Two days in I was ready to take it back….
This entry is coming to you via my Barnes and Noble Nook, which I have had for exactly two weeks. Now that I have had it a while I feel like I can rate it.
As far as e-readers go it gets a solid c.
In its favor:
the ability to download library books,
the backlight, an ok battery life,
handles magazines well and newspapers decently (No comics, what’s with that )
Not a lot there and after the third day I was sure I was going to be taking it back.
The cons weighed heavily on me:
The form feel is different, It is heavier and bulkier then my Kindle, a challenge to hold one handed as I juggle it and my coffee.
The backlight can be hard to read and hurts my eyes after too long.
It is wifi only,and I miss the ability to add books on the fly.
I also have 400+ books on my Kindle.
As a tablet though it gets an A-. First lets revisit the fact that I am typing this on the Nook itself. I am using Springpad which will sync up automatically when I am on wifi. I have games, note taking tools, rss feeds,music applications. The limit is that the apps have to be approved for the Nook store. At the moment it is kid heavy though it is still young.
Why such a high score despite these limitations? The price. For $250 it offers a perfectly usable tablet allowing me to see how much I might use that iPad2 I have been dreaming off. I can take it a step further and root it, opening wider access to the Android store. This would allow me to download the Kindle app, bringing those books back to me. They are porting honeycomb over now, and I am giving it some consideration.
We’ll see. In the meantime I am glad I got it for these weekday commutes.
Originally published at Originally posted at Seattlejo.com. You can comment here or there.