The Nook originally debuted in the fall of 2009 to a lot of not-so-positive reviews. After more than a year and a couple of firmware upgrades later, let's revisit the Barnes & Noble Nook and see how much this once "clunky" and "buggy" ebook reader has improved.
The Barnes & Noble Nook was introduced in late 2009 and back then,
it didn't get a lot of positive feedback, with most Nook reviews citing issues with the device's overall performance. Noting these concerns, Barnes & Noble didn't waste any time making upgrades to the Nook's hardware to improve its functionality. Now that the ebook reader has gone through 2 firmware upgrades, how much has it improved? Let's find out in this 2011 Nook review.
Size and Design
The Nook looks pretty much the same now as when it was launched more than a year ago. Its 7.7 by 4.9-inch frame consists of shiny white plastic bezel in the front, and rubbery material at the rear portion. At the top of the gadget is found the Power/Sleep button, while the bottom part is where a small USB port, headphone jack, and a couple of speakers are situated.
This ereader is just half an inch thick and weighs 12.1 ounces. It may not be as light or as compact as the popular Kindle 3, but still the Nook color is still comfortable enough to use read with for long periods of time.
Display and Interface
The Nook is unique in that its display area is composed of two parts. On the upper portion is the 6-inch e-ink screen that's designated as the reading display and right below it is the 3.5-inch color LCD that's to be used for navigation. The colored portion of the display adds a dash of brightness to the greyscale e-ink screen. But just how well suited are the two displays for their intended uses?
Well, there has always been a consensus among consumers and manufacturers that e-ink is the best type of technology for ebook reading, specifically long form reading. In this regard, the e-ink display with its 16 shades of gray and 3 font sizes to choose from is just perfect. On the other hand, navigating within the device using the LCD touch screen can be a bit difficult. You'd have to constantly keep in mind that the flicks of the finger are to be confined on the lower screen and in this day and age of full touch smartphones and tablet PCs, this isn't easy.
Battery Life and Storage
The latest Nook boasts of a battery life that can last 10 days with the wireless off. This is already pretty good and would prove to be quite useful when traveling for short periods. But this battery life still lags way behind the performance of the Kindle which can go as long as 30 days on a single charge.
Nook users can already store up to 1,500 books with the ereader's 2G internal memory. If more is needed, then it's easy enough creating extra storage via the microSD slot which can accommodate up to 16GB of added memory.
Nook Review: The Verdict
With access to more than 2 million titles and exclusive B & N features and technologies like LendMe, Stay in Sync, My Shelves, and Password Protection, the Nook now offers more value for money than before. You won't regret shelling out $199 for the Wi-Fi with 3G model or $149 for the Wi-Fi only edition.
True, it still has some catching up to do with the Amazon Kindle such as with the battery performance and compact size, but from what we've seen up close in this Nook review, the Barnes & Noble Nook is now one of the best handheld ebook readers in the market today.
