Welcome to MobileRead, aznsstar.

The textbooks you use are available a digital books? Thats awesome!

ahintz · 01-12-2010, 01:47 AM

Well, my nook shipped today. I'm looking forward to comparing it this weekend to my Sony PRS-505 that I have had for a year or so. I've heard they may be releasing another firmware update this week, so hopefully by the time I get my nook a good number of the issues will have already been fixed. Either way, from playing with it in the store, I am sure it will serve me well, allowing me to read both my epubs and my secure ereader books, as well as purchasing from the device. When they get syncing between the nook and the iPhone app released, then my nook experience will be complete!

jeankap · 01-12-2010, 09:57 AM

I got mine early last week.

Side loading was the killer feature for me. I have a Sony 700, Pocket, and Palm eReader books going back to 2002.

Quality is comparable with the Sony Pocket (which really is the perfect size for my bag). Both Nook and Sony Pocket blow Sony 700 away.

Another deciding factor: I hang out at the B&N cafe in my town frequently. It has less of a ghost town feel than the downtown Borders, and the coffee and cookies are better.

And yet another deciding factor: I went to B&N and played with it before I plunked down the cash. I wasn't afraid of buying the Sony Pocket on release day since I already had the 700, but the Nook? I wanted to make sure.

For the record, I travel quite frequently for work - 70 - 90% of the time, and have only seen 1 Kindle in the wild in all of the different airports I trek through. There are other things about Amazon that I don't particularly want to support, either. The usual stuff. But mostly because I don't agree with Jeff Bezos and his approach. This doesn't stop me from using Amazon to buy all sorts of other stuff, including p books, though.

Propheous · 01-12-2010, 10:10 AM

I have had my nook for about a week now. I have been reading on it quite often and frankly I really enjoy it. It does have its drawbacks at current. However being a relatively frequent early adopter I see these drawbacks for what they are. A significant portion of the first release products from virtually any company have a butt ton of flaws. The key is whether they support fixing these flaws.

The one thing that makes me back B&N on this issue is that the flaws are definitely not on the hardware side from everything I have heard and seen. I feel confident from my experience with first release products and with how much B&N has invested on their side that these will get fixed.

As for right now, the nook does exactly what I want it to do. It lets me read my books. It does so in a comfortable, fashionable way. The nook simply does everything I need it to, and frankly more.

As the firmware is released I look forward to even more pleasant experience.

planetrobbie · 01-12-2010, 12:07 PM

Got my nook last week. It's really a great device. It does almost all what I need, it could do a better job displaying pdf and moving around in a book.

Superhero you can choose to display reviews of B&N books while in the shop by just selecting it in the touch screen. Hope that helps.

Have fun with your nook.

planetrobbie

12-13-2009, 10:45 PM	#23
superhero Enthusiast Posts: 36 Karma: 344 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: Sony PRS 505, B&N Nook, Sony Daily Edition, iRex Reader	I am new to the forum but have been lurking for quite some time. I got my Nook a few days ago and I have been playing with it for a while. I currently own and love my Sony PRS 505. I have only briefly seen a Kindle so I can't really compare this to that unit. I did compare the Nook's screen to my Sony and found the contrast on the Nook to be noticeably better. I really like the form factor of the Nook and believe it is well built, sturdy and comfortable to use. I also like the removable battery, and ability to use an sd card but I believe the SD card could have been placed better instead of needing to remove the back of the Nook to access it but that is just a minor quibble. As to the experience of reading a book, it is pretty good, not great...yet. Certainly far better than some of the reviews I read. I have to believe the reviewers had more beta software since I have experienced no crashes and nothing really wonky...yet. Several things I like: the screen, ability to change fonts and sizes much faster than the Sony. The page turns while definitely slower than the Sony are not so slow as to be painful but they should be much faster. My 4 year old Sony device should not be faster than the new Nook. I also like the touch screen and use it to turn pages. Once you get the hang of it, it is very easy, works every time and gives the feeling of really turning a page which I like. To explain, once the touch screen goes dark, it can be used to turn pages or you can hit one of the side buttons. In order to use the touch pad, you have to quickly swipe your finger or thumb on it. Not the entire length just a small twitch will do but if you don't do it fast enough it won't recognize the motion. It also has to distinguish a "swipe" from a "tap". A tap causes the screen to light up so you can then choose the options there. What I did not like is the inability to sort my books according to my preference as I can with the Sony. From what I can tell so far, it sorts the books by author's last name and then according to book title. I would prefer to sort by most recently read, etc. I also dislike not being able to go to a specific page, not being able to quickly jump through pages as you can with the Sony (if you hold the button it jumps 10 pages I think). I would also like to browse side loaded books by cover like you can books downloaded from B&N. That is another weird thing. The Nook separates content downloaded from B&N from that sideloaded into the Nook. I would prefer to have it all together. I also believe the unit should start up faster after it sleeps. Another minor aggravation, everytime you go back to or open a new book, the unit briefly (5 seconds or so) displays "formatting". Again, this seems like a software error and should be resolved with a software update. Shopping at the store is just OK. There is no ability to filter the content except by genre. I would prefer the ability to sort by price, author, rating, new to paperback, newly released, etc. As to ratings, if I am interested in a book I would like the ability to read the reviews which the Nook does not allow but at least the number of stars is shown. Battery life seems fine but not as good as it probably will be. I do believe there is a memory leak which should be fixed in a firmware update. I generally keep my unit in Airplane mode which basically turns off the wifi and 3g. I don't see any reason to keep them on all the time anyway and thus, I expect significantly longer battery life. I primarily read side loaded materials since the 505 didn't have the ability to download wirelessly. My overall impressions are positive. I think this is an upgrade to my Sony. As an early adopter, I expect problems will arise and will be fixed in software along the way. Now, a few reasons why I chose Nook over Kindle. Don't need a keyboard. I will not use a Kindle to surf the web and believe it is silly for people to expect to do this. It is a book reader. If you want something to surf the web buy a net book or use a smartphone. I also hate DRM and do not like that Amazon uses a proprietary format that I cannot transfer to anything else. Yes, I know software hacks exist to strip these out but I shouldn't have to go to the trouble. I read a fair amount of PDFs and, at the time I ordered my Nook, Kindle could not read them natively. Finally, as to hacks, I really hope people who are far smarter and more creative than me will take advantage of the android platform and make a decent reader into a fantastic one by adding wonderful features. If the hacks that have come out for Kindle and other book readers are any indication, I believe people are going to be very satisfied with Nook and will be able to eventually customize it to their liking. Just my two cents. One final point, I want to thank the creator of the Calibre software. I know he frequents this site and I use his software all the time. It has saved me a lot of frustration and the new version works with the Nook. I am not affiliated with this in any way, just a fan who appreciates the hard work on that program. Last edited by superhero; 12-13-2009 at 10:55 PM.

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12-11-2009, 03:28 PM	#16
binkman71 Enthusiast Posts: 35 Karma: 328 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Outside Philadelphia, PA, USA Device: Sony PRS-505; nook	I like my nook, and updated my profile to include it. The 16 gray scale screen is very nice. I even like the built in screen saver images of the B&N "woodcut" style authors. I am on hold right now trying to get some straight answers about replacing mine due to the faulty SD card slot, but otherwise it appears to be in perfect working order! K.

12-11-2009, 04:03 PM	#17
afv011 Captain Penguin Posts: 2,963 Karma: 2079777777 Join Date: May 2009 Location: Seattle, WA Device: Kobo Clara BW, Kobo Libra 2, Nook Glowlight	Another owner here, has some issues, granted, but it is a wonderful device nonetheless.

12-12-2009, 01:53 AM	#19
stangri Addict Posts: 352 Karma: 55400 Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: YVR/BWS/PUJ Device: nook	Wow, nice to see another enterprising canuck who's got a nook already (btw, would they call it canook when they release it in Canada?). Got mine on Wednesday (and I know that people who have placed their order an hour or so before me got theirs a good day earlier). Yeah, it looks a bit slower to refresh than prs-505, but even in its current form I like it better and I still hope for the better, it has so much potential.

12-12-2009, 10:53 PM	#20
slothrop Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2006	I like mine better than my K2 and PRS-500. I'm sure I will like it even better after they patch it a few times.

12-13-2009, 08:33 PM	#21
Texan08 Member Posts: 11 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: Kindle 2	Got my my Nook on Tues. the 8th,

12-13-2009, 11:44 PM	#24
binkman71 Enthusiast Posts: 35 Karma: 328 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Outside Philadelphia, PA, USA Device: Sony PRS-505; nook	The Sony's screen has 8 shades of grey, whereas the nook has 16. This is the difference in contrast, I imagine. K.

01-11-2010, 10:49 AM	#25
AznSstar Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: nook	i have my nook!!! i love it. now i dont have to buy the actual textbook for school. this device makes it easier on the pocket and lighter in the backpack! anyone want to trade books?

01-11-2010, 10:54 AM	#26
desertgrandma Enjoying the show.... Posts: 14,270 Karma: 10462843 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Arizona Device: A K1, Kindle Paperwhite, an Ipod, IPad2, Iphone, an Ipad Mini & macAir	Welcome to MobileRead, aznsstar. The textbooks you use are available a digital books? Thats awesome!

01-12-2010, 01:47 AM	#27
ahintz Zealot Posts: 107 Karma: 322 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Sacramento, CA Device: Kindle PW/iPhone5/iPad (3)/Nook ST	Well, my nook shipped today. I'm looking forward to comparing it this weekend to my Sony PRS-505 that I have had for a year or so. I've heard they may be releasing another firmware update this week, so hopefully by the time I get my nook a good number of the issues will have already been fixed. Either way, from playing with it in the store, I am sure it will serve me well, allowing me to read both my epubs and my secure ereader books, as well as purchasing from the device. When they get syncing between the nook and the iPhone app released, then my nook experience will be complete!

01-12-2010, 09:57 AM	#28
jeankap EReading Gadget Maven Posts: 36 Karma: 61950 Join Date: May 2007 Device: All of 'em.	I got mine early last week. Side loading was the killer feature for me. I have a Sony 700, Pocket, and Palm eReader books going back to 2002. Quality is comparable with the Sony Pocket (which really is the perfect size for my bag). Both Nook and Sony Pocket blow Sony 700 away. Another deciding factor: I hang out at the B&N cafe in my town frequently. It has less of a ghost town feel than the downtown Borders, and the coffee and cookies are better. And yet another deciding factor: I went to B&N and played with it before I plunked down the cash. I wasn't afraid of buying the Sony Pocket on release day since I already had the 700, but the Nook? I wanted to make sure. For the record, I travel quite frequently for work - 70 - 90% of the time, and have only seen 1 Kindle in the wild in all of the different airports I trek through. There are other things about Amazon that I don't particularly want to support, either. The usual stuff. But mostly because I don't agree with Jeff Bezos and his approach. This doesn't stop me from using Amazon to buy all sorts of other stuff, including p books, though.

Advert

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01-12-2010, 10:10 AM	#29
Propheous Connoisseur Posts: 54 Karma: 330 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: Nook	I have had my nook for about a week now. I have been reading on it quite often and frankly I really enjoy it. It does have its drawbacks at current. However being a relatively frequent early adopter I see these drawbacks for what they are. A significant portion of the first release products from virtually any company have a butt ton of flaws. The key is whether they support fixing these flaws. The one thing that makes me back B&N on this issue is that the flaws are definitely not on the hardware side from everything I have heard and seen. I feel confident from my experience with first release products and with how much B&N has invested on their side that these will get fixed. As for right now, the nook does exactly what I want it to do. It lets me read my books. It does so in a comfortable, fashionable way. The nook simply does everything I need it to, and frankly more. As the firmware is released I look forward to even more pleasant experience.

01-12-2010, 12:07 PM	#30
planetrobbie Connoisseur Posts: 79 Karma: 300 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Montreuil Device: forgotten a treo 650 for a DR1000 and now for a nook -size does matter	Got my nook last week. It's really a great device. It does almost all what I need, it could do a better job displaying pdf and moving around in a book. Superhero you can choose to display reviews of B&N books while in the shop by just selecting it in the touch screen. Hope that helps. Have fun with your nook. planetrobbie