The Nook handheld eBook reader
Is it worth it?
I’m going to get straight to the point. Today is my 8th day as a handheld ebook reader owner – I own the Nook. I have 6 more days to make a decision on keeping the Nook eReader or returning it for a 20% restocking fee.
Here is my initial review based on my previous article: “14 Days with my handheld eBook reader – 5 Reasons to buy a Nook”.
My tech reviews are from the average consumer’s point of view. So it is not really “Techy”. Most average consumers do not know much about processors, memory, media ports and related tech talk when buying a computer or another media device. With a handheld eBook reader, what I want to know is: How many books does it hold, what books are available, how is the battery life, how does the screen look and how much does it cost?
That’s what you’ll get from me when I review a product. The hard cold ‘real’ facts that someone like my wife would understand. And my wife is an intelligent person, a Registered Nurse and a mother of three – but she can’t figure out what remote to use to get the surround sound to surround her.
Here are my first impressions of the Nook handheld eBook reader.
I have not ‘invested’ a lot on the Nook other than the upfront cost: $259 + $70 warranty + Bleecker cover in Asphalt + $40 in eBooks (which I can use on my iPhone if I want). I’m not handcuffed by owning it right now. I will lose only the 20% restocking fee (I hope).
With a week to go before the 14 day return window closes, my overall view is completely, “on the fence”.
Here are 3 observations on the Nook handheld eBook reader:
1. Reading
2. Design
3. Overall Performance
1. Reading
The text is pleasant to my eyes. It is truly a “paper-like display”. There is no harshness and eye fatigue like I get when reading things online or on my iPhone. You can easily set the text to the font size of your choice. The color menu adds a touch of class to the overall experience as well.
Book marking pages are easy, just tap the home button, then the bookmark menu and add a bookmark. You can also tap the Go To and Furthest Read Point to get to where you last left off.
Unfortunately, there is no back light feature so reading in low light situations and in the dark means you need a book light. Which is not a big deal since most people need to read regular books under some sort of light. But with an electronic device it seems a back light should be available. Imagine not being able to use your laptop without a light source?
One thing that irritates me is that some words run into each other. I can learn to accept this glitch as it does not happen on every page. But if I hand my 9 year old son a book to read on the Nook and he comes across these run on words, it could mean some serious issues when he writes a report with words from the English language that look, “somethinglike this” or “What I didlast summer”.
2. Design
The Nook is a sleek handheld eBook reader. You will just want to touch it and feel the smooth contours of its frame. The look is so appealing I want to keep it just to look at it! It is sturdy and the packaging was A-class. Apple iPhone packaging quality in my opinion!
Nook dimensions:
Height: 7.7 inches
Width: 4.9 inches
Depth: 0.5 inches
Weight: 12.1 ounces (343 grams)
It took me about five reading sessions to get used to the page forward and page back navigation. I felt that they should be aligned, left thumb to page back and right thumb to page forward. Instead they are right bottom page forward, right top page back. Same on the left side. Which now makes sense to me. If you are holding the book with one hand, you want to just use that hand to page back and forth instead of crossing over.
A major plus to a handheld eBook reader like the Nook is that you can add extra memory with a memory card. It is truly, as they say, “endless shelf space”! The only problem is, you have to open the Nook up in order to replace the memory card. It’s not just a slot to plug and play. That is inconvenient. But honestly, that means a whole lot of books that I will never have. The 2GB of storage already boasts storage capacity of 1500 eBooks.
3. Performance
Battery life is excellent. You can get up to 10 days of battery life with Wireless turned off. You can charge via USB to computer or an outlet. It takes about 3.5 hours to do a full charge.
When downloading books wirelessly, it was surprisingly fast. You can make purchases online or on the Nook which makes an impulse buy very scary. Believe me, it is incredibly easy to spend a lot of money buying books for a handheld eBook reader if it can connect to the internet because it is extremely easy!
If you are used to the speed of a new laptop, the performance and response time of a Nook is slow – as it is expected for a handheld eBook reader. It is not extremely slow, but there is a noticeable lag when navigating. It could be me, but I want a response time where I can just think about turning a page and it turns a page before I press the button. But that’s just me.
Again, overall, I’m still on the fence. I am on a tight budget and if I eventually want an iPad to be the end-all media device for reading, watching movies, and the internet, I might be better off eating the 20% restocking fee.
Hopefully these 3 critical pieces of information for owning a handheld eBook reader will benefit you if you are thinking of buying the Nook. You really need to get it into your hands. For most avid readers it is a definite must have. For media hungry individuals, something better might be over the horizon.
Stay tuned for the next review on my other observations on owning the Nook.
If you do have a brand new Nook – here’s how to set it up: “How to setup the Nook handheld eBook reader”
Related Articles:
“What are you reading on your Nook Handheld eBook Reader?”
“Listening to iTunes music on your Nook!”
Glenn is a former financial analyst, close-up magician, and hockey player. He is now a writer, novelist, screenwriter, 
Hi, Glenn. Thanks for the review. Something like this is very tempting, but I think I’m a bit old fashioned because I like holding books that I’m reading. And great job on the website!
I know how you feel: I am extremely old fashioned when it comes to buying a book, holding a book, and reading a book! And I felt the same way as the Kindle, the Kindle II, Sony’s eReader and Barnes & Nobles Nook came out. But this is what I’ve found. It is more convenient and cost effective in the long run to own an eReader!
If I am spending $50 a month on 2-3 books that are on the shelf for $15-$25 with my B&H discount I can buy 5 books at $9 using the Nook!
When iTunes came out I did not jump on the bandwagon feeling I wanted to buy the CD, with the label, and packaging for $14-$20!!! Most of the songs on those CDs were not great, sometimes only ONE song was worth it. Then I figured, why buy the whole CD when I can get a song I love for $.99 and the whole album if I want for a much lower price? All delivered to my computer already?
I do not know the wave of the future for eReaders, even Apple was negative about the whole market but saw potential and now I think they are developing an eReader if not the iPad to compete for right now.
Get your hands on one before sticking with tradition. Believe me, your backpack, purse, briefcase and shoulder will thank you for it!
Am I mistaken or will the Ipad require a monthly contract like a cell phone?
The latest e-readers from B&N and Amazon do not require this expense.
I have decided on a NOOK (which I will buy once I have finished the 4 or 5 books I have at home) for the following reasons:
Consumer replaceable battery
SD card option
AT&T network over Sprint (whom I have always disliked)
Brick and Mortor Stores behind the product.
Wi-Fi option (free at B&N and many places)
Natively supports more than Amazon’s one Proprietary format of media.
Donny,
Those are great reasons. Of all the eReaders out there, the Nook is the top of the line in my honest opinion! You will not go wrong with that!
Yes, I believe there will be a monthy contract with the iPad but I am not completely sure.
Glenn
“AT&T network over Sprint (whom I have always disliked)”
– Kindle is on AT&T network, they switched when they went global.
“Natively supports more than Amazon’s one Proprietary format of media.”
– Amazon supports more than just it’s format. You can get all the same non DRM’ed books that you can get on the nook. You do need to convert ePub, but its easy and simple using Calibre (free software) which is great for managing and organizing your book library.
PS. Yes, there will be a monthly contract w/ the iPad if you want 3G
SB,
That’s great info – So basically you are saying the Kindle II is better than the Nook?
Thanks,
Glenn
SB,
Yikes… I have Internet at home, I have an iPhone – and to add another monthly does NOT seem like a value added item.
Of course, that does not mean I won’t take the leap because sometimes something like that is awesome. I might have to get rid of something… DirectTV? LOL
Thanks for the input!
Glenn
In my opinion, yes the kindle is better. I don’t need the color touch screen, i prefer the buttons (though i do have an iPhone and I enjoy it). It seems to respond better from my experience, bookmarks are easier, it’s global. Book selection is just as good, and I can get books from pretty much anywhere as long as they don’t have DRM. But then both the B&N store and the Sony store have ePub and I think they each use their own DRM, so even though they’re both ePub they’re still not compatible on the other devices. Though I could be wrong, I haven’t found a definite answer to that yet.
The two things that the Nook has that the kindle doesn’t is WiFi, SD and replaceable battery.
I will never need an SD slot since all my books are stored at the Amazon store and I can always get to them. WiFi would be nice, but I have great 3G where I live and I have no need for it. Replaceable battery is a non-issue. The kindle battery has better performance than the nook due to the lack of LCD screen that the nook has and the fact that internal batteries tend to perform better than extrnal. It also has a life of 2000 charges, which even with one charge a day would last me 5.5 years, by then I will probably upgrade my device.
As far as 3G on iPad, yes, if you want it you’ll have to buy the model that has it ($130 more than the wifi model) and subscribe to a monthly plan ($15/month for limited, i think 250Mb or $30/month for unlimited). But you dont’ have to get it, you can just get the wifi model and not use 3G.
SB,
That’s great information on the Kindle. I was ‘this close’ to getting the Kindle 2 when it first came out early 2009. I refrained because I heard about the Barnes & Noble one and the possible Apple eReader. I dove into the Nook because I am a big Barnes & Noble fan, I don’t know why, I just am a B&N person for a long time. I also love Apple, so those are my preferred companies. (just like Canon when it comes to cameras).
I would have loved to experience the Kindle II first hand, and use it, but I am now hooked, but not completely sold, on a Nook. Not because of its functionality, but because of the cost of an eReader and my curiosity on owning an iPad! I have 10 hours to decide whether to keep my Nook or return it!
Glenn
Yeah, I was thinking about getting a Nook, but now I’m glad I didn’t. The only reason I would’ve wanted it is the lend feature and even that’s too limited. Lend some books once and only once. I played w/ a Nook at a B&N store and was not impressed. The kindle is much more intiutive and easier to use and has less problems. Also, if you return the Nook and try the kindle, they don’t charge tax, it’s currently free shipping and you have 30 days to return it no questions ask (and no restocking fee) if you don’t like it. So I got the Kindle and did a side by side comparison w/ the Nook, and just liked it better.
In the end, it’s all preference, for me the Kindle was the right choice.
PS. . They let you return books within 7 days of purchase, which is a nice feature. Sometimes you order by mistake, sometimes the formatting is awful and you don’t want it anymore. Sometimes you just change your mind. B&N doesn’t allow returns.
I enjoyed your review which was wholly natural and addressed concerns of most when trying to decide on an e-reader. The one thing missing was how this functions as an e-reader based on what can and has been done.
It’s better looking (to me) than any of the others but in trying it out, I didn’t like that the bottom screen felt like a remote-control with things slowly turning up (characters when typing) on the other screen after far too many menu steps.
I have a series of reviews, mostly mainstream, on this at the right side of my site (meaning collected links to reviews I picked up), and two things important to me (searching a book and annotations) are far too time-consuming and awkward and not very rewarding) on the nook.
Worse is that its third firmware update is still causing more problems than it solves. Little thought was put into a device that allows for a situation in which your personal docs could not be sorted by title or author and there is no “Most Recent” on it either. They’re now allowing sorting in the 3rd update, v1.2 that came out.
The Kindle not only allows searches by just starting to type while reading but also has supert annotation capability and your notes (if you want) all backed up to your own personal web page on Amazon for each book, to be associated with your copy of the book and re-downloaded (for free of coursee) along with the book if you’ve deleted it after reading it.
But if you want the iPad, you should go with that. Apply the refund to it. The nook as it is now, is just not what an ereader should be though it has the best screen display and the best looks. The iPad won’t have the advanced functions of an ereader either as that is not a major function of the iPad but it’ll be a great looking feature if you don’t mind reading a book on an LCD screen — and then there are all the other things the iPad can (will be able to) do.
3G will be missing from the $500 model, but most will want to use it mainly on the home or office networks.
Forgot to mention that the dictionary feature on the nook is very subpar. And that’s become an important feature for me, as I used to try to figure out meanings by context and now find I was missing a bit
With readers like the Kindle and Sony’s latest (I believe), it’s much easier and with better results. W/ the Kindle, a 2-line summary of the word your cursor is on, is at the bottom. Press enter to see a full definition with etymology etc. With the latest Sonys you can touch the word to get a definition.
Andrys,
Thanks for your comments – makes me feel like I should have gotten the Kindle right off the bat! I am a B&N fan, as I am a Starbucks, Canon, and Apple fan… so its now hard for me to do Coffee Bean, Nikon and the any kind PC (although I am at heart a PC guy and still have Win XP running on my MacBook). That being said, maybe I’ll pick up the Kindle II someday.
I love your blog! That’s a bunch of good research you did and it supports that the Kindle is an exceptional eReader! Wow! Good stuff!
Glenn
As for ‘top of the line’ that is Barnes and Noble’s mantra but it’s far from it.
Note that not mentioned much is that the Kindle has 24/7 free access to the entire web (even if slow access) and you are not confined to the company store as the other e-readers leave you, with the wireless feature.
I have a file of mobile-unit-optimized sites for Kindle users and if your main interest when out on the streets is to look up a good restaurant nearby, a movie time, or even a product review while in a store, it’s very good for that.
The Kindle reads more than the Kindle format — there are millions of books available to it and one can directly download free books to the Kindle (no Whispernet charges) from manybooks.net (mnybks.net for direct access), feedbooks.com, and even B&N’s fictionwise.com But there are several stores that one can do this from, on the street.
Nooks can’ read Word doc files but the Kindle can if we send the file to Amazon for a free conversion and send to our normal emails. Or we can do the conversions ourselves with free utilities.
What’s really odd is we can move pure .txt files direct to the Kindle for reading, but this isn’t possible with the nook.
The Kindle falls down on ePub support but I have an entry on a 3-minute free conversion of any non-DRM’d (rights protected) ePub file to the Kindle-readable one.
Anyway, the web browser access? Slow but amazing and many of us use it quite a bit when away from home.
Thanks, Glenn,
I know what you mean. I have very mixed feelings abuot the nook because I wanted to get one, just looking at it and its screensavers.
But the other things took over. Am a card-carrying B&N member…
I do have an Apple iPod but no iPhone and I love my Samsung netbook, so that I am less a candidate for the iPad because of missing features (like a USB port, a webcam, multi-tasking for sure, a hard disk, etc.) but it will definitely be a fun item for most. It’s beautiful for one thing and unlike a PC, it does just a few things — but it will do them in an eye-pleasing way without the downsides of normal computers — and at almost 2 lbs it’s still light enough to carry about.
I enjoy your variety here, so have bookmarked it. I’m also into photography and liked your list of books to get and things to think about. Thanks for an interesting site.
I completely understand about the iPad – but its not supposed to be a computer, as they say, but a media experience. I do believe it has some sort of webcam though – something for teleconferencing which is what I read from someone who had demo and shared that info the night before the debut. I am unsure if he actually tested it out or it was speculation.
Thanks for visiting my site. I will also be doing more on the photography side as I’m a budding camera enthusiast!
Glenn
Glenn, the iPad definitely has no webcam — it’s been a serious sticking point for some (though not really for me though one is on the netbook). In fact, recent stories are that there’s a slot there and some mechanism that will be useful with a webcam and they think it’ll be added later on.
No video conferencing possible.
Besides, no multitasking implemented, Steve Jobs won’t deal with Flash so it has no flash support. No Hulu, Jibjab, Netflix, or flash videos on ESPN, etc. For a run down of what’s missing, I have http://bit.ly/ipadmissg but you can google webcam and iPad to see what’s happening there.
Re photography, I don’t read enough about that though I have some books and have been a hobbyist for some time so I’ll be back to check on your tips.
I bought a nook, and I’ve been using Kindles since the beginning. I also own a Sony Reader Daily Edition. I agree with all of Andrys’s points, and there isn’t a better source for information on this topic. I, too, love the sleek feel and look of the nook, though I always notice how much heavier it is than my Kindle 2. The real problem with it, IMO, is ease of use for dictionary/search/notes/highlight and basic reliability. I was reading a big book on it last week, trying to highlight a section, and it crashed to the home screen. When I returned, I was about 30 pages before I’d left off. I tried to search on a phrase from my recent reading, and nothing worked. I had to press next page over and over to return. In 2 years of reading Kindles, I can say this has not happened once. I hope future updates fix the nook’s usability problems, but for now it’s a much lesser device for actually doing the kind of reading I do.
The Sony Reader Daily Edition is a much tougher rival for the Kindle, IMO, because its performance is rock solid, and the dictionary/search/highlights/notes abilities are flawless. Its biggest problem is the touchscreen blurs the clarity of the reading experience. Also, it’s heavier than the Kindle and sort of soulless, more like a computer than a book in the aesthetics of it. And it’s a LOT more expensive than either the Kindle or nook.
Thanks for the fair and useful review, Glenn. Very useful.
Thanks Andrys! Hopefully Steve Jobs will add a webcam! Next iPad update perhaps? $$$?
I too am a photography hobbyist and want to improve. So I have to step up and learn as much as possible. I share my insight only from a beginner’s point of view – what I go through and what another photographer jumping over from P&S to SLR may want to experience.
Stay tuned!
Glenn
I had to keep the Nook. Its hard for me to return books to the library, its even harder for me to give up the Nook. I was so close to Kindle II but just did not pull the trigger. I hope the Nook will offer some firmware upgrades that improve its performance.
I bought a new book last night called, “Drive” by Daniel H. Pink.
Any eBook eReader is worth it. I prefer Kindle II over the Nook though.
I want to now if you have an idea when the nook will come with a entire touchscreen feature as to turning the pages instead of using the side arrows.
the bigger question is “are the books you want to read available on non-amazon sites?” i am frequently disappointed in the selection of books available.. amazone is much more “in” with publishers.. hugo and nebula award winning paolo baccigalupi’s “the windup girl” is still unavailable from B&N. Cherie Priest’s new books “Dreadnought” and “Clementine” not available. Ian McDonald’s “Dervish House” unavailable. I like the nook, but I am not happy with the way B&N lags behind amazon..
I never really noticed a ‘lag’. Maybe I’m not too into those books and usually find a book just because I’m browsing. I’ll look into that!