As tablets have grown in popularity as do-everything devices, ebook reader vendors are focusing on making the best possible reading device and forgoing everything else. The Nook dispels the notion that all e-readers have to be long and slim like a tall novel, opting for a squatter, bulkier body that’s a full ounce lighter than the Amazon Kindle 3.
Barnes and Noble’s Simple Touch Nook is not a reinvention of the e-reader in any way. It’s a refinement, and a very good one at that. The new Barnes & Noble Nook Touch Reader ($139 direct) is smaller than its predecessor, less expensive, more responsive, lighter, and longer-lasting. It also adds an excellent touch-based navigation experience.
The Simple Touch feels like it was designed to stay out of your way. When you pick the Nook up, the first thing to grab your attention is the rubberized, carved-out backing that gives your fingers something to grab onto. The feeling’s akin to folding a magazine back on itself.
Despite the shorter body, the screen is the same 6-inch Pearl e-Ink display as the Kindle 3, so the text is plenty big, sharp and contrasty. Also, the Nook is light. It feels more or less like a small book. Even after an hour of reading, you’ll hardly feel fatigued or bothered having this thing in your hand.
The 2011 Nook is a compact and lightweight e-book reader with a responsive high-contrast Pearl e-ink touch screen that offers quick page turns. It’s got built-in Wi-Fi for direct access to the online Barnes & Noble store, an expansion slot for additional memory, and long battery life (up to two months). The Nook supports e-book lending and EPUB loans from libraries, and it offers some enhanced social networking features.
At 7.48 ounces, the new Nook is an ounce lighter than the Kindle (Kindles weigh between 8.5 and 8.7 ounces, for the Wi-Fi or 3G models, respectively). The designers also coated the device with something called soft-touch paint, which gives it a smooth rubberized feel. That’s nice, but the downside to this type of finish is that it does show finger smudges, so you’ll regularly have to wipe down the back of the device unless you buy a cover (plenty are available).
The new Nook uses a Texas Instruments 800MHz OMAP 3 processor, Right now the Nook just feels a little zippier, especially when it comes to doing things like accessing the e-readers’ respective online e-book stores. Barnes & Noble is also highlighting some of the social elements built in to the device via the Nook Friends feature, which provides you with the framework for creating or joining a digital book club that can be as large as you like.
The big features that Barnes & Noble is touting is the new Nook’s battery life, which is rated at up to two months with the Wi-Fi always turned off. The Kindle is also now rated at two months battery life, but Barnes & Noble still maintains that the Nook offers double the battery life of the Kindle, based on the number of page turns between charges.
This is a dedicated e-reader, plain and simple, that’s designed for reading e-books, periodicals (magazines and newspapers), and PDF documents. If you desire something more functional, well, Barnes & Noble will certainly be happy to steer you to the Nook Color, which has a Web browser and is a much better PDF reader with the help of a downloadable Nook app.
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