Archive for June, 2010

I recently bought the new eBook reader from Barnes & Noble, the Nook.  The device itself is 7.7″ x 4.9″ x 0.5″, about the size of a thin book.  It comes in two versions, the only difference being the addition of a 3G radio with free AT&T connectivity.  My version, the WiFi + 3G weighs in at 12 ounces, also about the same as a book.  The Nook, unlike the competing eBook readers available, has two screens: a large greyscale E Ink screen for reading the text and a small color screen to aid in navigation.  It has five buttons: a power/sleep button on top and one set of back/forward buttons on each side.  The Nook runs Android from a Micro-SD card that is removable for easy hacking  It also supports an additional Micro-SD card for more storage.

I’ve given it a good break-in by reading about 1000 pages in a little over a week (this is a great feat for me, since I didn’t read a single book from 2000 – 2009) and here are my results.

Reading from the E Ink Display

What makes E Ink screens so different from an ordinary computer screen?  What makes reading a newspaper so different from reading off of a computer screen?  The difference is that computer screens project light from a backlight through colored pixels and into your eyes, this means that all the light you see from your screen is coming from the backlight.  The Nook’s E Ink screen, just like a newspaper, does not have a backlight; instead the surface of the screen actually reflects (white pixels) or absorbs (black pixels) light.  All the light you see comes from the ambient light around you.  This is much easier on your eyes since there is no difference in contrast between your screen and the room you’re sitting in.  If you go out into the direct sunlight, the screen is very bright and easy to read, if you go in the house, it’s as bright as your walls.  The disadvantage is that if you are in a dark room it’s as dark as your surroundings.  I found this very annoying at first since I like to live in the dark, but I eventually got used to turning on a light behind me so I could read it.  I was somewhat disappointed in the contrast of the screen, it’s less black and white and more dark grey and light grey.  Overall though, the device did put far less strain on my eyes and I could easily read it for 10 hours without getting a headache.  Although the screen is top of it’s class (most eBook reader screens are made by E Ink Corporation, and the one in the Nook is the best one to date), the screen takes over a second to refresh and flashes as it updates.  This erratic refreshing is distracting and tends to interrupt my flow of reading when switching pages.  I found that it is much easier to switch the pages in a real book without slowing down than it is on a Nook after a week of usage.

Navigation and General Usage

The Nook takes a novel approach to navigation by using a second, full color touchscreen.  The bottom screen is vibrant and functional.  When you are not reading a book, the screen shows a variety of options that let you purchase/download new content, play games, browse through your collection of books, configure your settings and even browse the Internet with it’s Webkit-based browser (these options are visible in the picture above).  To get to your books, you touch the “My Library” option and it brings up a list of books on the E Ink screen.  On the bottom screen you can also browse through the books by their covers, similar to navigating an iPod.  To select a book using the E Ink screen you touch the up and down arrows and the item is selected.  This is a fairly frustrating process since the E Ink takes so long to update, but eventually you get to the book you want to read and select it to start reading.  From the bottom screen you can search for text, browse through the chapters or start reading where you left off.  There is a little n on the device between the E Ink screen and the bottom screen that takes you to the Nook’s home screen when pressed.  The bottom screen is a little sluggish to use and you will inevitably click on something when you try to wake up the screen or try to scroll through options.  Overall the Nook has an unfinished feel, it seems like it was pushed to release too quickly and I imagine it will get better with future updates.

Portability and Handling

The device is very portable and at first it seems easy to hold, but after many hours of continuous use, it gets a bit annoying.  I am constantly moving my fingers around, trying to find a way to hold it steady while still being able to access the back/forward buttons.  If you look at the picture you can see the < and > keys.  These are the keys that you use to move between pages.  The keys themselves are well designed – you can hold the Nook by its keys without pressing them which is impressive, but they seem a bit counter-intuitive to me.  I would expect the bottom key on the left to be back (or <), and the bottom one on the right to be forward (>), but this is not the case – the buttons are in the same order on each side.  I find it difficult to press any of the buttons while holding it with one hand, so I hold it with two hands, but then the position of the buttons confuses me and I end up pressing the wrong one once in a while.  While I do have some complaints about the design, I think it is easier to hold than the Kindle and the Sony eBook Reader and I don’t think we will see a much better design until the screen is flush with the case so that you can hold it by the screen itself.

Battery Life

The wonderful thing about E Ink displays is that they only require power to change what’s on the screen.  This means that while you are reading the page, the device is in a very low power state.  In my experience, I needed to charge the device every 2-4 days or so, although they say you can get better battery life by disabling the WiFi.  The device is charged with a standard micro-USB connector (not a mini-usb) which is still a little uncommon, but will likely become more common in the future.  One annoyance I had with it is the way it handles USB charging.  I plug the Nook into my car, my computer, or my Chumby (a plush Linux touchscreen alarm clock thing) depending on where I am, but when I plug it in, the Nook informs me that the device is mounted by whatever I plugged it into and I cannot use it until I dismount or eject it.  This is fine when I’m charging from my computer, but there is no way for me to unmount it from my Honda!  To make a long story short, if you want to charge it while you’re reading it, you need to use a charging adapter (it includes an AC adapter) or plug it into your computer and unmount/eject it.

eBooks and other Media

By using the Nook’s built-in store browser, you can download books from Barnes & Noble and Google Books.  They claim that over a million of their titles are available in eBook format and millions more are available from Google Books.  Maybe they are more focused on a different genre of books, but looking through the titles on theoretical physics and string theory brought me much less content than I expected.  The Nook also lets you load arbitrary files like pictures, music, PDFs, EPUBs and PDBs via USB or the Micro-SD card, which you can then view/play.  Since I’m surrounded by other devices that handle music and pictures much better I have found little use for these functions, but loading documents is quite nice, although you will want to make sure there is a navigation system built in if you are using large PDFs since flipping through pages is painfully slow!

Conclusion

I was initially uninterested by the Nook (one might wonder why I bought it), but I decided to give it a shot and really fell in love with it.  Sure it’s got some quirks, but so does my dog .  All things considered, I do think that I am able to read much more effectively with the Nook than with a paper book.  I also love the fact that I can put so many documents on one device.  I have a book called “Daily Drucker” which provides an excerpt from the works of Peter Drucker (the father of modern executive behavior) for each day of the year.  I can quickly read the excerpt of the day, then switch back to the other book that I’m trying to tackle.  Overall I give the Nook a B+ (whereas a normal book gets a B).  It does seem easier to use than the Kindle and the Sony Reader, although my exposure to these devices has been minimal.  I would recommend it to anyone that wants to jump into the world of eBook Readers and can’t wait a year for the technology to mature.