All of that to say I love my Nook. LOVE. MY. NOOK.
Jenn and I decided to get e-readers last fall. We did our research and whittled our choices down to the Barnes & Noble Nook or the Kindle.
We knew that the Kindle was hugely popular, $10 cheaper, and that two of Jenn's sisters owned them. To us, those were three good reasons to buy Kindle.
Instead, we decided to buy Nooks because:
1) At the time, Nook was the only one that offered sharing (since offered by Kindle)
2) At the time, you couldn't borrow books from the library on the Kindle, but you could on the Nook (soon to change).
3) Barnes and Noble has real brick-and-mortar stores. If you visit the store with your Nook, you can download exclusive content, read any book you want in-store without buying it, and get special in-store offers on food and drinks.
4) The battery was customer-replaceable on the Nook.
5) You could add an SD card to the Nook, but not to the Kindle.
6) I can download a book in epub format from any store I want, whether it's Barnes and Noble or Books-a-Million, and still read it. With the Kindle, you HAVE to buy in from Amazon. This fact alone was enough to sway me.
Jenn and I discussed all of these factors, and chose the Nook. We visited our local store at Fallen Timbers shopping center, and were helped by a very knowledgeable gentleman who you don't find in box stores. He even tipped us off to the fact that about four days from the day we were talking to him, the company was going to announce a new product and that unconfirmed rumors indicated it would be a color reader.
We waited and were blown away by the Nook Color. However, due to the price and the battery life, we decided to stick with the original Nook.
We love it. It is small and light, and easy to see the screen. We got the Wi-Fi version, so we have to be where there is Internet connection. But if you are going on a trip, who cares? Either you make sure you have enough books on the machine, or you find a free hot spot where you are visiting, and download from there. Not a big deal.
My biggest complaint about it is that the web browser isn't great. It's manageable if you get used to it, but I would rather use my Droid to surf the Web.
But now I find myself with a new problem....I want to get a tablet. What to get, what to get, what to get...
Should I get an iPad (LOTS of money, no Flash capability)? Should I get one of the Android-based tablets scheduled to come out this year? Should I get the Google Chromebook that comes out in June instead of a tablet? Or should I get the Nook Color?
The Nook Color has a lot going for it, as it does a lot of what the tablets do, and that capability will only grow. The problem with it is that it does not use e-ink, and is back-lit. One thing I love about the original Nook is that you need a light source (i.e. a table lamp or the sun) in order to read it. this causes less eye strain.
The Nook Color is always back-lit and theoretically causes more eye strain, and it is not offered with 3G connectivity. But it connects to the Internet and social media, and e-mail, and has all many useful apps, so I am really leaning in that direction. On the other hand, I could get an Android tablet at twice the price and download the Nook app to get the same effect with 3G and more capability. But Android still hasn't been perfected for the tablet market, and again, it's twice the price of the Nook Color.
Regardless what direction I choose, I am still left with the question of what to do with my original Nook. I really like the e-ink feature and the longer battery life. My gut feeling is that by this time next year, I will have a Nook Color and will either kept my original Nook as a backup, given it to my 7-year-old, or sold it to someone.
But one thing is for sure....I am sold on the brand. I LOVE MY NOOK!!
So what do you think....What should I do? iPad, Android tablet, Chromebook, or Nook Color?
And for what it is worth, while the battery life is unheard of and amazing with the Nook that was announced on May 24, I still wouldn't buy it. The proportions are all wrong. Another thing I like about my Nook (and the Nook Color) is that the proportions are right so it still feels like a book. That is important to me.
 |
| Photo Courtesy of orb9220 |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comments, questions and feedback! be sure to subscribe to my page to read the latest.