Galaxy Tab S2 Nook trade up

[Kaysclie]

Today I was at my local Barnes&Noble and took a look at their Galaxy Tab S2 Nook and I liked it. I would like to trade in my Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight for the $50 that they offer, so my final price would be $300 plus tax.
Has anyone here owned one of these devices and were you satisfied with it? Why or why not?? I talked with the rep there and he answered my questions, but you know how reps are . After all, they want to sell their products!
The display on this thing was excellent, at least to me, so I would appreciate any input from forum participants!!!!

[barryem]

Originally Posted by Kaysclie

Today I was at my local Barnes&Noble and took a look at their Galaxy Tab S2 Nook and I liked it. I would like to trade in my Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight for the $50 that they offer, so my final price would be $300 plus tax.
Has anyone here owned one of these devices and were you satisfied with it? Why or why not?? I talked with the rep there and he answered my questions, but you know how reps are . After all, they want to sell their products!
The display on this thing was excellent, at least to me, so I would appreciate any input from forum participants!!!!

I have the Galaxy Tab S 10" and it's a really nice tablet but the capacative buttons make it a real pain to use at times. With a 10" tablet of course I'm usually in landscape mode and you'll probably be in portrait mode a lot so that might make it better for you.

Personally I wouldn't buy another Tab S for only that reason. Everything else about the tablet is great. It's overall one of the nicest devices I've ever owned but I'm always touching one of those buttons by mistake and finding myself out of what I'm doing. You'd think I'd learn better but it never lets up and it's a real pain.

I've had phones with buttons and they've never bothered me. Actually I like them on a phone.

By the way I also bought the Nook Glowlight Plus with a capacative button on the bottom and it gives me the exact same problem. It's a really, really nice device except for that and that's irritating enough that I don't use it much. I'll probably end up selling it.

If it didn't have that problem I might like it better than my Voyage.

Barry

[Kaysclie]

I am starting to worry....this promotion at B&N makes the Galaxy tab s2 nook awfully tempting....even though I still have a working galaxy note 8. Its the reduced pricing and the screen and the speed!

[barryem]

Personally I'd rather have the Note 8 with it's stylus.

Barry

[Kaysclie]

Originally Posted by barryem

Personally I'd rather have the Note 8 with it's stylus.

Barry

Yeah....the Note 8 is pretty good. Its just that the Tab S2 is so gorgeous and fast...more like a porsh, whereas my Note 8 has been very reliable.
And also there is the current $100 dollar savings for the tab S2 if I turn in my old simple touch .

Why do you like your Nook Glowlight Plus more than the Voyage(except for the button on the bottom)??

[Kaysclie]

One more question: this week the Samsung galaxy tab S2 is on sale at Best Buy as well as on Amazon....for $300 . So which model would be best to buy for the long haul...the Nook one or the regular Samsung one? What benefit does either one offer? The price is the same for either one(if you have an older nook to turn in to B&N).

[barryem]

Originally Posted by Kaysclie

Why do you like your Nook Glowlight Plus more than the Voyage(except for the button on the bottom)??

I'm not really sure how serious I am about that. The Voyage is my preferred reader but the NGP is so good, except for that stupid capacative button, that I'd probably like it as well.

There is one other thing I don't like about the Nook and my guess is most people will disagree with me, and that's the metal back. Metal backs feel cold to the touch and for that reason are less comfortable to hold. This is a pretty small thing but it's there.

I'm not sure if I read that the back of the Voyage is metal but it doesn't feel like it and it doesn't feel cold.

I do realize that plastic is supposed to mean cheap feeling and metal is supposed to mean quality but I think that's more about bragging rights than about utility. By the way, that's also something I don't care about in my Samsung Galaxy S, although in a 10" tablet it's less important since it's not held in my hand while I read. I usually set it down.

The Nook has an excellent screen and reading on it is just right. It's interface is clumsy when browsing or changing books but when actually reading it's superb. And to me that's of overriding importance.

I buy my books from Amazon but I make backups of them in epub and mobi and I can read them on the NGP as easily as on the Kindle.

Lately I've been experimenting with reading on my phone a lot. I went a month where I read almost exclusively on the phone, as a sort of test. Since then I've been reading on the Voyage but the last few days I've gone back to the phone and I'm not sure yet but I think I may prefer it. I can't do the very long reading sessions on the phone because of eyestrain but I'm finding a 2 or 3 minute break every 15 or 20 minutes takes care of that and I'm enjoying those breaks to stop and think about what I've been reading.

Also the smaller screen size helps me read faster and more comfortably. I have a 5" phone and a 4.5" phone and I find I like the smaller one better.

Barry

[livramax]

Originally Posted by Kaysclie

One more question: this week the Samsung galaxy tab S2 is on sale at Best Buy as well as on Amazon....for $300 . So which model would be best to buy for the long haul...the Nook one or the regular Samsung one? What benefit does either one offer? The price is the same for either one(if you have an older nook to turn in to B&N).

For the same price, I'd go for the regular Samsung -- fewer obnoxious bloatware apps.

Also, unless you expect your NST to be on its last leg (e.g., dying battery, display, etc.) I would not trade it in for $50 -- the tablet is a great e-ink reader and, with a bit of hack, mp3 player -> you can read books and listen to music at the same time :-)

[Kaysclie]

Originally Posted by livramax

For the same price, I'd go for the regular Samsung -- fewer obnoxious bloatware apps.

Also, unless you expect your NST to be on its last leg (e.g., dying battery, display, etc.) I would not trade it in for $50 -- the tablet is a great e-ink reader and, with a bit of hack, mp3 player -> you can read books and listen to music at the same time :-)

My NST is still running like a champ so I am interested....which hack are you referring to... rooting it with Nook Manager?

[livramax]

Originally Posted by Kaysclie

My NST is still running like a champ so I am interested....which hack are you referring to... rooting it with Nook Manager?

My NST setup:

• ROM 1.2.1 (factory-reset for a clean-start base).
• Rooted using Nook Manager (http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2040351)
• ReLaunch Launcher (http://forum.xda-developers.com/nook...n-1-4-t3060782) and essential Google apps (e.g., Market, SearchMarket, Gmail, etc.) installed using NTGAppsAttack (http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2086582).
• USB-Audio kernel mods installed using ADB (see overview/tutorial at https://lararthompson.wordpress.com/...with-usb-host/ and https://mikecanex.wordpress.com/2012...ed-nook-touch/). See http://forum.xda-developers.com/nook...audio-t3163046 for audio volume control.
• Audio player and Internet radio apps such as PowerAmp, Tune-In, Pandora, etc.
• Various BN bloatware apps disabled (using the ES File Manager app to rename the bloatware apps' apk file name extension .apk -> .apk.bak) to optimize battery consumption (http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1933615).

You can find more pointers/tips at http://forum.xda-developers.com/nook-touch. Attached are some screenshots of the Relaunch Launcher's and USB Mode utility app's screens (the app icons in b/w were artificially rendered colorized by the Screenshot app that I used to take the screenshot).

I love this ultra-versatile e-ink reader so much I just bought another lightly-used unit off eBay :-).

[Kaysclie]

Thank you for all of this info. It looks like quite a bit of work but it also looks like some thing that I can handle, if I just follow the instructions.