Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch

1. CNET

The hardware refresh of the Nook Touch (since renamed the Nook Simple Touch) earns an "Excellent" rating and an Editors' Choice award from CNET's David Carnoy -- and that was before a later update brought battery and page speed improvements to the device. "Is the new Nook better than the Kindle? That's what a lot of people are asking and the short answer -- at least at this moment -- is arguably yes," Carnoy writes, although that comparison was against the last-generation Kindle.

Review: Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch Reader (Wi-Fi), David Carnoy, April 12, 2012

2. PCMag.comDetails/Subscribe

Reviewer David Pierce gives the Nook (now Nook Simple Touch) an Editors' Choice award and a 4.5-star (out of 5) rating, calling it cheap and light, with an "excellent touchscreen experience." One of the two major cons -- slow page refreshes -- has been addressed in a late-2011 software update.

Review: Barnes & Noble Nook Touch Reader, David Pierce, June 1, 2011

3. Laptop MagazineDetails/Subscribe

The Nook Touch garners a 4-star (out of 5) rating and an Editors' Choice award from Laptop Magazine. This in-depth, multi-page review has plenty of discussion and pictures to explain the reviewer's findings in detail. The user interface and physical design are noted as particular improvements over previous models.

Review: Barnes & Noble Nook Touch Review, K.T. Bradford, June 1, 2011

4. PC WorldDetails/Subscribe

"As soon as I removed the new Barnes & Noble Nook from its box, I could tell that this petite e-reader was going to be a worthy challenger to the third-generation Amazon Kindle," Melissa J. Perenson writes to open the review, and she goes on to call it one of the best e-readers available today. She knocks off points for the "terrible button design and inconsistent contrast," though she is happy with all other aspects of the device.

Review: Barnes and Noble Nook (Second Generation), Melissa J. Perenson, June 1, 2011

5. PCMag.comDetails/Subscribe

Although this review is of the Amazon Kindle Touch 3G and not the Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch, reviewer Jamie Lendino makes constant comparisons of the two throughout. "The recently renamed Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch retains our Editors' Choice award for touchscreen e-readers, thanks to B&N's $40 price drop, ad-free design, and recent speed improvements, but the Kindle Touch runs a close second," he writes.

Review: Amazon Kindle Touch 3G, Jamie Lendino, Nov. 14, 2011

6. Engadget.com

Like PCMag.com's Jamie Lendino, reviewer Brian Heater compares the latest Kindle Touch against the Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch throughout this critique of the former, and he comes away with a similar opinion."The Kindle Touch is as good as any touch reader out there, but there's nothing particularly exceptional about it -- including pricing," he says.

Review: Amazon Kindle Touch Review, Brian Heater, Nov. 14, 2011

7. Engadget.com

This brief review describes Engadget.com reviewer Brian Heater's hands-on impressions of the Nook Simple Touch after it received a late-2011 software upgrade. Page-flipping speed is a bit faster, he reports, though he wasn't able to test claims of a vastly improved battery charge. A video shows the new page-flipping improvements in action.

Review: Nook Simple Touch Upgrade Hands-on (Video), Brian Heater, Nov. 7, 2011

8. WiredDetails/Subscribe

Wired reviewer John C. Abell gives the Nook Touch (before its rechristening) a rating of 8 out of 10 and says that despite its poor low-light performance and "half-baked" social media integration, it is in many ways an excellent device. "The Nook is the first mechanism that has called me to read books for fun in ages," he says.

Review: The Nook Nails It, John C. Abell, June 15, 2011