That’s no fun. Barnes & Noble was probably expecting to get all the attention tomorrow with its fancy-pants press conference, but the Wall Street Journal had to go ruin all the fun by letting the Nook ebook reader out of the bag today. Yeah, that’s the name. Nook.
All this info is coming from an ad that the Journal apparently saw in the New York Times Book Review section that’s dated Sunday, October 25. This ad states that the wireless, dual touchscreen reader – e-ink up top with color on the bottom – will be available Tuesday for a reasonable price of $259 and will enable it’s users to “Lend eBooks to friends.”
The rest of the details will likely be revealed either when Nook.com goes live or at tomorrow’s press conference. Either way, check back tomorrow for a hands-on look at the Nook. Idk, I kind of like the name. Nook.
I can dig it, as long as the battery life doesn’t suck. The one thing I like about the Kindle is that it lasts for days because e-ink is a passive technology. Hopefully no core functionality is tied to the touchscreen so you can still access your library without wasting precious battery life.
Battery life on the Nook is approx. 10 whole days on a full charge ( about 3 hours charge time ).
That is one seriously nice looking reader! Damn B&N, I’m impressed. I didn’t think it was possible to get any sexier than the Kindle, let alone doing so while offering some pretty cool innovation. Then you top it all off with an attractive price tag or at least one that matches the competition? I’m sold.
Sorry Kindle, but this thing is just too sexy and cool to pass up.
The Kindle sexy? Not by a long shot. It may work well, but it’s one ugly piece of electronics. This thing is pretty slick though. Sort of looks like something Apple or Sony would design.
If this comes out @ $259.00 and supports a fairly wide range of open formats my Sony 505 may be hitting eBay soon…
That looks so much prettier than the Kindle.
“That looks so much prettier than the Kindle.”
That’s not saying much. The Kindle is buttfugly…
Nook, better than Kindle
The name Kindle makes me feel like I am expected to be off burning books as some kind of Nuremberg rally. Way too “Fahrenheit 451″ for me.
Just think “backwards coon”.
Finally I can read my favorite books in color! Reading in grayscale is horrible for some. The Kindle is the BEST at not having finger prints. Keep those other finger print magnets away. I just bought mine – http://bit.ly/nHTEm recently from Amazon. Actually, the WSJ article (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703816204574483790552304348.html?ru=MKTW&mod=MKTW) doesn’t say it will be $259. It says it is unclear how much the product will cost and mentions that Amazon recently reduced the price of its cheapest Kindle to $259.
Dude, I don’t think the e-ink is color, just the bottom LCD is…
“Actually, the WSJ article doesn’t say it will be $259. It says it is unclear how much the product will cost and mentions that Amazon recently reduced the price of its cheapest Kindle to $259.”
Um, did you really just buy a Kindle? Your reading skills are a bit weak. The WSJ article specifically says that the B&N device price is $259–in the very first sentence of the article.
I know, so easy to miss things when they are exactly where they should be…
“A new electronic book reader is expected Tuesday from book seller Barnes & Noble Inc. that will challenge readers from Amazon.com Inc. and Sony Corp. with a color touch-screen and $259 price, according to a planned ad for the device.”
“Reading in grayscale is horrible for some.”
Black text on a light background is “horrible”?
The e-ink will be grayscale as the technology is not here yet to make it color. The color touchscreen element of the Nook is evidently for navigation and book purchase/downloading only.
It’s a brilliant design, I sure I hope I don’t regret having bought the Kindle at the inevitable price reduction to come.. And lending books, that’s one of the biggest drawbacks of the Kindle, I wonder how they deal with all the DRM issues.
Nook is a terrible name, however way one looks at it.
I like it better than Kindle – which does evoke thoughts of burning things.
Nook on the other hand makes me think of being curled up in a ‘nook’ enjoying a good read. Perfect!
The Kindle is ugly. I expect a foldable one (half the size of Nook) to hit the market soon.
Going to bed for some nookie now has a different meaning?
Who conceives these names?
Book nook? Breakfast nook? Rhymes with “book”?
I don’t think most of us went to “nookie” first.
A psychiatrist gives his patient a Rorschach test. He shows the first card. The patient looks at the ink blot and says, “A naked woman.” Second card. The patient says, “Two naked women kissing.” Third card. “A closeup of a breast.”
The psychiatrist says, “You seem to be obsessed with sex.”
The patient says, “Me? You’re the one showing me all the dirty pictures!”
Where can we get more info about the format and DRM aspect of all these ebook players such as B&N’s new ebook? That is a critical part of the consideration.
After all, the primary reason I hesitate to get a Kindle is due to the closed eco-system of the Kindle system, which makes Amazon the gatekeeper in that case. I hope that is not the case with most other options.
The irony is that Amazon does have an awesome MP3 store that is DRM-free with a large selection and often good prices. Yet that is a completely open format, which is preferrable.
On the note about Amazon, I recently came across an interesting table that details the discounts on Amazon.
It is at http://www.uberi.com
Maybe someone will find it useful too. While you are there, I would suggest checking out the “Amazon Filler Item” among other things there when you get a chance. It’s quite amusing. (I found it through either CNET or PC World, can’t quit eremember).
Thanks for the link Andrea. :)
As for your question about DRM? I’ve found the site below to be an excellent source of unbiased comparison regarding all ebook formats and devices.
http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Main_Page
As for the whole DRM issue in general? I agree and as such I’m leaning hard toward the EZReader 5″ model but the Nook may win out. We’ll see…
http://www.theezreader.com/
you can output kindle books in a non-drm format and from what i’ve been told there really not much difference between the kindle file format and the old *.mobi file format, which was pretty darn ubiquitous.
amazon also owns audible and those books are DRM’d out the wazoo. i always wonder why no one whinges about that.
that said…about the nook:
to me personally, the LCD screen at the bottom is B&N gussying up the one feature of the kindle i use the least (the keyboard) at the expense of the one feature of the kindle i like the most (the battery life — i’ve gotten 4 weeks on a single charge while reading heavily before.)
it’s almost inevitable that amazon will retaliate with its own type of ‘featureitis’ and add some sort of touchscreen keyboard to a next-gen kindle and frankly, i could just care less about such junk.
what would really rock my world would be some sort of dual-layer display where the LCD-based UI-type functions could be overlayed over the e-ink screen (used for reading) when needed. this would allow the reading area to be bigger and the UI to be colorful, shiny and whiz-bang enough so people could show off their latest gadget to their friends and feel an inch taller or some such dross. well, maybe someday.
still…there is much i find intriguing about the nook (the name? not so much.)
top of the list is the whole book-lending spiel. it kinda takes one of the biggest gripes people beholden to dead tree editions are espousing: you can lend out your hardcopy book. i’m very curious how this feature will work and how effective it will be.
the other big thing is using android vis-a-vis amazon’s java-based solution. i honestly think that in the long run, an android-based solution could have more legs in terms of extendability and addition of new features.
is all this enough to make me ebay my kindle and switch? not even remotely. sorry, B&N (who, to be honest, is one retailer/etailer i’ve kinda come to dislike over the years. more so than amazon by a significant margin, really.)
but it’s nevertheless the right kind of device for the market, imo — it definitely raises the bar from where amazon set it and that should inevitably result in amazon having to raise their game in response. when that sort of stuff happens, customers usually are able to reap the benefits, so color me excited.
Eh,
I’ll stick with my 4.8″ screen Viliv S5 to read BN’s ebooks. I paid more than doube the Kindle/Nook at $550 but then I get to read ebooks with a backlit screen, surf the web, listen to music, watch HD movies, take Skype calls, and then pop it into my car and use it as a GSP nav device.
Until they make a backlit version for $100 I’m holding out.
But I do like how BN.com has gotten serious about eBooks by reducing their prices, hopefully they’ll stick to their platform independent mantra.
Something not addressed yet. Will this be available just for US or the rest of the world too ?
Kindle’s international release is kind of disappointing because they still forget about a lot of countries.
Is wireless meaning “wifi” or that silly gsm/mobile based locked in connectivity?
Hopefully both so you don’t have to be in a wifi hotspot in order to download anything.
Wi-Fi and more :)
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/features/techspecs/
Would like to know about the rest of the world as well. Would love a European version of this thing… would buy it immediately.
I like the name better than “Kindle”
This is why Amazon should not be in the hardware business. They should be partnering with all hardware makers and supplying the content. Plastic Logic has technology, as does irex, that is way ahead of Kindle’s hardware.
I would buy a light-weight plastic reader with good contrast. I don’t care whether the books come from Amazon or Barnes and Noble. It’s the hardware that counts with these.
I want to know whether lending on the Nook ebook is going to be like music sharing on the Zune, where your friend has to have a Nook ebook in order for you to squirt at them.
I wonder if it will sync with the Barnes & Noble iPhone app? Hmm….
Very smart move of B&N! What blows my mind is that there is no info on the B&N website at all about the upcoming launch of this product. I am sure the international shopper would want this device as well, given the rush for the KIndle. B&N does not ship outside the US, luckily through sites like US Unlocked you can still get your hands on it.
Is that a backlit screen? I like the Kindle’s electronic paper better. Much easier on the eyes.
And, it looks a whole lot like a Kindle to me – sorry to those saying it looks better. It’s just a copy!
Will we able to use Nook in other countries since it has a wifi connection? This connectivity issue is making me go nuts.
I like the name nook. It seems like a good product. It will likely do well against kindle
I m impressed with this. Its really a latest & good thing. This will take the nation up.
I love the Kindle’s Text-To-Speech capability. With my 90-minute commute it is invaluable.
i would buy the nook but i hange my mind is giong with the kindle because the book are cheaper than BN e-book.