Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
The new Nook ( $ 139 as of 6/1/2011 ) has been completely redesigned , yet retains the same moniker as the original Nook , which is now refer to as Nook First Edition . That year - and - a - half - old Nook missed the mark with a clumsy LCD screen for navigating the E - Ink display above it . This raw Nook is lighter , more svelte , and inaugurate Neonode ’s Zeforce infrared touch technology to simplify access and seafaring , as well as a Wi - Fi connection .
An e-reader for reading
Where the Nook First Edition ’s weight and size made it bulky , unwieldly , and broadly speaking unpleasant to use , the new Nook is the polar opposite : It count 0.47 pounds—35 percent low-cal than the original Nook , and slightly abstemious than the Kindle ( 0.60 pounds ) . It ’s also more compact—6 percent thinner and more than an inch poor the first Nook . It now measure 6.5 by 5.0 by 0.47 inches — notably smaller than its older sib .
In script , the difference between the two versions is palpable . The new Nook is clearly made for curl up up with and make in one paw for an hours - long dive into another universe ; that ’s precisely what I did with it on its initiatory voyage . Its size and weight do make it easier to view as than the First Edition , and it ’s even slightly gentle to concord than the currentAmazon Kindle , which integrate a strong-arm keyboard and has no touchscreen display . It ’s outstandingly well - balanced to hold , be it in one bridge player or two ; I find it quite prosperous to hold with my thumbs along the bottom bezel , and my index fingers and forefingers energise the back .
The physical shape of Nook is pleasing in - hand , too : The e - reader ’s front and back both have a textured condom ending , much like you ’ll discover on a cadre earpiece . The backplate cover dips in ; those millimetre in effect give the Nook a built - in grasp to make it even easier to hold . prissy touch .
Now that the Nook has a touchscreen , most navigation will be done on the video display , not via the buttons . As on the Nook Color / Reader ’s Tablet , the main home button is a lowercase “ n ” beneath the screen . Here , the “ n ” starts the showing ’s wake - up process ( as with cell phones , you also have to slide your digit along the screen to wake it fully ) , and returns you to the quick navigation buttons on - screen . These buttons are alike to the ones that were the cardinal piloting fashion on Nook First Edition , but they ’ve been refreshed and update to mull over the new Nook ’s interface , and bring it in line with the Nook Color / Reader ’s Tablet . Gone are choice like “ the daily ” and “ record now”—both of these options have been combined under the “ home ” screen , which show what you ’re reading now , what ’s new in your program library ( be they new purchase or newly deliver subscriptions ) , and , at bottom , what to read next based on B&N ’s good word engine .
Design
The Nook has a power button on the back top that feels well - matched to a fingertip , but the button is amazingly noisy , and border chintzy , when I pressed on it . This push doubles as another means to awake the east - lector , and can power down the unit of measurement completely . Good thing you may , because this was the only elbow room to sterilise a snafu I ran into with the on - instrument panel Shop : After some use , the Shop would no longer plug into to the server , in spite of the Wi - Fi connecter work fine . To rectify this , I had to power off the gimmick and bring up it . B&N is looking into the trouble , but did n’t have an response for me as to why it hap in the first lieu .
My biggest gripe with the Nook ’s design happens to be with its physical seafaring buttons . The leisurely - to - depress , outward - face buttons on Nook First Edition have been supersede by bum - feeling , raise rubber strips that run away along the odd and right bezel . The buttons are stiff and ask a very precise and deep press to spark ; and even though your finger can run a bit towards the edge of the e - referee and still manage to activate the clitoris activeness , ultimately the experience is nothing like the buttons on Nook First Edition and on Kindle , which are both easy to deject and can work with your whole finger , not just your fingertip . If you ’re wed to the use of buttons for changing pages , I ’d actually guide you away from this Nook — that ’s how ill follow through I consider these buttons . And that ’s a disappointment , since the new Nook gets so much else right .
Now , if you ’re comfortable with the idea of swipe and on - screen door touch , then Nook is a with child choice . The fully redesigned interface is digit - friendly , and make believe it easygoing to pilot and do operations with the cutaneous senses of a finger . And I found the touchscreen extremely responsive ; the on - silver screen keyboard even kept up with my rapid pinch - typing . ( See “ Remodeled Interface ” below for more on the touchscreen navigation . )
The case is now charcoal grey , as opposed to lily-white , a move that helps enhance readability . But that was n’t the only gradation B&N have to hike the readability of the show .
The pregnant stay addition to the Nook is its fresh E - Ink Pearl display . E - Ink Pearl brings Nook up to speed with the other monochrome due east - reader on the market place today . The new Nook practice the same 6 - inch , 800 - by-600 - pixel Pearl display that Amazon and Sony integrated in their e - readers last summertime and surrender , severally , and the same display as in Kobo ’s eReader Touch Edition . The Pearl display is known for providing better line than early - generation E - Ink displays , but strangely , in my deal - on tests with the three east - readers side - by - side , I observe different results .
I found that the Modern Nook ’s display provided only nominally better contrast than the one on Nook First Edition , and that the Amazon Kindle actually has the secure contrast of the three , with blacker blacks , and a brighter gray background than on the new Nook . I had the three e - readers set to similar school text passages , with closely co-ordinated if not very typeface ( at the least , I observed behavior with all e - readers determine to nonserif fonts , and to serif typeface ) . However , the Kindle and the new Nook twitch places on the menage - screen presentation : There , the Nook looked better than the Kindle . I chalk this up to the vagaries of the unlike fonts and text size of it , and to the fact that these difference cause the blacks to appear dissimilar on the different equipment . They ’re close-fitting , but by no substance identical , in nastiness of using the same display engineering .
In the true , I found the Nook ’s schoolbook not as snappy or dark as on Amazon ’s Kindle . I liked it better than original Nook , but favour the Kindle ’s text presentation the best .
Where B&N hit one out of the park : Its Sir Frederick Handley Page freshen up rates and speedy page turns . B&N says that on text pages , it has reduce the flashing between Thomas Nelson Page turns by up to 80 percent . It does so by doing a full refresh only every 6th page , a move that minimizes the bothersome Thomas Nelson Page - flashing result long colligate with E - Ink . B&N does direct refreshes on a pageboy that has just graphics exchange ( for example , in the e - reader ’s bookstore ) , and on expanse that will have a heavy redraw . Page deform fastness is up , too : If you adjudge and entreat the page forward and back button to scan by varlet , the pageboy will blow by with an telling velocity not seen before on an E - Ink e - proofreader .
Remodeled interface
Though touch makes the Nook easy to sail , occasionally where you could swipe and where you ca n’t is n’t always exonerated . For deterrent example , you could swipe through some modules in the bookshop , down on some Page , but not on others . For the most part , this is stuff you ’ll learn through visitation and error .
you may turn pages by tapping on either the left or right-hand side of the screen ; or you may cabbage left to right ( and , on some screens , even vertically ) to change pages , too . While reading , tap at the top of the CRT screen to reveal a status legal community — the bar will show battery status , a clock , and a wiretap - to - add bookmark ; it will also reveal the same book navigation button you ’d get if you tap in the center of the page . The buttons startle you to the table of contents , permit you search for a Holy Scripture or passing within a book , go to a specific page within a Word of God using a skidder ( and kudos to B&N for let in here just how many pages are depart in the chapter ) , or adjust textbook choice ( prefer from six not - so - different fonts and seven very unlike font size ) . The “ more ” selection was puzzling , though : I ’m already in the Christian Bible , and reading it , so why would I need to go to the book ’s visibility from the Shop , render editorial content , reviews , and related to titles ? I get the share and LendMe options as being appropriate while reading , but the rest of this menu choice left me perplex .
Similarly , I regain it bothersome that in the user interface , I ’d often have to move my hand all the way up to the top to find theXto nigh out of a varlet . Practically all other on - screen seafaring is in the abject one-half of the screen , which made that finger’s breadth change of location experience inefficient .
Beyond that one user interface bother , though , I was largely strike by the B&N ’s otherwise blank , logical software pattern . B&N clearly give some thought to the layout , and to how things operate . The interface is expert , at times even large — but not perfect .
An example is how B&N has implemented its distinction and highlights feature film . Really , these are the most usable object lesson of such feature article that I ’ve seen on an e - reader to date . Tap and sustain your fingerbreadth on a countersign to select it ; then you’re able to either sweep the pins to select a passing , or select an action such as add a note or looking up the word in the Merriam - Webster Collegiate Dictionary . Unfortunately , I had trouble take hold of quotation home run to complete a passage ; also , right now you ca n’t view all government note , highlights , or a combining of the two . rather , you just see a teaser of the passage under a tab for Notes and Highlights in the table of contents . B&N read it expects to extend some fashion to reckon and share notes and highlights when it launches the My Nook hepatic portal vein , but that hepatic portal vein is n’t quick yet .
For now , you’re able to view and deal foreground quotes with Gmail contact , via Facebook or Twitter . you could also share information about books you ’re reading , to make a recommendation , mail your reading status , rate and review a book , or like it on Facebook . Nook has the same Nook Friends capabilities as on Nook Color ; this societal chopine moves reading aside from being a sole usage , but it does so in a less intrusive , less all - about - me way than on competitor Kobo ’s social program . And it makes these functions far easier than on Amazon ’s Kindle .
Other features
The bookstore portal site has also been redesign , and its new interface , coupled with the touchscreen , does make shopping far simpler than before . The Nook has 2 GB of construct - in storage , and a microSDHC card time slot hidden beneath a dependable tizzy door on the side for extra store . In plus to sideloading ePub and PDF files , Nook reads JPEG , GIF , PNG , and BMP image files . Unlike many other e - lector , Nook reflows the PDF schoolbook , which makes it neat for reading text , but a assorted handbag if you ’re trying to read a document that ’s heavy on its particular layout .
The atomic number 99 - reader runs Android 2.1 , which make up changes and tweaks via microcode update feasible . deplorably , as of now B&N says it has no plans for unfold up its E - Ink Nook to apps . The twist also has no Web web browser , and no on - board e - ring armor , disappointing omissions leave how central these can be to reading .
Setting up the 802.11 b / gm / n Wi - Fi was easy , and the twist automatically searches for and reconnects to your last meshing , even when booting up after a sodding shutdown . Users get free Wi - Fi admission at AT&T hotspots nationally .
bombardment lifespan should be up notably : Barnes & Noble say that the Nook can last up to 2 month on a single charge , with the Wi - Fi turned off . We ’ll have to check in later with an update on how its battery life does in the real Earth .
At $ 139 , the new Nook is competitively price with Amazon ’s Kindle . It also replace current Wi - Fi - only and 3 gibibyte Nook role model , and will co - exist plump forward with the Nook Color / Reader ’s Tablet .
Macworld’s buying advice
I ca n’t say that the Nook is the absolute best e - reader available today , but it come close . Nook gets marked down for its wicked button design and discrepant contrast ; and yet , it gain ground favor for its user interface and touch navigation . Those ingredient , coupled with its light weight and longsighted barrage fire life evaluation , make Nook a solid choice , as long as you design to practice the touchscreen and not the buttons to page through your books .
