Barnes & Noble Nook Electronic Reader Review

B&N Nook Offers Up a Challenge to the kindle and Sony Readers

Among the recent releases on the booming e-reader scene is the Barnes and Noble Nook, which launched at the end of November, 2009. While we await consensus about the much-hyped Apple ipad, the Nook’s most contentious competitor is the market-leading Amazon kindle. As the next major bookseller to introduce an alternative to hardcopy, B&N joins the e-reader industry, forecast to sell more than 6 million units this year in the U.S. alone.

As far as e-readers go, the Barnes and Noble Nook keeps up with its competitors, matching several features – E Ink electronic display, 6 inch display screen, adjustable text size, AT&T’s 3G network and 2 GB internal memory that holds 1500 ebooks.

Big Shoes to Fill

Winner of the Best New Gadget of 2009 TechCrunch Crunchies Award, the Nook builds upon the features that other e-readers get right and takes them to the next level. Here are a few of the features of the Barnes and Noble Nook that move beyond the norm:

• Google Android Operating System – Where the Barnes and Noble Nook sets itself apart from competitors is in its software. As the first e-reader to run Google’s Android operating system, the Nook hosts a more complicated user interface than other similar gadgets but the bonus is a touch screen color navigation pad that replaces mini keyboards on other e-readers and simplified control – once you get the hang of where things are.
• LendMe – The ability to lend and borrow books for free. Unlike other e-readers the Nook smiles in the face of convention and allows book buyers to loan downloads to friends for 2 weeks – accessible via smartphone or computer – through their LendMe feature, during which time the books are inaccessible to the owner. While download sharing is still aggravating for publishers, the Barnes and Noble Nook LendMe feature is a step in the right direction for digital rights management.

• Connectivity – the first of its kind to offer both 3G and Wi-Fi, the Barnes and Noble Nook supports downloads via both connections, although Wi-Fi is currently limited to Barnes and Noble stores.

• Multiple Sources – Unlike several other popular e-readers that are limited to only one book format, the Barnes and Noble Nook supports ebooks, images and audio files from Barnes and Noble, Google Books, Fictionwise and eReader in EPUB, PDB and PDF formats, as well as JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP and MP3 formats from additional sources.

And the Verdict Is...

While the Barnes and Noble Nook is a contender in the e-reader market, its strengths also result in weaknesses. The introduction of a touch screen navigation pad takes some getting used to and users aren’t sure that the feature is as well designed as on the iPhone or iPod Touch devices. The Nook is also vulnerable to loading speed issues that affect other readers, for sometimes frustrating results.

The Barnes and Noble Nook manages to combine the best of existing e-reader features with some notable improvements – free lending, in-store book browsing, color LCD screen – and avoid most pitfalls that other units have overcome for a competitive advantage.

Review by Contributing Writer: Kate Dubensky