Hands-On With a nook eReader Demo no comments
My local Barnes & Noble did in fact get their nook ereader demo over the weekend and had it on display today. Silly me for being a doubting Thomas.
Surprisingly, I had the demo to myself for about ten minutes. The staff at B&N was very friendly and eager to demo the demo for me, but it’s obvious that they are still learning – there definitely is a pretty steep learning curve with the nook’s control and navigation system; it does not seem very intuitive.
The color book covers on the LCD screen are nice, but it is not really a killer feature for me. As the nook reviewers have said, the scrolling on the LCD is not really smooth and is laggy. I was able to apply my thumbs to the virtual keyboard only a little, but it seemed average. I really had the impression that the navigation was over complicated and could be better implemented so as to simplify things. It will take more than the few minutes I had with the nook to get used to the control interface.
Yes, as other reviewers have found, the nook ereader is laggy, and I can see it being an annoying and frustrating distraction to one’s reading. Hopefully B&N will be able to remedy this soon with updates.
The nook ereader is one of those devices that I was expecting to be even more attractive in person than when viewed only in pictures. For me it wasn’t, though to be fair this was a demo unit that had been handled a lot. The LCD touchscreen is a fingerprint magnet for sure. Personally I find that I prefer the feel of the slightly lighter and thinner Kindle 2 in my hands, but you may feel otherwise. I do like the rubberized finish B&N used on the back of the nook ereader.
So how does the nook compare to the Kindle ereader now that I’ve been able to play with one for a few minutes?
nook vs Kindle eReader
The e-ink screen of both ereaders seems pretty much the same. However, due to the somewhat clumsy and slow controls of the nook I have to say that the Kindle still rules in terms of hardware. This could change if B&N releases effective updates soon. But Amazon is not standing still; the Kindles are a moving target and Barnes & Noble is the one playing catch up. Just this morning Amazon announced another feature upgrade that they are working on to make the Kindle ereaders better suited for use by those with visual impairments.
The Kindle ereaders are still available for the holidays. Besides being sold out until January, no one knows when B&N will have software updates available or how effective the updates will be. If you really want a nook, consider waiting a couple of months if you can.
Kindle eBook Store vs Other eBook Stores
Many who are considering buying a nook ereader or have already ordered one complain that they don’t like the Kindles because they lock you into getting your ebooks from one source, namely Amazon. Actually you can get non-DRM’ed ebooks including EPUB’s from other sources and convert them for the Kindle using a program such as Calibre, which is pretty easy to use. True, it would be even easier if the Kindle ereaders had built-in EPUB capability.
As for DRM’ed ebooks; yes, if you have a Kindle then the Kindle Store will be your primary source and Barnes & Noble hopes you will buy nook content from them. But you can also buy ebooks from other stores for the nook. Just don’t expect that you will be able to shop around and find the ebook you are looking for at a much better price, as in my experience many of the ebook stores have similar prices and the Kindle Store usually beats them all.
I would suggest making a list of books you want to read and do your own survey. I made an ebook price and availability comparison not too long ago with just over 100 ebooks and Amazon was the clear winner. Even more recently Inkmesh ran a comparison study with over 11,000 ebooks and again the Kindle Store came out on top.
To its credit, Barnes & Noble has said that they are working to lower the prices of their ebooks, but I doubt that they will ever be able to reach parity with the Kindle Store.
It is not only about price though; it is also about being able to find what you want to read as an ebook. The more off of the beaten path of the bestseller lists the books you read are, the more likely you are to find them available as an ebook at the Kindle Store.
How much all of this affects you will depend on what you read. If you mostly read current bestsellers then you will most likely find less price differences between the Kindle Store and other providers in many cases. If you want to read mainly public domain titles you can find loads of these for free for either ereader.
Customer Service
I’ve never had to return anything at Barnes & Noble, but I’m not encouraged by the way in which they have handled the nook launch. I also don’t like the fact that if you don’t like your new nook ereader you will have to pay a restocking fee to return it. This in spite of the fact that in order to get one in time for the holidays you had to order one sight unseen, with no reviews available and not even a manual posted online.
Update: The nook manual is now available online.
I see some on B&N’s forums saying that if the nook doesn’t live up to their expectations they will just eBay it. I wouldn’t count on this. I suspect that the halls of eBay will soon be crowded with nooks. Indeed, the prices being asked for on eBay for nook ereaders are already down from what they were a week or two ago.
I have made several returns on Amazon, which has a liberal 30 day return policy with no restocking charges. Recently I downloaded a few MP3 tracks which through my own silliness were unusable. When I called Amazon they graciously reauthorized my account so that I could download them again. They didn’t have to do this – it was my own negligence that caused the problem, but that is the customer service that I have come to expect from Amazon.
In conclusion, at this time I feel that the Kindle is still at the top of the ereader heap, with the nook a close second and nipping at Kindle’s heels. We will have to wait a bit and see if Barnes & Noble can fix the nook’s glitches in a timely manner and perhaps reevaluate.
