Nook is the e-reader announced by Barnes & Noble late in October 09. With its E-Ink display reading screen, a colored LCD touch-screen strip at the bottom for navigation, a Wi-Fi internet connection and an Android OS opening a world of possibilities for hackers, it posed what was perhaps the only real threat to Amazon’s Kindle in the market. Just as the Kindle, nook users in the US with access to AT&T’s free 3G network have the privilege of buying books directly on their devices from the Barnes & Noble online store. To be able to buy books, users need to have an account on B&N’s website with their default credit card details saved. Once that step is completed, the user should use the same account details to register their nook devices & get access to their B&N library.
The Touch Screen Interface Navigation:
The Nook has the touch screen keyboard. Though it’s nice and bright, it doesn’t have a tactile feedback and it’s slow when I typed some words. The screen needs calibration, sometimes I mistype or my fingers are just too big.
User Interface:
The user interface isn’t so friendly. The shortfall is no easy access to making your text bigger, it takes a two click process by the touch screen menu. When you are selecting a book, you have to click on the O button on the touch screen, or if you want need to select a book, you need to press down arrow on the touch screen. The next and previous button is available on both sides as a real button, not by the touch screen, thank goodness for that.
Internet Connection:
The WiFi isn’t as strong as I expected, it can’t even find my access point. A lot of times, it would say out of range even though I’m close by to it. Nook is also not available outside the U.S, and the Coverage isn’t available outside the U.S as well. So if you are travelling, look for a Wi-Fi Hotspot. If you purchase Nook on the intentions of using it outside the U.S, it’s not possible to buy books directly from your Nook. And some even reported that the Nook can’t be registered outside the U.S. Even if you are able to register, you will not be able to buy e-books directly from your Nook due to US copyright laws. However, you can buy e-books from B&N on your laptop/desktop using an IP anonymizer, such as Hotspot shield.
Once you buy the book, it should automatically be available on your B&N library and only then will you be able to download it on your Nook. If worse comes to worst, and you’re unable to use the IP anonymizer for any reason, you can always find e-books from different sources online and side-load them to your nook using the USB connection. Nook can read ePub, PDB & some PDF files.
Physical Info:
Nook is Heavier than the Kindle, takes a lot of passing to the other hand within 15 minutes of reading, and it’s also thicker than the Kindle. The sides embezzle is shiny, a little slippery than the Kindle. But it looks good.
Conclusion:
Overall, it takes time to get used to. After owning the Kindle, everything is straight forward with the Kindle, it’s hard to navigate with the Nook. Though the e-ink technology is the same, it’s easy to read books on the Nook. The e-book technology behind it is E-Pub, which is more commonly used in all over the e-reader technology. Not like the Kindle which use their own DRM Technology, with E-Pub, it’s more versatile and compatible across other e-reader device.
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Eberhard
Eberhard, twitter @powercx, likes to write as a hobby, and he loves the media. Likes to play with gadget toys, plays with any cool Software for smartphone, PC or Mac and writes his own review. His review is unbiased and not sponsored. Even though Powercx.com has been around since '96, he didn't start blogging till '98. His Tech experience is with Cisco Systems and Wells Fargo as an avid backend web developer with JSP, PHP, ASP, CSS, and Javascript as well as a part time Web Designer on the side does not end there.
This site is about all type of gadgets that he will encounter with. From cool Software that comes with the Hardware, or any Hardware that comes with heavy interest in the community. He will be posting at least two post a week.
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