Slashdot Mirror
Barnes & Noble's Nook, Reviewed
harrymcc writes "Barnes & Noble's Nook — the most significant e-reader since Amazon's original Kindle — hits B&N's retail stores today. I've published an extensive review of the device, which is also the first e-reader to run Google's Android OS: It's an interesting and capable gadget in many ways, but the interface — which is sluggish and somewhat quirky — isn't polished enough to render it a Kindle killer."
Bingo. No Kindle for me. Ever.
I did want one, and saw myself inevitably getting one when the price reached a reasonable altitude.
But they wrote me off with that stunt. Now any reader I do settle on must establish to my satisfaction that it does not have that "feature".
Which reads any .pdf .djvu .younameit, e-ink, etc?
They can not be the ultimate quality, but they will put some fire in competition! Then prices will begin to be fair!
The review mentions AT&T 3G, but I couldn't find any mention of whether a new AT&T contract is required to buy the device at the stated price. If it is, then fsck that. If it isn't, then 'meh'. Its still pretty expensive. Wait for v 2.0.
Also, if one plugs its USB in, does it appear as 'USB storage', that one can copy PDF's to and be able to read them? Or is one required to use its proprietary software on a proprietary platform to load only special files with DRM?
And how about on wifi? Can one use any sort of standard protocol (ssh, ftp, smb) to copy PDF's in (or out) and/or can it navigate to an arbitrary URL and download a PDF, or does it only support the device accessing company-specified websites to 'buy' books?
Bottom line - Mandatory contract bad. Mandatory proprietary software bad.
Have you considered the Foxit eSlick.
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/ebook/
I haven't tried one myself. I'm a bit dubious about the way it's *all* PDF (reflowable text seems better for many kinds of writing). But if PDF works for you, Foxit are among the best at it. Their software PDF viewer is certainly better than Adobe's.
The fact that it shares the same price point doesn't imply price fixing or stop it being beneficial to consumers. Firstly, if the B&N device is 'better' it is effectively cheaper than the Kindle. Secondly, if both devices are exactly even then sales should begin to spread between the two, this will encourage one of the parties to drop the price in order to gain the others market share.
Factor in other benefits like removing some dominance from Amazon's position as ebook superpower, which will hopefully add competition to book pricing and limit anti-consumer licensing/limitations and this seems (as it should) like a good thing for us little people.