barnes & noble nook review

Long story short: I bought a Nook! The bottom line: it has some cons, but overall, I love it! (This is to spare you all the tl;dr to follow. Apparently, I can wax verbose when it comes to my shiny toys.)

Short story long: ok, before I even start, I know B&N calls this thing the ‘nook’ (lowercase)…that’s the proper spelling, but it’s just habit for me to capitalize it since that’s its name and I always capitalize names…ok, just wanted to throw that out there!

I got my tax refund recently and knew I’d have quite a bit more than I normally get back. Since I’m finishing up my last semester of college, I was able to claim my tuition and get an educational tax credit, or whatever it’s called. So after paying off a couple of bills and squirreling away the rest of my refund, I decided to buy a Nook e-reader.

Backstory: When the Amazon Kindle first came out, I had little to no interest in it. I’ve always been a very tactile reader: I love the feel of the pages turning, the sensation of holding the book, and most importantly (and I know I’m not alone in this), the smell of a new book. As the Kindle became more popular, I saw the advantages to e-readers: e-books are generally much cheaper than their print counterparts and you can store thousands of titles on the device, effectively toting your entire library around with you, if you wish. But I was kind of frustrated since I couldn’t test a Kindle in person to see whether I’d be willing to invest that much money in it (and at the time, I didn’t know anyone who owned one, so that I could test drive theirs). Also, aesthetically speaking, I never really liked the look of the Kindle (mainly the buttons; now that I’ve converted to the iPhone, I’ve become very fond of touchscreens).

Barnes & Noble released their e-reader, the Nook, and my interest was peaked. I liked the look of it, but more importantly, I liked its main advantages over the Kindle: the Nook has touchscreen navigation, a removable battery, expandable memory, and the ability to lend titles. When I found out about the Nook, it was still on backorder around Christmastime, so I waited to see the reviews roll in. In general, I liked what I heard.

When Apple released their (rather unfortunately named) iPad, I was glad that I didn’t see a need for it. As I said, I have an iPhone, so the iPad was a no-go for me. The only feature that really sparked my interest was the iBooks application, which reminded me of my interest in an e-reader. However, the iPad, as with the iPhone and iPod Touch, is backlit. I stare at a computer screen eight hours a day at work, so staring at a backlit e-reader screen would definitely put extra strain on my eyes. I remembered that the Nook (and the Kindle, as well) is not backlit; it uses something called e-ink, which is much easier on the eyes, especially after reading for long periods of time. Funnily enough, it was the iPad’s release that prompted me to take another look at the Nook.

After reading the pros and cons of the Nook, I decided to go ahead and get one. By this time, B&N was shipping them consistently and had them in stock in their stores. I went to my local B&N, tested one, and liked it, so I bought one that evening. That was about two weeks ago. I’ve been using it since then and these are my main impressions so far:

Pros:

• It’s a bit of an adjustment to get used to not having a backlight, but once I got used to it, I was very comfortable. The e-ink, by nature, doesn’t strain my eyes at all. It’s very easy to read on the Nook screen.
• The device feels good in hand. It’s tapered on the back cover and the locations of the page turn buttons makes sense. I tend to use the page turn buttons, rather than the touchscreen swipe. It’s just easier to press a button instead of wake up the touchscreen every couple of minutes or so.
• The Nook has several font sizes for reading. I have mine set at large, which is probably closer to a large print font size. I think part of this is psychological because it feels like I’m turning pages faster (and thereby reading faster, even though I’m really not).
• The Nook is highly customizable. It has a nice selection of pre-loaded wallpapers and screen savers. I was able to add my own very easily, too. Imagine my delight when I selected the pre-installed “Authors” screen saver and Edgar Allan Poe showed up! I was seriously thrilled. He shows up from time to time, but other authors include the Bronte sisters, Kurt Vonnegut, Homer, Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde, and other awesome people. (btw, in device preferences, you have the option of giving your Nook a name–of course, I named mine Edgar. )
• So far, I haven’t purchased any books because my Nook came with two free titles (Dracula and Pride and Prejudice). I’ve also been downloading free books that are in the public domain, so I haven’t had to pay for a book yet. Eventually, I’ll move on to contemporary titles, but for now it’s nice to download free books.
• Battery life is really good. I keep referencing the iPhone, but in comparison, the Nook has amazing battery life. I’m used to plugging in my iPhone at the end of the night and letting it charge until morning. Since the Nook only has a backlight on the touchscreen portion, which is asleep while reading, the battery life is very good. I’ve only charged it a few times since I bought it.

Not many so far, but there are some Cons:

• My Nook has frozen several times. At first, it seemed to happen when I was browsing titles in the store, so I thought maybe I was getting impatient and turning pages too quickly. But it also froze when I was reading–I’d press the page turn button, and nothing would happen. In both cases, I’ve had to do a hard reset (similar to the iPhone, again): hold the sleep/wake button until the unit restarts itself. It works, but it’s kind of fiddly. I’m hoping that as the Nook software continues to be developed, this bug will be fixed.
• While browsing in the store on the Nook, it’s tough to distinguish duplicate titles from each other. For example, I was looking for another public domain book, Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant. There are dozens of versions provided by Google Books, so I chose one of the first results and downloaded it for free. However, when I opened the book, I discovered it was in French. I needed an English translation, but it wasn’t immediately apparent which were in French and which were in English. Eventually, I ended up going to B&N’s eBooks store on my computer and figuring out which versions were in English. Then I downloaded it on my Nook. I guess this would only be a problem for public domain titles (which have dozens, if not more, versions available) and titles that weren’t originally printed in English. Also, some titles have a book description, whereas others don’t have one at all; this makes choosing a version kind of difficult.
• This is a small gripe, but it was really important to me at the time! The packaging is INSANE. It was rather obvious to me that B&N has modeled its box after Apple’s packaging. The plastic design reminded me very much of the iPod Touch package. But for the life of me, I could not get my Nook out of the box. lol It was crazy! I must have wrestled with the box for 15 minutes (and enlisted M’s help) before I finally got it out. I was so worried I was going to scratch it or break it taking it out, but it was totally fine. Seriously, though, B&N needs to rethink the package design. It was so frustrating.
• Another small gripe, but relevant, I think–my local B&N had the Nook itself in stock, but none of the accessories. NONE. No cases, no clip-on light, nada. That bothered me, especially since device protection is big with me and I had to have a case. (I’m always afraid of dropping my devices.) I ended up going on bn.com and ordering a case, along with the light since I like to read in bed before I go to sleep. Also frustrating? bn.com has many cases on their site, but the majority of them are either out of stock, or haven’t been released yet. Of course, the prettiest cases I wanted aren’t available yet. Again, small gripe, but just pointing it out.

This is the case I ordered (the Bronte cover in turquoise). It has this window in which you can put your own photo, but I haven’t changed mine yet. The Nook fits very snugly inside–here’s a pic of the case when it’s open. From the pic on the B&N site, I wasn’t sure if I’d like the case material, but it’s very smooth and comfy to hold while reading.

In summary (omg why is this post so long? Wrap it up, self!), the Nook has some cons, but in my opinion, the pros definitely outnumber them. Again, I’ve never used a Kindle so I’m not discounting it, by any means. Judging by its popularity, it can certainly hold its own in the e-reader market. I guess I should also mention that I never really considered the Sony Reader; the reviews I’d read all recommended both the Kindle and Nook over the Sony. I guess I should also mention that the Nook runs on the Android platform, if that’s a big selling point for you.

At first, I thought the Nook was pricey, but actually, it’ll pay for itself after a few (ok, maybe a couple dozen) purchases. Given the number of books I read last year and the number I’ll likely read this year, I figured an e-reader would be a good investment. So far, it has been.