By Scott Nyerges on December 11, 2009 in
Sticky and slow
Reviewer opinion ranges from downright hostile (David Pogue of The New York Times) to skeptical (Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal and Joshua Topolsky of Engadget.com) to cautiously optimistic (CNET and Gizmodo.com). Mostly, reviewers complain about the Nook's color touch-screen navigation interface, which is situated beneath a 6-inch E-Ink screen. This panel allows users to download books, browse content, control the on-board music player, and it even serves as a keyboard.
Even the most charitable of critics, like Gizmodo's Wilson Rothman, are less than completely satisfied. "Scrolling could be sticky, tapping the home button or the screen occasionally did nothing, and using the directional pad to navigate text made me yearn for the Kindle's physical mini-joystick," he says.
Nor is it terribly intuitive to use, given that you have to switch from the touch-screen to the E-Ink display in order to navigate between functions and libraries. "If you're coming off of any traditional reader, even one as complex as the Kindle, what Barnes & Noble offers seems far more daunting," says Engadget's Joshua Topolsky, who describes the process of navigating in almost mind-numbing detail. "Aside from having to learn a completely new way of getting around, adding that dual screen interaction to the mix is rather confusing when you first flip the switch."
Critics also complain that the Nook is maddeningly slow. As David Pogue points out, "It takes four seconds for the Settings panel to open, 18 seconds for the bookstore to appear (over Wi-Fi), and 8 to 15 seconds to open a book or newspaper for the first time, during which you stare at a message that says 'Formatting.'"
"To use the technical term," he adds, "it's slower than an anesthetized slug in winter."
It's worth noting, however, that unlike the Kindle, the Nook uses Google's open-source Android 1.5 operating system, which can be updated, and Barnes & Noble is already promising updates that will address some of these complaints.
Lending and Wi-Fi of limited benefit
The Nook has a few advantages over the Kindle. One of those benefits is the Nook's LendMe function, which allows users to share ebooks -- free of charge -- with other Nook owners, as well as people who have iPhones, iPod Touches and BlackBerrys with the Barnes & Noble e-reader app. The Nook also has basic Wi-Fi capability built-in, allowing users to download ebooks at any Barnes & Noble store and browse ebooks in-store for up to an hour at a time.
But these functions aren't perfect, either, as CNET points out. For one, only about half of Barnes & Noble's ebook titles can be shared via LendMe (publishers have the final say on whether a given title can be shared), and you can only lend a book for 14 days (during which time you can't read the title you've lent). What's more, according to David Pogue, you can only lend a book once. Period. And although the Nook has Wi-Fi, you won't be able to use it like an iPhone to surf the Internet because it lacks a web browser. This Wi-Fi is strictly intended as a delivery system for shoppers.
Reviewers also say Barnes & Noble's claims of a million-plus titles is a bit misleading. Pogue doesn't mince words: "Fact is, Amazon's e-book store is still much better. Of the current 175 New York Times best sellers, 12 of them aren't available for Kindle; 21 are unavailable for the Nook." Although Barnes & Noble touts the Nook's access to Google Books, which offers a half-million free titles in the public domain, most of them "are likely to be of little interest to average readers," Mossberg says.
Our verdict
Given the decidedly mixed -- even harsh reaction -- that critics have to the Nook, we can't recommend it over the Kindle. However, as Walt Mossberg points out, even the first generation of the Kindle had its share of design and operational flaws, which were eventually remedied. And it's worth remembering that ebooks and e-readers remain very much an emerging technology, where formats, distribution models and interfaces are still evolving. The Nook is a work in progress -- but not so long ago, so were portable digital music players like the iPod.