Classic My brief impressions of Nook

Prince Hal · 01-25-2010, 10:35 AM

Firstly, it is great that B&N like Sony actually have demonstration models in stores. It really is worth taking the opportunity to go test one out. Reviews online are really helpful, but as a finishing touch, go touch the machine and see. I think wherever possible the two need to go together.

Now of course you are likely to get only a shorter time in the store with a machine - I had 20 minutes - so you are unlikely to get a complete feel of the machine looking at all aspects of it. Sony's for example do not have all of their functions enabled in Target.

Anyway to Nook. The e-ink screen was great. Clear, crisp and every bit as good as the Kindle 2 and less reflective than the Sony PRS 600.

Page turns were crisp. No lag here. The hard buttons are nicely placed for finger turning. Nicely weighted and comfortable in the hand. Plastic, but felt good quality.

But, the colour screen was a distraction. I believe that it turns off or can be turned off. But you need to use it to highlight. Even though it is a bluey grey colour for navigating, highlighting, etc, it is obviously backlit and for me took my eyes away from the e-ink screen. You might get used to it after a while - not after 20 minutes.

But here was my biggest disappointment. The lag between the colour navigation screen and the e-ink screen. I have never been one who liked the mousepad on a laptop, so maybe there's some inbuilt bias here. But I tap, tap, tapped on the colour screen and wasn't really sure when the e-ink would follow. It was all two divorced.

Anyway that was it for me. I wanted an ereader to view articles and shorter documents rather than books mainly, so highlighting and clipping would be really important. The lag between the two screens was too much to bear. Perhaps I would have got used to it after a while, but not in 20 minutes.

Kudos to B&N for attempting to improve navigation from the joystick approach of Kindle (and forget that awful Kindle 2 keyboard), and to avoid the glare from a touchscreen, but this doesn't work... for me.

Also Kudos to B&N for there apparent speed in firmware updates. It gives you confidence that improvements will be made quickly and you will not need to buy Nook 2 to get sensible functionality.

Hope tha this helps someone in a small way.

Hal.

jasonkchapman · 01-25-2010, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prince Hal

But, the colour screen was a distraction. I believe that it turns off or can be turned off. But you need to use it to highlight. Even though it is a bluey grey colour for navigating, highlighting, etc, it is obviously backlit and for me took my eyes away from the e-ink screen. You might get used to it after a while - not after 20 minutes.

Just a note for anyone interested: The brightness on the touchscreen is adjustable (I keep mine down at 10%, which also helps with battery life). Also, the auto-shutoff is user adjustable. I keep mine at 10 seconds.

Dusty · 01-25-2010, 10:50 AM

Like you I tried all the demo readers where I could find them. I was able to play with the Sony models long before the Nook was available. I was all set on the Sony 300 but I was eagerly awaiting the Nook.
As soon as I picked up the Nook I knew it was not for me, too heavy. I prefer curling up with a good paperback not a hard cover book. This also translates to ereaders.
Someday when large format colour reader comes out I will probable buy one for magazines and technical books with images.

Prince Hal · 01-25-2010, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasonkchapman

Just a note for anyone interested: The brightness on the touchscreen is adjustable (I keep mine down at 10%, which also helps with battery life). Also, the auto-shutoff is user adjustable. I keep mine at 10 seconds.

Many thanks for this. That addresses that problem very well.

Can you highlight text either in a purchased book or in a document that you have created yourself on a PC and then converted and uploaded to Nook, and then copy the highlighted text back to the PC in a format that can be put into WOrd for example ? That would certainly be a great help if you know or could test it out. I heard there was a 100 character limit on bought books, but wasn't sure about homemade documents.

stangri · 01-25-2010, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasonkchapman

The brightness on the touchscreen is adjustable (I keep mine down at 10%, which also helps with battery life). Also, the auto-shutoff is user adjustable. I keep mine at 10 seconds.

Same for me, I wonder how many other nook owners have exactly same settings?

I believe someone on these forums have suggested that the better implementation for the high-lighting would have been if they displayed the portion (scrollable) of the text on the LCD and made it possible to just swipe to select. B&N clearly aren't using all capabilities of the LCD touch-screen yet.

raac · 01-30-2010, 04:48 PM

I'm new to this game (have just ordered the PRS-900) and so went to the stores to play with the Sony readers and a Nook. I loved the touch screen on the Sony readers. In particular it was nice to be able to touch a word and immediately see the definition in the dictionary. I placed the touch and non-touch Sony readers side by side: the non-touch screen did look slightly better but no massive difference.

I then went to B&N and picked up a Nook. First impression was "wow! nice screen. Text looks really clear". It had a sans serif font which was different to that on the Sony. I therefore changed the font to one more similar to the Sony and my initial impression of superior clarity diminished. What killed the Nook for me was the touchpad. I tried selecting a word to get a dictionary definition and that took /ages/ to move the selection to the word. Once the definition did appear, it was very brief. There may be a way to get an expanded definition but the rep at the counter didn't show me that.

Overall, I much preferred the Sony.

JerseyBiker · 01-31-2010, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raac

I'm new to this game (have just ordered the PRS-900) and so went to the stores to play with the Sony readers and a Nook. I loved the touch screen on the Sony readers.

Overall, I much preferred the Sony.

I have been bouncing around trying to figure out which ereader I will eventually purchase. The Sony readers were not among those I was considering. After reading your post I checked out reviews on the Sony Reader PRS-900. Everyone seem to really like them but many said the screen was too dark and there was too much glare. Also there is no way to change the contrast. What is your opinion of the screen contrast compared to the others you checked out? Thanks.

~eddie

raac · 01-31-2010, 10:44 AM

As far as I know, there's no to change contrast on any eInk display. I've looked reviews of the Kindle2 on Amazon and plenty of those complain about contrast also. My impression is that eInk just doesn't have the contrast of paper yet. That said, the touch-screen layer does decrease contrast a little. The contrast difference between the touch and non-touch Sonys was fairly subtle (under bright light).

* Screen Contrast On Sony:
In the NY Sony store they have bright lights pointing straight at the readers so they look their best. I had a paperback with me and tried shielding the screen from direct light and placing the book next to the reader. With my hand blocking the light I could read the book but not the reader. In some ways this isn't a fair test because it's unlikely you'll be reading in conditions where a 250W spot is pointing straight at you; furthermore, blocking the light in the way I did creates other contrast problems, such as large differences between the surroundings and screen. I couldn't test the Nook this way because the lighting in B&N was diffuse. In the end, I felt that the only way to test one was to buy it and see what it's like in practice. It's arriving tomorrow...

* Glare on the Sony:
I think the glare issue is one which will bother some but not others and I also think that it is possible to adapt to it completely: Frankly, I didn't notice any glare at all in the store. Any reflections off the screen didn't register with me either. Maybe I'm used to my laptop, which has a glossy screen. In fact, when I first got that the laptop the screen really bugged me. Two weeks later I completely stopped noticing the glare.

JerseyBiker · 01-31-2010, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raac

As far as I know, there's no to change contrast on any eInk display. I've looked reviews of the Kindle2 on Amazon and plenty of those complain about contrast also. My impression is that eInk just doesn't have the contrast of paper yet. That said, the touch-screen layer does decrease contrast a little. The contrast difference between the touch and non-touch Sonys was fairly subtle (under bright light).

Thanks for the reply. I'm completely new to this ereader thing. I bought a Kindle 2 for my wife for Christmas and decided to get an ereader for myself since I see her enjoying hers so much. I was leaning toward the Nook though, then the iPad was announced and I considered that until I found it weighs 1.5 pounds and cost half a grand. That's too heavy for using mainly as a reader. Then I read your post about the Sony which added a new reader for me to check out. I think would like the Sony with it larger touch screen more than the Nook but it may be just a little too pricey for me.

~eddie

WT Sharpe · 01-31-2010, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JerseyBiker

Thanks for the reply. I'm completely new to this ereader thing. I bought a Kindle 2 for my wife for Christmas and decided to get an ereader for myself since I see her enjoying hers so much. I was leaning toward the Nook though, then the iPad was announced and I considered that until I found it weighs 1.5 pounds and cost half a grand. That's too heavy for using mainly as a reader. Then I read your post about the Sony which added a new reader for me to check out. I think would like the Sony with it larger touch screen more than the Nook but it may be just a little too pricey for me.

~eddie

I love my K2, but in all fairness, I've heard quite a bit about how much people love their Sony readers. A lot of folks swear by their Sony touchscreen readers.

raac · 01-31-2010, 12:37 PM

Note that the Sony Touch Edition is $300 and is similar to the Daily Edition ($400). Main things lacking in the cheaper one are:
-3G for sony book store. But you'll want to use other book stores also and the 3G won't help you there.
-Landscape, 2 pages to a screen, viewing mode.
-I think, also, it doesn't crop margins on PDFs.
-Screen is 1 inch smaller.
-8 levels of grayscale rather then 16.

The more expensive daily edition does all those things and comes with a cover and hard-case.

I wouldn't buy an iPad yet. Apple tend to screw early adopters so you might be better off waiting until they release v2 or v3 of the device. The iPad is a very closed platform in general and it looks like other companies will slowly be releasing more open tablets based on Android.

WT Sharpe · 01-31-2010, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raac

I'm new to this game (have just ordered the PRS-900) and so went to the stores to play with the Sony readers and a Nook. I loved the touch screen on the Sony readers. In particular it was nice to be able to touch a word and immediately see the definition in the dictionary. I placed the touch and non-touch Sony readers side by side: the non-touch screen did look slightly better but no massive difference.

I then went to B&N and picked up a Nook. First impression was "wow! nice screen. Text looks really clear". It had a sans serif font which was different to that on the Sony. I therefore changed the font to one more similar to the Sony and my initial impression of superior clarity diminished. What killed the Nook for me was the touchpad. I tried selecting a word to get a dictionary definition and that took /ages/ to move the selection to the word. Once the definition did appear, it was very brief. There may be a way to get an expanded definition but the rep at the counter didn't show me that.

Overall, I much preferred the Sony.

Navigating text on the Nook is a painfully slow and extremely awkward process. It is much quicker, easier, and more precise on my Kindle. Looking up definitions of words is perhaps not as quick as the touch screen on the Sony readers (although I can't say, having never tried one), but it is certainly serviceable, and by tapping the return button on the Kindle, you can view an expanded definition.

JerseyBiker · 02-01-2010, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I love my K2, but in all fairness, I've heard quite a bit about how much people love their Sony readers. A lot of folks swear by their Sony touchscreen readers.

I have been mainly going back and forth between the Nook and Kindle2. I keep finding information that changes my mind between the 2. The Sony 900 seems like a good choice also but the $500 price tag is a problem for me. But it's a slim possibility.

~eddie

mos · 02-01-2010, 02:58 PM

I had the Kindle2 and I didn't like it at all. I thought it was the most awefull reader I ever had. There was no way, that I would have put my Sony PRS 700 down for the Kindle. Than I got the Nook and it was love at first sight. Since I have the Nook, I haven'T used my Sony at all. My personal favourit is definetly the Nook.

raac · 02-01-2010, 08:37 PM

Mos, can I ask why you didn't like the Kindle2?
So I got my PRS-900 today. I like everything about it apart from the glare. Yes, I know I didn't notice in the shop but it's real and it's a pain. It's too early to tell if I'll get used to it but it is a real problem since it can be sufficiently bright to obscure the text. Contrast is fine.
The good things are:
Reads PDFs well, elegant, touch screen works pretty well, lots of viewing options, sorts books by genre.

Mos, did you try reading PDFs on the Kindle? How was that? Does the Kindle sort by genre?

01-25-2010, 10:35 AM	#1
Prince Hal Zealot Posts: 149 Karma: 1856 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: California Device: Galaxy Player 4.2; Nexus 3 (wifi only); Nook HD+ (possibly)	My brief impressions of Nook Firstly, it is great that B&N like Sony actually have demonstration models in stores. It really is worth taking the opportunity to go test one out. Reviews online are really helpful, but as a finishing touch, go touch the machine and see. I think wherever possible the two need to go together. Now of course you are likely to get only a shorter time in the store with a machine - I had 20 minutes - so you are unlikely to get a complete feel of the machine looking at all aspects of it. Sony's for example do not have all of their functions enabled in Target. Anyway to Nook. The e-ink screen was great. Clear, crisp and every bit as good as the Kindle 2 and less reflective than the Sony PRS 600. Page turns were crisp. No lag here. The hard buttons are nicely placed for finger turning. Nicely weighted and comfortable in the hand. Plastic, but felt good quality. But, the colour screen was a distraction. I believe that it turns off or can be turned off. But you need to use it to highlight. Even though it is a bluey grey colour for navigating, highlighting, etc, it is obviously backlit and for me took my eyes away from the e-ink screen. You might get used to it after a while - not after 20 minutes. But here was my biggest disappointment. The lag between the colour navigation screen and the e-ink screen. I have never been one who liked the mousepad on a laptop, so maybe there's some inbuilt bias here. But I tap, tap, tapped on the colour screen and wasn't really sure when the e-ink would follow. It was all two divorced. Anyway that was it for me. I wanted an ereader to view articles and shorter documents rather than books mainly, so highlighting and clipping would be really important. The lag between the two screens was too much to bear. Perhaps I would have got used to it after a while, but not in 20 minutes. Kudos to B&N for attempting to improve navigation from the joystick approach of Kindle (and forget that awful Kindle 2 keyboard), and to avoid the glare from a touchscreen, but this doesn't work... for me. Also Kudos to B&N for there apparent speed in firmware updates. It gives you confidence that improvements will be made quickly and you will not need to buy Nook 2 to get sensible functionality. Hope tha this helps someone in a small way. Hal.

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01-25-2010, 10:50 AM	#3
Dusty Connoisseur Posts: 68 Karma: 500076 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Canada Device: sony 300, T1	Like you I tried all the demo readers where I could find them. I was able to play with the Sony models long before the Nook was available. I was all set on the Sony 300 but I was eagerly awaiting the Nook. As soon as I picked up the Nook I knew it was not for me, too heavy. I prefer curling up with a good paperback not a hard cover book. This also translates to ereaders. Someday when large format colour reader comes out I will probable buy one for magazines and technical books with images.

01-30-2010, 04:48 PM	#6
raac Zealot Posts: 111 Karma: 1003802 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: NY Device: Sony PRS-950	I'm new to this game (have just ordered the PRS-900) and so went to the stores to play with the Sony readers and a Nook. I loved the touch screen on the Sony readers. In particular it was nice to be able to touch a word and immediately see the definition in the dictionary. I placed the touch and non-touch Sony readers side by side: the non-touch screen did look slightly better but no massive difference. I then went to B&N and picked up a Nook. First impression was "wow! nice screen. Text looks really clear". It had a sans serif font which was different to that on the Sony. I therefore changed the font to one more similar to the Sony and my initial impression of superior clarity diminished. What killed the Nook for me was the touchpad. I tried selecting a word to get a dictionary definition and that took /ages/ to move the selection to the word. Once the definition did appear, it was very brief. There may be a way to get an expanded definition but the rep at the counter didn't show me that. Overall, I much preferred the Sony.

01-31-2010, 10:44 AM	#8
raac Zealot Posts: 111 Karma: 1003802 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: NY Device: Sony PRS-950	As far as I know, there's no to change contrast on any eInk display. I've looked reviews of the Kindle2 on Amazon and plenty of those complain about contrast also. My impression is that eInk just doesn't have the contrast of paper yet. That said, the touch-screen layer does decrease contrast a little. The contrast difference between the touch and non-touch Sonys was fairly subtle (under bright light). * Screen Contrast On Sony: In the NY Sony store they have bright lights pointing straight at the readers so they look their best. I had a paperback with me and tried shielding the screen from direct light and placing the book next to the reader. With my hand blocking the light I could read the book but not the reader. In some ways this isn't a fair test because it's unlikely you'll be reading in conditions where a 250W spot is pointing straight at you; furthermore, blocking the light in the way I did creates other contrast problems, such as large differences between the surroundings and screen. I couldn't test the Nook this way because the lighting in B&N was diffuse. In the end, I felt that the only way to test one was to buy it and see what it's like in practice. It's arriving tomorrow... * Glare on the Sony: I think the glare issue is one which will bother some but not others and I also think that it is possible to adapt to it completely: Frankly, I didn't notice any glare at all in the store. Any reflections off the screen didn't register with me either. Maybe I'm used to my laptop, which has a glossy screen. In fact, when I first got that the laptop the screen really bugged me. Two weeks later I completely stopped noticing the glare.

01-31-2010, 12:37 PM	#11
raac Zealot Posts: 111 Karma: 1003802 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: NY Device: Sony PRS-950	Note that the Sony Touch Edition is $300 and is similar to the Daily Edition ($400). Main things lacking in the cheaper one are: -3G for sony book store. But you'll want to use other book stores also and the 3G won't help you there. -Landscape, 2 pages to a screen, viewing mode. -I think, also, it doesn't crop margins on PDFs. -Screen is 1 inch smaller. -8 levels of grayscale rather then 16. The more expensive daily edition does all those things and comes with a cover and hard-case. I wouldn't buy an iPad yet. Apple tend to screw early adopters so you might be better off waiting until they release v2 or v3 of the device. The iPad is a very closed platform in general and it looks like other companies will slowly be releasing more open tablets based on Android.

02-01-2010, 02:58 PM	#14
mos Addict Posts: 392 Karma: 2200 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Germany Device: iphone 4, iPad, Nook softrooted	I had the Kindle2 and I didn't like it at all. I thought it was the most awefull reader I ever had. There was no way, that I would have put my Sony PRS 700 down for the Kindle. Than I got the Nook and it was love at first sight. Since I have the Nook, I haven'T used my Sony at all. My personal favourit is definetly the Nook.

02-01-2010, 08:37 PM	#15
raac Zealot Posts: 111 Karma: 1003802 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: NY Device: Sony PRS-950	Mos, can I ask why you didn't like the Kindle2? So I got my PRS-900 today. I like everything about it apart from the glare. Yes, I know I didn't notice in the shop but it's real and it's a pain. It's too early to tell if I'll get used to it but it is a real problem since it can be sufficiently bright to obscure the text. Contrast is fine. The good things are: Reads PDFs well, elegant, touch screen works pretty well, lots of viewing options, sorts books by genre. Mos, did you try reading PDFs on the Kindle? How was that? Does the Kindle sort by genre?

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