Ali Showkati's Blog

It seems like these days, every new gadget that surfaces the world of tech, is instantly compared to products like the iPhone. It seems the iPhone has revolutionized the world of tech even more than we have realized. And it is all because it was able to offer three very distinct, unique, and perfectly implemented assets to it’s industry, which may attest to its immense success. Those would be its Multi-touch technology, its apps, and it’s portability. And now days, it seems, when one of those assets is mentioned, the other two are expected to follow. to the point, that a product is actually frowned upon for not possessing all three of these assets. I’m here to say that the Nook doesn’t need all three to survive or be successful.

The setup process couldn’t be simpler. You enter your login info for bn.com and you’re in. It retrieves all of your account information and downloads all of your eBooks automatically. I chose to expand the memory another 8GB via Micro SDHC, for carrying scripts, papers, and PDFs. I haven’t messed around with the PDF interpreter too much yet, but images and text seem to show up fine, with support to change font-size, which is a nice plus. Transferring files to the Nook is surpassingly simple. There is no need for special syncing software or anything. You simply drag and drop the files in the appropriate pre-made folders and you’re set. I also loaded up a couple of albums of music, and they played flawlessly. The device’s external speakers are decent and comparable to the iPhone’s; primarily used for “casual listening.” A standard 3.5mm headphone jack is also located at the base of the product of course, but the speakers are a surprising and welcome addition. Also at the bottom is the mini USB connector, used for PC transfers as well as charging. The the device’s top, there is a metallic power button, very reminiscent of the iPhone’s sleep/wake button. And in-fact performs the exact same function. Press to sleep/wake. Hold to power down/up. The front of the device is dominated by it’s 6″ e-ink display. You have to see this display to believe it. The e-ink is pretty remarkable. Below that is the 3.5″ color LCD backlit touchscreen. This is primarily used for navigation and text entry. Separating the two screens is the home button in the shape of the “n” Nook logo. On the left and right of the display are tactile page-turn buttons, used to proceed through your e-books. The product sports a very clean Apple-esque design that is as nice to look at as it is to use.

Starting at the home screen, you have five options: the daily, my library, shop, reading now, and settings. “The daily” is where you go to receive the newspapers, blogs, and magazines you are subscribed to. This is also where any alerts for software updates, or updates to the Nook in general will appear. It features a cozy little icon of a coffee mug, suggesting that this is probably the first thing you’ll access in the day, perhaps while sitting in a coffee shop, warming up over your morning cup. “My library” is where the meat of the content lies. You are brought to a screen which displays your B&N library. You can toggle between this and the contents of your “My Documents” folder, which contains your user manual and any other documents you wish to flood it with. The B&N library obviously contains your purchased eBooks. From here you can choose to look at details & options concerning your highlighted selection, or simply select to begin reading. You are also given some sorting and search options. Pretty much everything you expect there to be, is here. You can even choose to look through you your cover’s in a very iTunes-inspired cover flow format, however this seems to be more of a novelty that a actual way you would want to navigate though your books. Its something to impress your friends with when you’re showing off your new toy. Next is the “store”. Selecting this brings you to a simple and clean shop interface where you can search through eBooks, newspapers, and such, as well as flip through any special offers they might be offering at the moment. Purchasing a book is as easy as selecting your book and then hitting “confirm.” The Nook automatically charges your default card on your account and downloads the book within an manner of one to two minutes. Selecting “reading now” from the home screen, acts as a virtual bookmark, taking you right to last thing you were reading, allowing you to continue where you left off. Simple and intuitive. Finally, “settings” allows you to tinker with various options, such as setting your wifi, to editing your profile, to changing your wallpaper. There is even a handy airplane mode, for use when traveling.

Access to the music player is available at the bottom of every menu throughout the user interface. Initially I would except this to be organized with everything else, perhaps in the “my library” menu. But it actually makes sense for it to be in every menu. The music is always going to be in the background of when you’re doing, so it makes sense for it to be accessible from every menu. An initially curious, yet intuitive quirk of the UI. Contrary to reports, the whole products seems very polished and very well thought out. I am very excited to experience the slew of coming promised features and enhancements.

My first impressions of the Nook is very positive. It seems that Barnes & Noble to fit Nook into your literary lifestyle perfectly, and to ensure that you don’t miss anything with your transition to digital literature. They also made the product very approachable and comfortable to use, allowing it to reach a much wider audience than some of it’s competitors. It’s all about the little touches, like the screensaver of famous authors, or cityscapes. Brilliant.

I’m not particularly blown away with any specific feature. However, at the end of the day, its a eBook reader. And it does what it promises, and does it very well. It may have a few bugs but thats the beauty of it’s Android-based OS. It can be infinitely upgraded and improved. Although I can name a few apps that would be pretty cool to have on the Nook (namely Tweetie and Pandora), I’m not expecting a slew of apps or crazy features for this product. I’m not even sure that I would want to use those apps on the Nook. This isn’t the next iPhone. The iPhone is the next iPhone. Or maybe the rumored Apple tablet is the next iPhone. Maybe that product will do what many seem to wish the Nook was capable of. As for me, i think I’m very happy to be the owner of a beautiful and stable product.