Customer Reviews

Barnes & Noble NOOK ebook reader (WiFi + 3G)[B&W]

5 star:		(87)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(47)

 

 

Which is better, the Nook or the Kindle?

I spent much time researching the available e-readers because I knew that once I committed to one that I would be spending a lot of money over time to build a substantial library. Therefore I wanted to be certain that I was investing in the right platform so I wouldn't have to repurchase books for a new reader if I became unhappy with my current one. I am submitting this review because I want to help those who were in my position not too long ago.

I have owned both the Kindle 1 and Nook, and borrowed a Kindle 2 prior to purchasing my Nook. I started off with the Kindle 1 when it was new, then became a little disenchanted when the Kindle 2 came out. It was then that the Nook had been out for about 6 months, and I decided to purchase it for reasons I will list later in this review.

I have been a long-time Amazon customer, an affiliate, and even a publisher of my own work through CreateSpace. I also admire the CEO's ambition of converting every book ever printed into electronic format. Amazon is a great company with great vision, so it is disappointing (and a little ironic) for me to conclude that at this time, the Nook is far superior to the Kindle in almost every way except one (which I will also explain). I would have much preferred to stick with the Kindle since I had started building a library through Amazon, but my honest assessment is that the Nook is a better reader.

A lot of reviews have already addressed the advantages and disadvantages of both readers, so I will try to only contribute new information here, or reiterate what I think is most important in anyone's consideration when comparing the two.

I defected from the Kindle for several reasons:

1. I did not like the awkward user interface and hardware. Though the Kindle 2 was an improvement in several ways, it still didn't feel as comfortable as the Nook. On both the 1 and 2 I had to be careful not to accidentally press the page turn buttons. On the Nook, because of the "hard set" buttons, I have never had this problem. It is much easier and comfortable to hold the Nook. On a less important note, the Nook's minimalist design simply looks better.

2. I was growing tired of being tied to the Amazon proprietary platform. I believe the Nook, especially over time, will provide more opportunities for book buying and developing open platform applications.

3. The Nook has a changeable battery and SD slot for additional memory. The Kindle 2 dropped both features. These two factors alone were enough to drive me away from the Kindle 2. Who wants to ship off their reader to have a battery changed? This is a hassle and also considerably more expensive. As for the memory slot, I prefer to be able to organize my content without having to go online. Unit Director for the Kindle, Charlie Tritschler, was quoted in COMPUTERWORLD as stating: "That's room for 1,500 books," Tritschler said, noting that any book a Kindle user buys is backed up on Amazon's servers -- and is available to the reader at any time. "There's no need for additional storage."

What? No need for additional storage? That is an opinion and not a fact. I found this comment to be quite condescending and narrow-minded. Mr. Tritschler made the common mistake of considering only his viewpoint and totally ignored the desire of many consumers, including myself. For example, [...] (which is owned by Amazon) sells audio books online. Should a person have a penchant for buying audio books, that built-in 2GB is going to fill up quickly. As someone who travels frequently, I don't always have the time or resources to go back online and redesign my library. Also, as many travelers know, you do not always know what you will be in the mood for, so it would be nice if you could simply take your memory cards with you. And yes, Mr. Tritschler, even without audio books, there will be those of us who will actually own more than 1500 books eventually.

When I purchased the Nook, it had been out for about 6 months already, so I started with firmware version 1.3 and did not have to suffer all of the issues the early purchasers experienced. One thing I do not understand is that you can walk into a physical B&N store and purchase the Nook for [...], so why is it being sold on Amazon by a third party for [...]? Caveat Emptor.

My experience with the Nook has been far superior to that of the Kindle. I have not had any of the problems expressed by others in their reviews, mainly due to the updated firmware, no doubt. The Nook is comfortable to hold, easy to navigate, turns pages quickly and easily, has a clear display, and the battery life has not been an issue (about 5-7 days without recharging but also without going online, which I only do with my computer).

I agree with the reviewer who complained there was no way to really organize the content, but that will probably be addressed in time. I think it is important to keep in mind that Nook has only been out for a few months, so patience will be a virtue. However, one feature on the Nook that I did not notice on the Kindle was the ability to "archive" books. So if you have a few dozen or hundreds of books, you could actually archive all of them except the one or more you are reading so that your library screen is not cluttered with books. This alone is a big advantage over the Kindle.

The one advantage that the Kindle has at this time (and this will likely change over time) is its selection of books, especially through Mobile Reference (which I believe is owned by Amazon in addition to [...]. All ebook manufacturers are throwing around some big numbers when it comes to book availability. What exactly does it mean to have over a million books available? I find these numbers misleading because most of these books are not, in my opinion, feasible to download. For example, when I tried to download a free "classic" from Google books, it had a very poor presentation, as the books was simply scanned with defects and all (including the book owner's scribbled margin notes!) The links of course were not functional (and probably were not meant to be), and several pages were corrupted so that there were many strange and illegible characters in the text. You get what you pay for. Personally, I would rather spend 99 cents or two dollars for a version of a classic that has been formatted for the Nook, or epub format, that has working links and clean text, especially considering that theoretically, thanks to the digital age, I will only have to purchase these books once in my lifetime.

What I miss on the Nook are the complete collections of classic authors (and again, this may change over time). For example, I would love to have the complete works of Jack London, Henry James, etc which are easily purchased on Amazon but not on the Nook (yet). This was the only issue causing me concern about switching to the Nook. I strongly believe that if the Kindle was just like the Nook in design and firmware, Amazon would be unbeatable. The Nook's aesthetic and practical structure combined with Amazon's vision and content would make it a no-brainer for me personally. Unfortunately, I believe Amazon underestimated the important of memory cards and changeable batteries, in addition to having probably the worst physical design on the market. And its closed format does not help either.

Overall, I would have to recommend the Nook far and above the Kindle. Up until now I have been a die-hard Amazon acolyte, but the Nook was good enough to convert me.

6/25/2010 UPDATE
It has been about 4 weeks since I initially posted this review. I hope that it has been helpful to those trying to make a decision. Since the initial posting, firmware version 1.4 was released, which added another font size, faster page turns, and the conspicuously absent GO TO PAGE option. Also, I have noticed that more and more books are being converted to the nook, especially from Mobile Reference where I have historically purchased my classic collections. My one prior concern about the nook over the Kindle has now been removed. I have been able to purchase the complete works of such authors as Jack London, James Joyce, O. Henry, Sinclair Lewis, and E.R. Burroughs. Still waiting on Dickens and a few others, but I am sure it is just a matter of time as I see the trend of an increasing selection for the nook.

With the recent firmware update and the dramatic price drop (probably in anticipation of the nook 2 supposedly to be released this year), the nook is even more preferable now than before. I understand that reviews are by nature subjective, but I am perplexed by the recent negative reviews. I can certainly understand the complaints of the owners who purchased the nook with the initial bugs and issues before the firmware updates, but the nook is certainly not worthless or junk at this point. I have been through many e-readers over the past twenty years and the nook is the best I have seen. Some of the reviews are critical of the nook's operating system, for example, claiming it to be clunky or inefficient, yet offering no alternatives or detailing how it could be improved.

In further response to these "negative" reviews, I would also like to point out that at this time, based on my admittedly limited technical understanding, that e-ink technology cannot be integrated with back-lighting, which is why it is not offered on e-readers with e-ink technology. I believe it has to do with the opacity of the screen itself, which does not allow light to penetrate. I wouldn't be surprised to see this change in the future, but I don't think it should be considered a valid criticism at this time due to the limits of currently available technology.

I hope the nook hardware remains unchanged with the newer version to be released. I would prefer that the reading window not be a touch screen since I prefer not to see my fingerprints while I read, or have to constantly wipe off the screen. Touch screens tend to interfere with the clarity of the reading screen, and may not be helpful to the e-ink technology as well. I am referring specifically to the larger screen here which is where most of the viewing is done.

Also, after having used the nook daily now for several more weeks, I have not had any mechanical or software problems. I have also had no issues with the B&N website. And due to some billing questions I had, I have even called the toll-free customer service line twice and each time the phone was answered quickly and my issues were resolved courteously.

One of the great advantages not frequently commented upon to date is the ability to go into a B&N store and read e-books for free. This was not initially a selling point for me since I never stopped to fully appreciate the advantages of this benefit. But since my initial post, I have had several opportunities to go to a B&N store, use a nook coupon to obtain a discounted beverage, and browse the e-books through their wi-fi network. This one benefit has saved me money already since I was able to preview books that looked good online, but upon closer inspection turned out to be not so great. This perk allows you access to the entire book, not just selections. You are allowed to read a book for up to one hour per day before the nook "times out." But that limitation is per book per day, not simply one hour per day in total. Thanks to this feature I have read a few books that were mildly interesting, but ones that I am glad I didn't spend money on since I knew I would never read them again or use them as a reference, unlike many of the classics which of course have a high re-use value.

My experiences so far with the store staff have been positive. Though not officially advertised, the staff will not only answer questions about the nook, but help you with installing the memory card or changing out the battery without charging for the service itself. I don't think that kind of personalized, informal service exists for the Kindle.

It looks like the nook is continually improving. It is my wish to see more people appreciate and use the nook so that more support will be given to producing compatible e-books for its growing library.

7/30/2010 Update
Although I realize this post is running long, I felt compelled to update it due to the most recent reviews posted here, some of which I find grossly misleading. My understanding is that the purpose of reviews is to help others determine if the product in question is worth purchasing. Reviews, both critical and positive, that provide erroneous or incomplete information only add to the confusion of a potential buyer, especially when there are widely conflicting conclusions. It appears that some reviewers cannot differentiate between facts and opinions. And when it comes to technical issues, it is sometimes difficult to tell if the actual problem is with the product or the tech-challenged user.

There was a helpful post on 7/12/10 that encouraged owners to read the manual and charge the battery. This may explain some of the technical issues of some nook owners.

One reviewer described the nook as having "no frills." There was no elaboration, so it is difficult to know what her definition of "frill" was. However, I would consider a frill for an e-reader to be anything in addition to the very basics of reading a book, such as a screen and page turning. The nook has an open Android platform subject to future app development, a web browser, two games (Sudoku and Chess), a lending feature, downloadable coupons for the books and the coffee shop, the ability to download books from certain libraries, daily information blogs from B&N, customizable screensavers and wallpaper, MP3 capability for audio books and music, improved sorting and archiving options, a dictionary, highlighting options, and the ability to read entire e-books while in the B&N store. These certainly seem like quite a few "frills" to me. I point this out to those who are still trying to decide on an e-reader because I find such posts cavalier in their brevity and factually misleading.

There was another post that claimed only 135 B&N e-books are lendable, and that customers are getting "ripped off" because you cannot tell if a book is lendable until after its purchase. I have about 450 books on my nook now, and most of them are lendable, so I am not sure where this number was obtained since the poster did not cite a source or did not claim to have actually examined all one million books available. Also, if you go to the B&N website and look at the e-books, you can tell if it is lendable before purchasing because there will be a large button right under the book graphic that is labeled "LEND ME."

There are some shortcomings that were accurately reported in some of the posts, however. The PDF features are limited to the point of being useless. Amazon has addressed this issue with their latest Kindle by adding zoom features, highlighting, etc. Hopefully B&N will do the same. Also, the web browser is still "experimental" and does not usually function well (at least in my experience). Again, this is a relatively new device so things should improve as long as the demand for the nook remains strong.

There was another post that claimed most of the e-readers available are all practically the same and had no major differences. First, this reviewer apparently never owned other readers and therefore did not become intimately aware of each one's shortcomings or virtues. Second, there are SIGNIFICANT differences between the nook and Kindle, many of which have already been discussed in this post. For example, just the choice of supported formats alone shows the rift between the nook and Kindle. The Kindle's platform is restricted and proprietary, while the nook's Android platform is open to allow for third party applications and development, and the epub format allows for far more buying, lending and borrowing (from libraries) options. The nook's epub format and operating system should not be considered minor differences from the Kindle's format.

In summary, I wanted to clarify some of the errors and misconceptions that were being posted so that those still researching their options did not become more confused or misled. Regardless of which e-reader you choose, it is always nice to be able to separate fact from opinion, and truth from falsehood.

MORE UPDATES at the bottom of my review!

My review includes details of Kindle 3, the newest version! With the time period, I could still return my nook, but I'm still completely in love with it and don't want the kindle for the reasons below.

I was one of those people who was averse to the idea of an e-reader for a long time. I liked the feel of a real book, I was in love with free books at the library, why would I start paying for them? Then, my library got "overdrive", which is e-books FREE from the library. Then one day soon after, I woke up and the urge for an e-reader was there. The Nook was my final choice. It took a lot of back and forth and research to get to this point. I bought and tried the Sony Touch reader, returned it, and went and got the Nook. I really honestly wanted the Kindle most, because I'm a loyalist. I love Amazon and felt really comfortable here if I decided to actually start purchasing books again. But below, I'll give you comparisons to the three big readers and the reasons I got the nook:
- Nook(N) by barnes & noble
- Kindle 3(K) by amazon.com
- Sony Reader Touch(ST)
1. My biggest decision maker was Epub. This is the format in which you can take ebooks out of the library, so I needed whatever I got to be Epub friendly.

N: The Nook is epub friendly. As well as PDF, and many other formats.
K: The Kindle won't use Epub, which was all I needed to know. It mainly uses it's own Amazon format,while it also uses PDF, mobi and a few others. It makes me feel like Amazon is being greedy, wanting us to only use and buy books from the amazon site. Don't they understand that I love my library?
ST: Sony reader is Epub friendly. pretty much the same as the nook.

2. PRICE!

N: 149 with wifi
ST: 169 NO WIFI
K: 139 with wifi(or 189 with wifi and free 3G)

While kindle 3 is 10 dollars cheaper, it doesn't give me those free library books, so it really doesn't make any difference to me.

*You can now lend some books from the Nook for 14 days to a friend with their new "lend me" technology. While this is in beta stages, and not ALL books are lendable. It depends on the agreement with the publisher. The other two you cannot lend at all.

*The Nook has a replaceable, rechargable battery. So it'll last awhile, but when its dwindling, you can spend 30 bucks and put a new one in yourself. For the Kindles, they are sealed inside. People have said you can do it yourself, but you must be tech savvy. Or you can send it away to Amazon for about the cost of [...]+shipping charges and they'll replace it for you.

*You can expand your memory on the Nook and on the Sony touch. The Kindle you cannot, though the Kindle will hold 3,500 books, don't know if you need more space then that?!

*Nook has a fancy color touch screen at the bottom. While the Sony touch has a touch screen(the entire screen), it was slow to respond, very klunky and not very pretty. The kindle is loaded with buttons along the outside of the screen.

* all three have a built in dictionary, which I think is just awesome.

*The new kindle now meets with the nook on their slim width. People used to say the nook was more comfortable to hold because of the width, now the kindle will be as well.

*Yet, the Nook is heavier by about 3 oz then the Kindle or Sony.

*The Nook battery life lasts about 10 days with wifi off, the Sony has 14 days, and the new kindle is up to a month with wifi off(3 weeks with it on)This wasn't a big deal to me, and I was more interested in the other features the Nook DID have, like replaceable battery and expandable memory.

*And you may be wondering, why did I purchase a Sony Touch, and then scamper back hours later to return it? Well. When I got it out of the box, it wasn't techy enough for me. It felt like a very basic, bare bones E-reader. And I already had in my head all the things you hear about the nook: books more expensive, and for some reason I thought it wasn't epub friendly. But the moment I had that Sony in my hand, I went to look at the nook more indepth online. The Sony online library was nothing in comparison to Kindle's Amazon.com or Nook's Barnes & Noble. One of my favorite reads recently was The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It was nowhere to be found on Sony. That gave me a bad taste in my mouth.

*In the past people have complained that Barnes & Noble is significantly more expensive then Amazon. I did some price comparisons of big titles, and found them most of the time to be exactly the same. I think Barnes & Noble might be trying to keep in line with Amazon to draw more readers(Like ME!) into getting the Nook.

On the whole, the nook is everything I wanted. I've downloaded some free classics from google books, I've taken out library ebooks and it was REALLY easy! I even bought my first book(well, ebook) in a long time. Despite being a new release, it was under ten bucks. I also bought another book I've been meaning to read for years for under four dollars. The nook is comfortable to hold with one hand. I like the using the touch screen to "swipe" and turn pages. And tops on my list, I didn't feel horrificly guilty for buying it. One fifty is a reasonable price for such a fun new book reader.

Update Oct '10: A software update is coming in Nov:"dramatically increase page turn speed, customized B&N Library organization and password protection. It also includes the ability to sync across all NOOK and all devices enabled with our free NOOK apps, by syncing your last page read. If you forget your NOOK at home, use the NOOK app for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android smartphone or PC to pick up where you left off. And, the next time you pick up your NOOK, the Reading Now page will be updated and ready to go.

Update Dec '10: The update was a pinch to install, and it has some stellar perks that make the nook even more loveable. The shelving option it a lot of fun for those people who like to organize. You can name a shelf anything you want. The only limit is your Barnes and Noble book will stay in their Barnes folder, while any other books you have will stay in My Documents. The page turn is very fast. I do read across multiple devices, but for most people that will be a great new feature.

Despite all of the negative reviews, I decided to take a chance and buy the nook, once I tested it out at my local B&N. I loved the look and feel of this device and was looking forward to the convenience of buying more books without adding more clutter to my already cluttered bookcases. I read all of the pros and cons of owning a Kindle and compared it to the pros and cons of owning a nook. The nook won because of its versatility (epub format, book lending, etc).

My nook arrived on January 28th. Since then, I've experienced one crash and had to figure out how to use the touchscreen so that I can flip the pages without having to use the arrow keys. The latter took some practice, but I eventually mastered it and have been enjoying this feature ever since. I've also read three books in the space of a week, which is a personal record for me, as it normally takes two weeks for me to read a single paperback, longer if I'm reading an ebook on an LCD screen.

The eInk technology is fabulous. I can read all day (and do) without eyestrain. The letters are very crisp on a plain white background. Even better, you can adjust the font size from small to extra large. Not only that but the nook comes with several fonts: Amasis, Helvetica Neue and Light Classic. I'm happy with the Amasis as it resembles Times Roman.

My only complaint so far is that I am not able to categorize my books into categories. At the moment, I'm forced to wade through my list until I find the book that I want to read. B&N has already sent out an update, which is a good improvement over the old interface. While the touch interface can be a bit buggy (Sometimes you have to flick your finger more than once or use the arrow keys to turn the page.), I can turn pages in one second compared to the 2-3 seconds it would take with the original software. That wasn't a big deal until I received the upgrade.

I also like what they've done with the bookmarks feature. Before, they had a strange numerical format for bookmarks. With this upgrade, it lists the page that you bookmarked, which is much nicer.

I love how I can download samples of ebooks directly from my nook without having to rely on the B&N site to do everything. Once you finish the sample, you have the option to buy. If you decide to buy the book, you will be taken to the last page you read so that you can continue from there. You can also archive the books that you've read directly from your nook with the press of a button, which helps manage your list.

Sideloading my pdf ebooks onto my nook was an easy experience. However, you can't categorize your documents; you can only sort them by title or author.

Another great aspect of owning a nook is that you can check out ebooks from your local libraries (see [...] for a list of libraries near you), sideload books that you have bought from Fictionwise and other ebook stores, and download free ebooks from either the B&N site or Google Books. That's what ultimately sold me on the nook, the versatility and freedom to choose where I want to buy or download free ebooks. The nook is not proprietary, unlike the Kindle and the soon-to-be-released iPad.

The interface is very easy to use. It comes with a manual that you can read on the device, or on the B&N website. If you're still stuck on an issue, I found this great forum ([...]) with friendly people who can help you.

I've yet to check out the Lend feature because my family and friends have yet to embrace this technology.

Other than my issue with organization, I am really enjoying my nook. I'm looking forward to reading many books in the future, thanks to this wonderful device. Highly recommended.

Side note: I agree with S. Dayton about the iPad. After reading a few ebooks on my iTouch and my Mac, I have to agree with him about the eyestrain. For casual surfing and watching video, LCD works fine. But for longterm reading, eInk is the way to go.

First let me start by saying this is not my first E-Reader. I had a Sony PRS-505 that I sold on E-Bay in anticipation of loving the Nook. It was great, a few years old and I loved the possibilities of the Nook. From the bullet list of its "features" it is the ultimate device, reality is much different. After the 1.1.1 patch was installed, a patch that promised great improvements, here are my observations:

The Bad:

1. Battery life is grossly, I mean grossly overstated. They say 10 days in "Airplane mode", I'm going to be generous and say maybe, maybe two days-- if and only if you shorten the color display blank time, change pages by the button instead of swiping the touch screen, etc. as recommended for "hypermiling" the device. If you leave the wi-fi and wireless on and use the other default settings for blanking the display, the battery will deplete quickly enough that the battery display reads like an animation. It reminds me of an old 1968 four-barrel Cadillac Eldorado that gets 5 miles per gallon. You barely use it and it needs to be filled up again.

2. The color screen used for navigation has tiny selection buttons that will cause you often to choose the wrong menu item. Also, some features that would have been better on a button or multi-directional switch require that you wake up the color screen and use it for navigation. For example, scroll up and down.

3. The form factor was thick and clunky. Almost entirely made of plastic.

4. Buggy software crashed and misbehaved, OFTEN.

5. Free preview download of books often would not format correctly--- missing characters, centered text on one page, justified on another. Complete sentences cut off or missing, pages missing. Note: If you buy the book it would be formatted perfectly.

6. Touch screen comes on and wastes battery if you accidentally touch it while reading

7. Poster boy for frustration packaging.

The Good:

1. The E-Ink display on my Nook was higher contrast than my Sony PRS-505 and Kindle readers I have seen. Having said that, they all use the same manufacturer and screen and the screens vary widely from even one unit to another of the same brand and model. You never know what you'll get til you fire one up.

2. The E-Pub format from Adobe rather than a proprietary format.

3. Elegant, clean look (design)

4. Lending option

5. 6 font sizes, two fonts

6. Clear, nice reading screen

7. Normal page numbers vs. Kindle's "Location" nonsense

8. Expandable via Micro SD

9. Changeable battery (You'll need it!!)

I purchased a Kindle for my wife last Christmas. She loves it and uses it more than any other gift I ever purchased her. She was having so much fun with it I decided to get an ereader for myself but I was drawn more toward the Nook. I read so many bad reviews about the Nook I wasn't sure if I should get it or a Kindle or maybe something different with a touch screen and wireless connection. I thought about it for a few weeks and noticed that the reviews started getting better. I decided to go for it. I ordered it last Wednesday from B&N and received it 2 days later. I am so happy I did. I didn't experience any of the the negatives I read about with exception that battery could stay charged longer. Talking about the battery, it's nice to know that you can change it yourself and at a much lessor expense than with a Kindle. I'll probably never need it but it's also nice to be able to add a memory card to hold more content. And the Nook just looks nicer in my opinion.

The new update was released the same day I received my Nook and I updated the firmware the second day I had it and it runs even more smoother. I have been a gadget man all my life but this is my first touch screen device. I had no problems what-so-ever navigating the menus and the menus changed fast enough for me.

My wife still loves her Kindle but I think she is a little jealous. She asked me why I didn't get her a Nook for Christmas.

I was completely in the dark about ereaders until just 2 months ago. I know during my research I found people that were experiencing problems and were unhappy with every reader I checked into. If you were putting off getting a Nook because of bad reviews, I would give them another look. There has been 2 firmware updates already that probably addressed many of the earlier concerns. That's not bad for a device that was only released a short while ago. I'm sure there will be further updates as time goes on and it will get only better.

~eddie

Updated: 02/14/2010

Barnes and Noble has issued yet another firmware release and as a result, several issues including bookmarks, losing places in books and speed issues have been resolved. In addition, for those who were unable to register due to not being in an area with wireless coverage, you are now able to take advantage of the WIFI capability to register your device. Battery is still abysmal compared to nearly all other readers out there however, if you get in the habit of recharging every night and carrying a spare battery, this is will not impact your overall reading experience.

While the Kindle and the Sony readers are still superior and not as buggy -- Barnes and Noble has shown that they are committed to making this product work. It is a very nice looking reader and the rubber backing is much more comfortable to hold than the metal backing of the Kindle. I still feel the LCD color component is merely eye-candy and of little functional use but I have upgraded my star rating. While this reader still lacks the functionality and maturity of its main competitors, I would say it has definitely become a viable option for those who don't want to be tied to Amazon or the Sony Store.

UPDATED: 01/02/2010

Some will say that I am "premature" in putting this review out because I should be giving Barnes and Noble the chance to fix their device -- which they diligently appear to be trying to do. However, anyone contemplating the sale of the nook has a right to know how this reader operates NOW unless they are willing to spend 260 on promises of a eReader that does not do some of the simplest tasks (bookmarks) at the time of purchase. As improvements are made, I will continue to update the review.

Unfortunately, Barnes and Noble continues to struggle with the functionality of the nook.

......................

I love Barnes and Noble so was very excited to see them enter the ereader market.

Barnes and Noble was hoping that the shiny and colorful package would keep people from realizing that they rushed their reader to market without proper testing.

There have been so many problems with the Nook that they are already on their 3rd firmware update even though the first set of readers were only shipped 2 weeks ago. This, itself, is a problem because such frequent updates can cause additional quality issues -- break broken functionality (for example, bookmarks), and leaves nook owners in the position of having to beta test their 260 dollar reader.

After putting a nook through its paces at my local Barnes and Noble repeatedly (i.e. prior to the firmware updates and after firmware updates), the problems I found were many:

1. FIXED (KINDA) SLOOOOW -- page turns were much slower than ANY reader on the market.
-- with Firmware version 1.1.1, this has gotten better. However, it appears that the longer you are reading a book, pageturns start to slow down again. (Memory leak???)
2. FIXED: SLOOOOW -- the navigation using the color LCD touchscreen is so laggy that you keep touching it thinking it hasn't accepted your input.
3. FIXED: Bookmarks -- being able to save where you left off in the book is seriously flawed and only works a small percentage of the time -- if at all (introduced with the latest version 1.1.1 of the firmware)
4. FIXED (Kinda)User Interface -- something that would take you just a few button clicks on a Sony or a Kindle will take you 4-5 on the nook. This wouldn't be such a big deal if it wasn't for the fact that the user interface was so SLOOOOW
5. Battery drain -- the battery will drain after just 3-4 days -- as opposed to 12-14 for a Kindle and even longer for a Sony... and that is with the Wireless turned off and the LCD panel dimmed.
6. IMPROVED: Device frequently freezes and needs to be rebooted -- which is a problem when your bookmarks don't work.
7. Frequent firmware upgrades (with inadequate testing) which has the potential to cause further instability (such as the bookmark issue which was just introduced in version 1.1.1) which turns all nook owners into nook volunteer beta testers.
8. Downloaded books sometimes consist of blocks of blank pages and are unreadable
9. FIXED: Often, if you hit page forward, it pages forward several pages at a time.

Advantages of the nook:
1. It's great looking -- though I find the LCD portion of the screen basically useless Eye Candy that doesn't add to the overall functionality of the screen and is a significant power drain.
2. Ability to "lend" a book -- however, this is a severely limited capability which many publishers are fighting and may not be available on many books. You can lend a book to only once to 1 person for 14 days -- but only if the publisher allows it. Like Kindle's text-to-speech "feature", most publishers are insisting that this feature be disabled.
3. Supports SD cards -- a major flaw in the Kindle in my humble opinion -- if for no other reason than it allows you to organize your files.
4. User-replaceable battery -- You'll need this considering the currently battery drain and need to recharge often associated with the current power management scheme. But at least you can have a spare on hand and not have to send it into be done for you -- another disadvantage of the Kindle.

The screen on the nook is very good but it uses the same manufacturer for its eInk screen that Kindle, Sony, Cybook and the rest of the eReader market currently uses so you would expect that to be pretty comparable.

To Barnes and Nobles' credit, they appear to be frantically trying to address many of these issues with firmware updates. The page-turn performance issues have already improved. However, at the pace that firmware updates are being made (at least 2 in one week) -- are you really interested in being a beta tester or do you just want to read books?

While the firmware updates have addressed some of the performance issues. However, I have been back to the Barnes and Noble store (It is one of my favorite haunts!) -- even checked that the firmware update there was present (it was) and still there were issues in terms of reliability, speed, and even ability to download books from within the store.

In fact, version 1.1.1 -- the current version as of this writing -- is actually a step BACKWARDS in terms of critical reading functionality:

1. The nook does not remember the last page that was read. This means every time one re-opens a book to continue reading, you must page forward one page at a time to get to where you left off reading.

2. Bookmarks only last until you open a new book or leave the book you placed the bookmark in. This makes the bookmarks worse than useless.

My review is intended to highlight some issues that buyers of an ebook reader should be aware of if they are considering the nook. Once the issues have been corrected, then I will update my review and increase the star rating.

[NCJAR]

I've had my nook for 2-3 weeks now, and I don't understand why people haven't liked theirs. Maybe it's that I'm 21 and part of the Millennial Generation and can learn how to use most technology without too much difficulty. I love my nook. The screen is easy to read, it holds a library large enough for me to take a lifetime to read, the e-book store is easy to navigate, it has twice the library size of the kindle (yes, many of them are low quality scans from google books, but they are still readable and in most cases free), the color touch screen adds flair when appropriate and hides the keyboard when not in use (unlike the kindle), the screen looks like the page of an actual book, and the nook looks seamless in general.

Alleged problems people have with the nook:

Slow page turn and power on.
Touch screen not sensitive enough
Frequent crashes
Can't jump to specific pages

In my experience, the page turn is not bad at all. Perhaps it is a bit noticeable at first, but just like turning the pages of an actual book, you cease to notice it. In fact the page turning takes no longer than turning actual pages and probably less. If the lag does actually bother you, try pushing the button as you're on the last sentence. The split second that it takes you to finish the sentence will be more than enough time for the nook to turn the page. This may sound more complicated than you would like, but once you've done it a couple times it will become habit.

The touch screen is easy enough to use most of the time. The keyboard buttons are a tad small and occasionally hard to tap, but in general it's responsive. It is nice that it hides the keyboard when not in use, unlike the eyesore keyboard of the Kindle.

I've heard of frequent crashes on the nook, but I haven't experienced them. Every once in a while the nook has trouble loading and formatting a book (this does not include starting where you left off on a book, that's just fine), but if you wait for a minute or so, it resolves itself.

The nook cannot jump to a specific page number, but it does remember the farthest point you've reached in a book, and it does allow you to jump to specific chapters (and sometimes sections of chapters). With a few clicks of the page turning buttons (or swipes of the touchscreen), you reach the page you're looking for. So no significant trouble.

Problems I have experienced:

Slow Power On
Slow Formatting

The nook does take a while to power up and format books (only occurs when switching to a new book, the nook knows what you're currently reading and keeps your place). I will admit these are probably the biggest problems with the nook, but in general they are not that hard to deal with. A few seconds of patience never hurt anyone, and once you've loaded the book, you're off to the races.

Overall, I recommend the nook. It has everything one needs in an e-reader, it's fun to use, and has the biggest library selection available.

P.S. If you're considering the iPad instead of the nook or Kindle, don't. The iPad's screen strains your eyes. How many times have you gotten a headache from using a computer screen too often? Don't get me wrong, I love apple, and I'm writing this on a mac right now, but the iPad is just not the way to go for an e-reader.

(Edit: 2/21/2010 - After enjoying my new Nook so much I was curious about the complaints I have read on Amazon. I just carefully read all of the negative reviews. There is so much mis-information in those posts you can only come to one conclusion. I would say most of these reviews are staged. Unfortunately fanboys of products love to use their anonymity of the Internet to drag down the competition. Before you beLIEve what you read here, go to a Barnes and Noble store and you can actually hold and use a demo unit. If you are still in doubt of the nook, simply vist the Kindle Boards forums, you can Google it. They have a board "Other eReaders" and read the positive raves about the nook from actual Kindle owners.)

I can tell you the Nook I just purchased came with release 1.2 and it absolutely rocks!

One of my Co-workers loaned me his Kindle 2 for a couple of hours so I could get a feel for both devices before I made my decision to purchase. I am not going to bad mouth the Kindle 2 as I am sure it is a fine device. My decision to buy the Nook was based on a few key features I thought important enough to sway me one way over the other.

While in the B&N store, I immediately fell in love with the very intuitive and responsive touch navigation. It just feels natural. I did not even have to look at instructions or guides to figure out how to use the Nook. Great job on the UI design.

After my purchase, I immediately opened the Nook while in store and the device simply connected to the B&N hotspot without user interaction (NICE!). Since I already have a B&N account from the many books I have ordered online, my registration literally took 30 seconds. I just signed in and it was done.

I was so excited, I purchased a book while in the store and sat down and began to read. Since my card info is already stored, buying was a breeze! I just clicked purchase and confirmed, nothing else. My book was available almost immediately.

The Nook feels to be a very solidly built device. The screen size is large and the font is crystal clear. I wish it would have come with a protective case, but while I am here on Amazon...

(Key feature in decision to purchase the Nook) Wi-Fi! I am so happy that included Wi-Fi and not just AT&Ts 3G network. We have very spotty cellular coverage in our area. Including Wi-Fi just seems like a no brainer. (Don't worry Kindle fans, I sure it will be included in the K3)

(Key feature in decision to purchase the Nook) Expandable Memory. By trade I am a Network Engineer and carry loads of .pdf technical reference guides with me on my Notebook computer. It will be nice to have them at my fingertips.

(Key feature in decision to purchase the Nook) LendMe - The LendMe feature allows you to lend books to other Nook owner for up to 2 weeks. Sweet!

(Key feature in decision to purchase the Nook) The Nook has a replaceable battery. Why wouldn't that be included in the design of the Kindle beats me. Having to ship the unit back and pay $59? I don't get it.

Miner points that affected my buying decision

Know the device has the Android OS is a plus. I have found my Android based cell phone is very stable and customizable.

The personalized screensaver is nice.

If you are shopping for an eReader I think either way you go, Nook, Kindle, Sony, etc. eReaders are fun and take reading to the next level. Happy reading!

So, I bought the nook a few weeks ago when the price cut went into action and was constantly going back and forth with the thoughts of buying this, or buying the kindle.I bought the device with 3G simply because it was only a little more, and I travel a lot and don't have house wi-fi. I remember when I used to scoff at the nook when walking into B&N and can't believe I ever did that! I love the feel of being able to go into the bookstore, with my nook and feel connected to the actual store. I will admit you have to do your research (read forums, articles etc...) because the nook demo employees, are not going to know everything. Also you MUST read the 'manual' and follow it to a 'T' Don't take the reader out of the box and drain what little battery you have left because you're going to have battery issues (needing it to drain completely a few times and then fully charging it before the battery is at full capacity)

A lot of people may think their nook is 'frozen' when actually the battery is drained, and when that happens the screen is set to whatever screen saver, book page etc you were on when it died. There's no 'power-down' it will just stop, and touchscreen will not be active, once you plug it up and charge it a little, it will be good again. Also the constant use of the touchscreen will drain the unit faster (obvious unfortunate fact)

There are a lot of books available at the moment (depending what genre you read) especially for teen and sci-fi and fiction (my books), and I was surprised to see all of the 'lend me features' for a good portion of the books I was interested in. Also B&N really listens to complaints and proves that with upgrades (faster page turning, less freezing etc.)Also even when there was a manufacturing error, they were quick to send out a new improved nook. Overall, I love this device, it's fun, its sleek with a solid feel, and it's open-ended for future updates.

It may be for you, it may not. Do your research, read forums and reviews, go into the respective stores and hold and try the device.

Pros:
Removable/replaceable battery
Really crisp 'paper' and 'words'
e-wish list for books
SD card slot
Audio/ music
Free coupons, discounts, and food monthly via nook
e pub library
getting books from Sony ADE
Lending feature

Cons
Battery lasts an average of 7-8 days
touchscreen keyboard a bit small (if you're used to iphone/ipod)
touchscreen may be over sensitive with accidental touch
Small price differences with kindle books (average of a dollar)

UPDATE 6/3/10: B&N is offering a $50 gift card with every purchase from June 2 =>. They will honor purchases up to two weeks prior to the launch of the promotion. I bought mine 5/22 and my gift card arrives in 10 business days! Now that's what I call a customer-focused company with excellent customer service. Another and very important reason why nook beats Kindle.

nook review:

I did my research on e-readers and thought long and hard about the two main contenders - nook and Kindle. I chose the nook. Why?...

1) It's design is future-proof (as far as anything is) because the hardware is designed such that software and firmware updates can make it more functional in the future. Kindle requires new hardware. I just read a new one will be out in August '10, and no, no touch screen!

2) Amazon (Kindle) is not a dedicated book store whose sole livelihood is books, like B&N (nook). Amazon has demonstrated this with its wrangling with publishers to the dismay of both the publishers and Amazon's customers

3) Yes, the nook was rushed out last year but they are now already on V1.3 software, but it works well and has added features and corrected some early flaws. The page turns are now quicker and very acceptable, especially compared with a real book page turn. Whoever you are with, they will have some problems and features you do or don't like. There are supposedly more books via B&N, but never the books you actually want to read - Kindle has some missing for me as well as B&N.
B&N will no doubt keep updating its software regularly and Amazon make you pay for new Kindles (and risk you not being able to read your e-books on the next version, like V1 to V2)
E-book pricing is a little crazy right now as publishers seem to be trying to establish the "value" of e-books versus paperback/hardcover. Some e-books are more expensive and some are changing prices weekly. It's the same situation with both Kindle and nook from what I can tell.

4) The touch screen is a nice feature (future-proofed hardware), but big fingers can hit the wrong selection occasionally. It is comparable with the iTouch touchscreen performance IMHO. Navigation is maybe more hassle than the Kindle as a result. This also makes the nook smaller (no physical keyboard to worry about) and easier to hold, even though it is marginally heavier than the Kindle.

5) The nook can be personalized with your own photos for wallpaper and screen-savers (wrong wording as it's just a picture for when the nook is in sleep mode - No burn-in with e-ink screens). You can add more storage in a nook with a micro SD card

6) The Kindle battery lasts longer, but the nook is fine with the Wi-Fi turned off - about 10 hours. The nook battery is user-replaceable and costs just $29, unlike the Kindle

7) The nook extended warranty covers ANY accidental breakage/spillage for the full 2 years.

8) A B&N store is always nearby to get help in person and they currently offer a free book per week when you visit the store (in week 2 of 5 right now)

9) Using independent free software available on the web (Calibre), I can convert and "sideload" documents and news feeds to my nook. I have sideloaded web pages (originally saved as HTML), word documents and .pdf's, all in .epub format. This is no doubt possible with Kindle too, but the nook is more than flexible for my needs. I read USA Today and The BBC news feeds on my nook every day and they include B&W photos and diagrams which are clearly readable. Calibre has many more available.

10) Using Sigil, again free software, I can modify e-books to add chapters or correct errors and sideload them to my nook. Again, no doubt a possibility with Kindle, but I am not sure.

11) Nook is just the one size, no Kindle DX equivalent. For my needs though, the small nook is "back pocket" sized (literally fitting in my back pocket) and is small enough to read but carry around. I need reading glasses without exception to read and so can read at the smallest text size with no problem.

12) I'm not bothered about having a music player and the built-in speakers are not really capable as listening devices (tinny and low volume), but it's there and will no doubt allow for text-to-speech in a future software release, which will be useful. The sound quality through headphones is good.

I've had my nook a week and have read two books and many daily news articles. It's comfortable to use, it's fun to use and while maybe a luxury we could all do without, I've read a couple free e-books that otherwise, I would never have done - and I have many more downloaded and ready in the wings. It's actually now a hassle to read through a real paperback or hardcover. :-)

The choice is yours, but my choice was the nook and I think it was a good choice.

UPDATE 6/2/10 - .PDF's on the nook

I have found that .pdf books, especially with charts and diagrams (ie technical/text books) are problematic to read on the nook. Interestingly the B&N store personnel stated that they had never tried to read a .pdf on the nook - maybe just a way to avoid the issue?? However, the Kindle will no doubt have the same issue, unless you use the DX which is larger and so you can read .pdf's natively.

If you read a native .pdf on the nook it is the whole page squeezed down to the 5" screen - impossible to read. If you use Calibre to convert the .pdf to .epub format, then the end result is variable. Diagrams get screwed up or disappear and while text can be enlarged with the font size function, even the text formatting may or may not be acceptable.

Either way, I have given up trying to read such books on my nook. :-(

I would not recommend the nook to anyone trying to use it for school where .pdf's are the only format available. The problem is not nook/Kindle, but the way .pdf's are created. They don't have the necessary information encoded to be able to convert them to other e-reader formats and retain their .pdf look. If you are going to save any documents for conversion to .epub format, don't use .pdf. I have found saving as .HTML renders a perfectly acceptable .epub file when converted, including diagrams and charts when archiving web pages, for example.

See also my review of the JAVOedge Snake Skin Case for Barnes & Nobles Nook (Flip Style)