CNET editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 12/06/2009
- Updated on: 12/11/2009
Editors' note: This review has been updated since its original publication with additional impressions of the Nook based on extended experience with the device, as well as a rating. Also, note that the Nook is now backordered until at least January 15, 2010.
When Barnes & Noble unveiled the Nook, the first Android-powered e-book reader, a lot of people were excited because it appeared to offer some key competitive advantages over Amazon's Kindle e-reader.
First and foremost, while the Nook features the same 6-inch e-ink screen (600x800 pixels; 16 shades of gray) as the Kindle, it includes a separate color capacitive touch screen (144x480 pixels) that lets you navigate content and use a virtual keyboard for typing searches and annotations. Furthermore, on top of its free AT&T 3G wireless connection, the Nook packs in Wi-Fi connectivity and a memory expansion slot; you get 2GB of internal memory, but can add up to an additional 16GB via the microSD card slot. Finally, Barnes & Noble offers an e-book-lending option (for participating titles) and the capability to browse the full text of e-books on your Nook if you're in a Barnes & Noble brick-and-mortar store (the latter feature is scheduled to launch in early 2010). Unfortunately, both the lending and in-store browsing features come with some significant restrictions, which we'll detail below.
Caveats notwithstanding, those features are nice extras, but the big questions are: how much of a difference do they really make in the overall user experience, and are they enough to push the Nook to the top of the e-book reader heap? Alas, the answer, you'll soon find out, isn't as clear cut as it might seem.
Design
Let's start with the basic design. Put the Nook on top of the Kindle and you'll notice that the Nook is about 10 percent smaller in terms of surface dimensions. Then again, the Nook's a bit thicker. The Nook is 7.7 inches long by 4.9 inches wide by 0.50 inch thick, whereas the Kindle is 8 inches long by 5.3 inches wide by 0.36 inch thick. The Nook also weighs slightly more at 11.2 ounces than the Kindle does at 10.2 ounces. Unlike the Kindle, the device's plastic back plate is removable and the lithium ion battery is replaceable (the microSD slot is also accessible by removing the cover). The back cover ships with the device, but, smartly, Barnes & Noble is offering it in different colors as an optional accessory, along with various third-party protective cases (alas, no cover--not even a cheap neoprene one--ships with the device, which is disappointing).
It's also worth noting that the Nook's off-white border is closer to gray than to white, and the finish is shiny (we prefer the Kindle's matte finish, but that's a small nitpick). The e-ink screen on the Nook looks very similar to that of the Kindle. The lettering on the Nook comes across with sufficient contrast--no complaints there.
The color touch screen at the bottom of the device creates an interesting dynamic. For better or worse, since it's bright and vibrant when turned on, it makes the upper e-ink screen appear bland and dull. (E-ink screens are designed to appear paperlike and are purposely not backlit to reduce eyestrain when reading.) But the LCD is eye-catching and offers an extra bit of wow factor that's currently not present in the Kindle, or in any other competing e-book reader.
Interface and usability
Using the touch-screen navigation pad does take some getting used to, particularly if you're accustomed to using a touch-screen phone like the iPhone. Your initial urge is to touch the e-ink part of the screen, but then you gradually get used to the concept of confining your touches to the screen at the bottom and the Nook logo that sits just above the screen. That Nook "button" serves as a home button that turns the color screen on when it's asleep; for energy-saving purposes, you can set the screen to turn off after 10, 30, or 60 seconds when not in use.
At first, you may find yourself muddling through the interface, stopping to figure out what button to push next to get to where you want to go. But with some practice, it starts to grow on you and we ended up liking it, though it does have its shares of quirks that lead to moments of frustration (undoubtedly, we'll see some firmware tweaks). Also, the capability to browse through color thumbnail images of books with a flick of your finger is appealing. (For the record, the thumbnails don't appear to be quite as sharp as they looked in some early pictures we saw of the Nook, but they offer sufficient detail).
That said, one of the noticeable drawbacks of the device is that it just can't measure up to the iPhone or iPod Touch (particularly the most recent generation) in terms of speed and performance. Yes, the touch screen is more responsive than the laggy e-ink screen, and yes, you can flip through your reading collection Cover Flow-style, but you're just not going to get that buttery smoothness you encounter with the iPhone. Combine that minor sluggishness with a cellular wireless connection (sometimes AT&T's 3G service is quite fast, but sometimes it's not, depending on the quality of the signal and your location) and there will be moments you'll wish the device was zippier.
True, the speed gripe is par for the course with e-ink-based e-book readers; all of them still stutter and flash when moving from page to page and generally have slow start-up times after a full shutdown (the Nook does, too). However, we did notice that every time you load a book--even if you've already opened it before--you get a message that says "Formatting..." and have to wait a few seconds for the book to load. That's slightly irritating.
Extra features
Like the Kindle, the Nook has a built-in dictionary. The device lets you adjust font size while you're reading (extra small, small, medium, large, and extra large are the settings). Additionally, you have a few fonts to choose from (Amasis, Helvetica Neue, and Light Classic), which is nice.
We also like that you can import images to be your screensaver. Alas, you can't send images to the device wirelessly; you need to connect the Nook to your Windows or Mac PC via the included Micro-USB connector and then "sideload" them manually. The same is true for MP3 music files that you can load onto the device and listen to while you read.
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