Barnes and Noble NOOK eReaders

The Barnes and Noble Nook eBook Reader is the first ebook reader based on the Google Android operating system. The newest color Nook comes with Wi-Fi connectivity only, but the first generation Nook gives consumers the choice of Wi-Fi or 3G plus Wi-Fi wireless connectivity. The previous Nook was an exciting product because of the secondary color touchscreen located below the main screen. The new Nook Color boasts a new color touch screen. Plus, it was increased in size to 7". Barnes and Noble now has two Nook devices with the latest generation of the Nook taking the ereader industry by storm. Let's discuss both devices below.

Nook Color eReader Tablet (Wi-Fi Only)

This is exciting news. Barnes and Noble has gone from no presence in the e-books industry to owning 20 percent of the marketshare. Plus, the company has now moved what some believe was a somewhat sluggish hybrid E-Ink / LCD device to a full color, tablet-like product! The color Nook is a 7-inch, 1024 x 600 IPS display. The device has 512MB of RAM, 8GB of built-in storage and a microSD slot for additional expansion (up to 32GB). The 8GB of allows storage of up to 6,000 books or a combination that may include 1,000 books, 25 full-color magazines, 10 newspapers, 50 kids' books, 500 songs and 150 photos.

The Nook Color boasts a completely revamped, Android-based OS which boasts a TI OMAP 3621 CPU clocked at 800MHz while offering its version of a tablet alternative that can or will be able to do much of what is possible on an iPad or Galaxy Tab. The color Nook is seen by most consumers as a less expensive alternative to a tablet PC. This device has been modified to be an elegant, thoughtfully designed piece of technology. The device utilizes IPS (In-Plane Switching) to make its display work. IPS, is an LCD technology first introduced in 1996 by Hitachi. It was initially developed to correct the poor viewing angles and color problems that LCD televisions had at the time. The screen is touch sensitive which will allow navigation of the menus and turn pages with a swipe of your finger. This new display basically is basically designed to annilate the e-Ink display type.

The device has 512MB of RAM, 8GB of flash storage, and a microSD slot for additional expansion (the slot allows use of cards up to 32GB). Barnes & Noble is particularly proud of the screen (as they should be). The company utilizes what it calls a "VividView" treatment which is designed to provide less glare. Actually, the screen coating is fully laminated against the display itself, making for less tiny, almost-imperceptible unglued areas which can catch light. Still, the display is pretty reflective, making reading in bright locations (like on a subway with stark fluorescent lighting) sometimes difficult.

The Nook Color is equipped with 802.11b/g/n WiFi only, no 3G comes with this new model. There is a light sensor on the front of the device which is a nice touch that allows you to conserve a little bit more of the battery (which is rated at 8 hours a charge with the WiFi turned off). Of course, this is not good because most of the ereaders out have battery life from two weeks up to a month with the Sony devices for example.

When you first boot up the device,you will see the center screen of three homescreens where you can arrange books and periodicals you're currently reading. Additionally, you will see recently downloaded content (presented as a scrollable list at the bottom of the display), and get quick access to a number of other features of the device, such as your most recent selections, and general settings. One nice feature is that you're able to scale and freely move material you're reading around these pages, allowing you to prioritize your content in a visual manner.

As far as general navigation goes, on every screen (not just the home screen), there's a small tab which pulls up a menu from the bottom of the page with the amiliar Nook selections: library, shop, search, extras, web, and settings. The library section is organized by books, magazines, and newspapers, but also provides options for creating your own sets of content (ie, "my shelves"), working with PDFs and other docs, music, images, and video (M4V only) in "my files," and allows you to dive into the company's much-touted lending program. The lending options have been expanded in the Nook Color, and the company now provides a social network for your friends with Nook devices where you can see the selections they're lending out, showcase what you have to lend, and request titles. Not every book is lendable, but the expansions to the service is a thoughtful addition. Very nice touch.

Nothing brings your reading to life like the Nook color VividView Color Touchscreen. The rich high resolution backlit display uses more than 16 million colors to illuminate images and crisp text for easy reading day or night. With the NOOK color, the WiFi connection allows you to surf the web and check email. You can also share passages and recommend books right from the page you're reading via Facebook® or Twitter®. From designing your home page to personalizing your bookshelves or choosing just the right font, NOOK color lets you create a customized reading experience. For example, you can obtain book ideas from the exclusive NOOK book Personal Shopping. Expert booksellers will make recommendations to you based on you book selections. Plus, there is an array of exclusive NOOK extras, such as.crossword puzzles, sudoku, chess and Pandora® internet radio to name a few.

The Nook Color handles PDF and ePub files, supports JPG, PNG, GIF and BMP files. You can also view Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. The device supports MP4 video, although the company is promising video-enhanced content at some point where you will be able to view instructional videos with your text instead of only relying on the Web browser for YouTube videos.

The most disappointing feature of the new Nook Color device is its charging capability. Although the Nook Color looks like it has a standard micro USB port, it will only charge with the proprietary Nook AC adapter. One user reports using the 5V and 10V adapters, with no luck and you won't be able to charge the device by connecting it to a PC. The cable that comes with the Nook Color has a few extra pins in it that enables faster charging. The custom connector supports 2000mAh charging, whereas most mobile electronics use 500mAh chargers. This is limiting, since it significantly reduces your charging options, but it isn't much different than the proprietary charger that is required with the use of an iPad. Checkout the most up to date prices for the new Nook Color at Amazon.

NOOK eBook Reader (3G and WiFi)

The Nook was the first to have Wi-Fi accessibility. In order to download books and periodicals to The Nook, a computer can be used, a user can download over the air with the use of AT&T's 3G cell phone networking feature and you can also download usiing Wi-Fi connectivity. With Wi-Fi connectivity you don't have to be at the mercy of 3G availability because anywhere there’s Wi-Fi, including a wireless home network, books can be downloaded at speeds faster than 3G. If you go to any Barnes & Noble store with your Nook, the Wi-Fi feature connects automatically.

The Barnes & Noble Wi-Fi experience offers some interesting and unique functionality. It offers the More In Store content feature that includes promotions specifically for Nook users. It also will allow customers to browse complete eBooks just like you can with a physical book. However, there is a one hour limit during any 24-hour period.

An all important aspect of any eBook reader is the quality of the screen display. The Nook’s 6-inch, diagonally measured screen is less reflective that most competitors and does not have any backlighting. We were able to read it easily in just about any lighting condition including bright sun. The one situation that was a little trying was where there were multiple overhead light sources and therefore many angles from which light could be reflected. Even then, however, it wasn’t difficult to find an angle that worked virtually glare free. Typical of E-Ink screens, the display is rather dull like a book’s paper to minimize eye fatigue. The display has sixteen gray levels which makes it easy to find one that is ideal for an individual’s preference. Five font sizes can be selected to make reading easy and there are three selectable font styles. The unit also has a virtual keyboard integrated into the unit.

The Nook has an integrated dictionary which is simply a matter of pressing "Look Up Word" on the touch screen then using the up, down, right and left arrows to navigate to the word in question. Then press "Look Up" and the definition appears superimposed on the reading screen. About 26 hours of MP3 audio files can be loaded onto the device and it also plays audio book files. The Nook comes with a built-in mono speaker and supports a universal 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack which is the best way to listen to audio files on the unit. Audio files, as well as images, can be loaded onto the device but must be done by transferring from a computer rather than using either of the wireless options. Integrated storage capacity is 2GB, just like the Kindle 2 and about 1,500 ebooks can be stored on the internal storage. For additional storage, the unit comes with an expansion slot that will accommodate a micro SD card up to 16GB and can hold up to about 17, 500 ebooks.

The touchscreen below the main screen display can be misleading. It is great for shopping, but at times it is difficult to navigate without some practice. The user may make the mistake of attempting to select entries or flip pages on the main display using touchscreen gestures while you're wondering why the screen is not responding. It may be some confusion because of using the bottom touchscreen thinking the display was also touchscreen like the Sony Reader Touch Edition. However, the bottom half of the unit is the only touchscreen on the unit. The main display is not touchscreen and navigation for turning pages and performed with the forward and back buttons on each side of the unit.

Since the Nook operates on the Android OS it can be assumed that Android applications can be used on the device. That is not the case at this time. Maybe the idea in the future is to turn the Nook into more of a computing device rather than a standalone reader. Additionaly, the Nook does not have web browsing available on the unit. The Kindle is the only reader with the ability for web browsing, but the browser is basic at most.

Users of the Nook will have access to Barnes & Noble’s eBookstore which offers over a million titles and is growing. There have been complaints from some users over the cost of the ebooks as compared to Amazon and other online sellers. Users can subscribe to a variety of newspapers and magazines. to ensure the highest quality, the Barnes & Noble Nook supports the nearly universal EPub format so DRM free sources of free books such as those available from Google Books can be downloaded. That makes more than a million books which are in the public domain available to Nook users.

The EPUB file format is used with files created for the e-publishing standard. PDF and EPUB support font styles (bold, italics, underline, etc), advanced layout, tables, charts, graphs, illustrations, and more. Most eBook content that users obtain from Fictionwise can be imported to the nook via a memory card or USB port. In addition to being able to display tables, charts, graphs and figures in documents, the Nook can be used to display graphics as either stand-alone images or slideshows. The supported graphic formats are bitmap, jpeg, gif and png files.

A feature that’s unique to the Nook is the ability to loan eBooks to other Nook owners. They can be transmitted OTA (over-the-air) just as like a typical ebook purchase, but the books can only be those purchased from Barnes & Nobles. Books can also be loaned in the same way if the user has Barnes & Noble’s free eReader software installed on their PC or Mac, iPhone and iPod Touch, BlackBerries or certain other smartphones. Books can be loaned only once and for not more than fourteen days. While the ebook is on loan, it is not available to the lender, the same as if the user borrowed the ebook from the library.

One particular advantage the Nook has over the Kindle is that it’s battery is removable and replaceable can be charged via USB to a computer system or power adapter. The average charging time is 3.5 hours from a wall outlet. The battery supports approximately 10,000 continuous page turns on a single charge or about two days (with wireless turned off) and ten days with the wireless turned off.

The Nook has the Reading Now virtual bookmark. This can be misleading because it is nothing like the Sony ereader's annotating and bookmarking features. The bookmarking feature will take you to the last ebook you read or to the last page you read of an ebook. However, this feature appears to only work with ebooks that have been purchased from Barnes & Nobles. Quote: "A number of nook features apply only to eBooks purchased through Barnes & Noble.com. These are stored in your online digital library and include: bookmarks, highlighting, notes, lending, rating, recommending, and cross-platform reading." If you have a need to write notes and bookmark your pages, the Sony may be a better buy than the Nook. Checkout Amazon for up to date prices on the Nook..

Being able to discern each of the ereaders specs can be difficult. Here's a short video that compares the Sony eReader devices.