Barnes & Noble's Nook, Reviewed 260
harrymcc writes "Barnes & Noble's Nook — the most significant e-reader since Amazon's original Kindle — hits B&N's retail stores today. I've published an extensive review of the device, which is also the first e-reader to run Google's Android OS: It's an interesting and capable gadget in many ways, but the interface — which is sluggish and somewhat quirky — isn't polished enough to render it a Kindle killer."
Killer (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't Need a Kindle Killer, Exactly (Score:5, Insightful)
Just need something that forces Amazon to keep innovating and keep pricing competitive.
Thanks, B&N!
WiFi (Score:4, Insightful)
Speaking as someone not living in the US ... and hence out of the AT&T whispernet, the fact that this can work over WiFi is a huge plus.
I'd totally pay 250 US for it, just for kicks. Especially if they'd publish something like a bird watcher's guide, which where I really miss having a ton of searchable content, but without the bulk to carry around.
To beat Kindle you need better policy (Score:5, Insightful)
Perhaps it is my slashdot bias, but the story about Kindles having books removed from readers' machines still strikes a sour chord with me. I recognize that most consumers don't know a thing about and many don't care. I don't see much difference between book burning and book deleting. To me the reasons, are irrelevant. Abuse will always emerge when opportunity is given.
Kindle killer? (Score:5, Insightful)
Amazon's reluctance to let the gadget out of the US market earlier makes the Kindle just another e-book reader, it has no iconic status that would warrant the "killer" adjective for any competitors, who are competing against it in equal footing pretty much everywhere.
Re:Don't Need a Kindle Killer, Exactly (Score:4, Insightful)
Awesome. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:To beat Kindle you need better policy (Score:5, Insightful)
And yet they did not issue a firmware update that would remove the easily abused feature.
When rights are able to be taken away, they are no longer rights -- they are privileges. I'd just as soon buy an actual book.
Apologizing for behavior is one thing. Making sure it never happens again is quite another.
With all this DRM everywhere, all we are really ensuring is that 1000 years from now, no one will know who we were or what we did.In the short term, we are losing public domain. In the long, we are losing our identity.
Re:Kindle killer? (Score:2, Insightful)
What does a book offer that a reader doesn't? (Score:5, Insightful)
But if a corporation decides to "burn" an e-reader book, can they? They sure CAN! And the book will be gone with no chance of ever discovering an unburnt copy.
Sorry, no. The function I want is PERMANENCE. That cannot be built into an e-reader.
Re:Mandatory AT&T contract? (Score:4, Insightful)
From the FAQ: No. There is no charge for your nook's wireless features. You do not need a contract.
As for the file transmisson: B&N is short on details. Since the OS on the nook is Android 1.5, I'm guessing someone will find a way to hack the firmware, even if B&N isn't helping.
Re:Mandatory AT&T contract? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Why buy either? (Score:4, Insightful)
Definitely e-ink is the feature that makes these special.
- Much more readable, because it reflects rather than transmits light
- Readable in bright conditions, for the same reason
- Low power drain when showing static pages
Ironically, in a way, e-ink isn't good for much *except* e-readers (yet) because of the cost, the fact it's monochrome and the poor refresh rate.
Re:wtb more booklike reader (Score:4, Insightful)
Have you used an eBook, like daily?
Its better the way it is. The reading is more natural, its easier to hold, its easier to use than a book in confined settings (or laying in bed, I've found).
Just because books had facing pages for 400 years doesn't mean its automatically the ultimate user experience for reading ...
Re:Why buy either? (Score:5, Insightful)
Could someone please explain the advantage of a dedicated e-book reader? I don't understand why I would buy either when I can get a netbook for $50 more (at worst) that can read both PDFs and Amazon e-books. Is it the battery life of these things, or is the hardware form factor really nice? I don't know.
The battery life is generally rated in days, as opposed to hours.
They are typically shaped more like a book or slate, and less like a laptop. A netbook is going to have the keyboard sticking out of the bottom and the screen is oriented horizontally rather than vertically.
The e-ink screen is more like a printed page, and easier to read under similar lighting conditions. LCDs typically have problems with bright light, and can cause eye strain after prolonged reading.
Both the Kindle and the nook offer free 3G to purchase ebooks, which your netbook probably wouldn't.
If you don't read much and you just want something that can display a PDF, obviously an ebook reader isn't going to be necessary. Just throw it at your computer.
But if you read for recreation, an ebook reader can be very nice. It allows you to condense a huge book into a very small and portable form factor. It allows you to carry a large selection of books with you. It allows you to quickly and easily purchase more books without having to locate the nearest bookstore. And it is designed to allow you to keep reading for hour after hour, day after day.
Re:What does a book offer that a reader doesn't? (Score:5, Insightful)
"No book burning has ever deleted an entire work from the culture"
That we know of.
Library of Alexandria (Score:5, Insightful)
No book burning has ever deleted an entire work from the culture.
Are you sure no works died with the Library of Alexandria [wikipedia.org]?
Re:Learn Your History (Score:2, Insightful)
He also seems unaware that pretty much every eBook reader will read a wide variety of formats from ASCII through to proprietry formats. It's the DRM that's the killer. But I suspect he knows this, and he's actually meaning Apple's decision to strip the DRM from iTunes rather than letting iPods play MP3s. In a similar vein, we can hope that the Kindle dies an exceedingly ugly death and the other vendors all strip the DRM from their ePubs, which would be more or less the equivalent scenario..
Re:Killer (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Don't Need a Kindle Killer, Exactly (Score:3, Insightful)
Sometimes it's price fixing, sometimes it's market observation. It's not just the Kindle, but Sony and others being sold at or around this price point. That shows B&N that such hardware will move at that price, but also, that the will likely have trouble selling it at a higher price. So they set the price based on the competition... and yeah, this has very little to do with the actual cost.
In fact, if the cost were half of what Amazon's paying, they might still launch at the higher price, just to be taken seriously as a Kindle alternative. Like Amazon, B&N will be making lots of money on eBook sales if this is successful, so even if they're paying much more than Amazon, or even selling at cost, they're not going to charge more.
What is clear, so far, is that B&N's eBook prices do seem to be a bit higher than Amazon's. Anyone looking seriously at these devices has to consider the cost and availability of content... the price of the eBook reader will ultimately be a drop in the bucket.
Re:Meh (Score:2, Insightful)
Reading in the tub is the killer app for e-books.
Just put your nook or kindle or sony or whatever in a zip-lock bag, and you don't have to worry about it getting wet.
Re:wtb more booklike reader (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:While it may not be a "Kindle Killer"... (Score:3, Insightful)
I picked up a netbook not too long ago that has proved quite suited to the task. Granted, it does consume more power and weigh more than a Kindle/Nook/eReader, but the numbers aren't bad.
Weight: 3 lbs. I have plain old dead-tree books that are this heavy.
Battery life: 6-11 hours of actual use. The 6 hours is with the screen brightness all the way up, Wifi on, and doing enough work to keep the CPU and hard drives cranking. I treat it kind of like a cell phone, use it all day, plug it in to charge overnight.
And on an actual computer, you don't have to worry about weird formatting issues. You can zoom in and scroll around without having to wait for the screen to refresh. The display is significantly larger, and in color.
And to top it all of, the price was about the same. eBooks may still have a future, but from what I've seen they still have a ways to go.
Re:wtb more booklike reader (Score:2, Insightful)
Different strokes / different folks, I realize, but by way of contrast: I have some other objections to most eBook readers (which I feel getting worn away by interest / curiosity / gadget lust), but I really like that the trend so far is for *single*-screen devices. I like to read books, but I also like to eat or drink while I'm reading. There are all sorts of contrivances for keeping books open and angled at a table, and there are some chairs where it's not too hard, but I've spilled a lot of drinks / dropped a lot of crumbs because I was using one hand to hold the book open and one hand for the food -- I think this would be a lot simpler to avoid with a one-screen device, esp. with a simple angled stand.