Nook wins | The Coffeehouse

PaoloM
Hypermediocrity

So today Barnes & Noble unveiled their eBook reader, the Nook.

Reasonable price, cool looks, color touchscreen, *right* formats (ePub and PDF), Android, micro SD slot, bunch of nice accessories (I like the Jack Spade designer cover), WiFi, 3G.

If it displays full page PDFs in a readable way, it's on the top of my Christmas list Smiley

TommyCarlier
I want my scalps!

Looks very nice, but unfortunately:

I don't live in the U.S. Can I buy a nook?
No. At this time, nook is not for sale outside the U.S.

PaoloM
Hypermediocrity

In reply to TommyCarlier

#Oct 20th @ 10:36 PM

Of course you know NO-ONE that lives in the States, right? Smiley

blowdart
Peek-a-boo

In reply to PaoloM

#Oct 20th @ 10:42 PM

Yes, but getting the device itself is useless, it's the ability to load it that makes it functional. It's not like a Zune HD where it's probably you can take the music you already own, plus music taken from 3rd parties and load it up. It's rare for publishes to make PDFs available, or any other electronic format.

Want to bet that the store needs a US billing address and credit card?

Dr Herbie
Horses for courses

What's the battery life like? Most eInk displays have very low battery use -- how does the colour touchscreen affect this?

Herbie

TommyCarlier
I want my scalps!

In reply to Dr Herbie

#Oct 20th @ 11:13 PM

The claimed battery life is 10 days. The colour touchscreen is actually not the entire screen: it's a regular crisp black/white eInk screen, but it has a small colour touchscreen at the bottom, for navigation.

Dovella
Go Microsoft !!!!!!!

259$ ?

Sven Groot
My name has 9 letters. Coincidence? I think not...

PDFs are a terrible format for ebooks, imnsho.

Dr Herbie
Horses for courses

In reply to Sven Groot

#Oct 21st @ 1:59 AM

Yes, they are a terrible format, but there are lots of them around. Whatever eBook I buy must support them in some form.

Currently looking at the Cool-er eBook (cheap and minimal functionality) because I don't feel I need WiFi, or 'Whispernet', although a touchscreen would be nice, as would a larger display area. Also the battery seems to last long enough (8000 page turns).

Herbie

Ray7

In reply to Sven Groot

#Oct 21st @ 1:59 AM

Why are they a terrible format?

Ion Todirel
buuu

In reply to Sven Groot

#Oct 21st @ 1:59 AM

May I ask, what's so terrible about it, given proper, Adobe Reader certainly isn't, software? Is it it's complexity/security?

sushovande
Smiley Face Sharp

In reply to Ion Todirel

#Oct 21st @ 2:19 AM

Because the text does not flow.

In pdf.. as far as i know.. every sentence is a div with position:absolute. Which essentially means that if you try to increase font size, or read in a different font, or go from 2-column to 1-column - you pretty much have to apply some kind of heuristic to retrieve the original text.

pdf's are best for printing on paper (that too the exact size of paper as the pdf size). Otherwise, I would use a different format.

Sven Groot
My name has 9 letters. Coincidence? I think not...

In reply to sushovande

#Oct 21st @ 2:30 AM

Sushovando got it.

PDFs contain too much formatting information. For a format to work for e-books, it needs to leave most of the formatting to the device or application displaying it. Microsoft Reader files (which are essentially HTML) only specify the font family and in some cases margins or line spacing. But the flow of the text is determined by the reader, so it can work on the desktop Reader app on a 24" screen, or on the PocketPC version with a 3" screen.

Ray7

In reply to sushovande

#Oct 21st @ 2:30 AM

Thanks for the explanation.

JeremyJ
The pioneers would be appalled!

In reply to sushovande

#Oct 21st @ 2:30 AM

In the demo I saw of the Nook it showed them dynamically changing the font size while reading a book. If it supports that option then I am wondering how they handle it with PDFs.

W3bbo
The Master of Baiters

In reply to blowdart

#Oct 20th @ 11:10 PM

Business idea: there already exist companies that can provide you with a proxy US address for receiving US-only parcels and letters, but what about a proxy credit-card which provides you with a US billing address?

Bass
www.spreadfirefox.com/5years/

In reply to TommyCarlier

#Oct 20th @ 10:36 PM

exoteric
I : Next<I>

In reply to TommyCarlier

#Oct 20th @ 11:17 PM

Ahh, cheating some poor *s into thinking they'll get a full color display e-book reader. Still, a very nice device by the looks of it - if a little too much wasted space around the edges

PaoloM
Hypermediocrity

In reply to exoteric

#Oct 21st @ 11:45 AM

Cheating? Expressionless

And the space around the screen is not wasted. How would you hold on to the device?

ryanb

It certainly looks like an interesting device. The AT&T service is an epic fail. There are lots of questions yet to be answered, namely what content will actually be available, by what means, and at what cost. I'll definitely be watching this one though. It seems like someone in the e-reader market is finally starting to get the idea of what consumers want in such a device. Now to see what Amazon, Sony, and all the other players respond with ...

PaoloM
Hypermediocrity

In reply to ryanb

#Oct 21st @ 2:11 PM

The AT&T service is an epic fail.

I understand that the cool kids have to say this, but what exactly is "epic fail" about the AT&T service? Besides the fact that it always works in my house where T-Mobile didn't guarantee service within the walls of my condo?