New Nook Touch Screen Ebook Reader

The All New Nook is available to order here.

With a full touch-screen display, and the latest Pearl e-ink technology this is the latest, and the best ebook reader from Barnes & Noble so far.

Click for Pricing & Customer Reviews

The All New Nook is being marketed as the Simple Touch Reader.  But it is not to be confused with cheaper, inferior reading devices.

Our guess is that people with either love or loath the curvy wi-fi reader when it starts shipping on 10th June 2011.

The upgrade to Pearl e-ink will give the newer device much improved clarity, contrast and definition when compared to the Nook Classic eBook Reader.

Of course adding a touch screen to the entire display means that the new reader loses the cute colorful touch-screen panel that the old one had.  This means they have been able to condense the entire thing into a much smaller package (it now weighs only 8 ounces).  But of course some folks would have liked the touch of color that the older version had – it was particularly good when browsing your library.  And, though the new model is more portable and comfortable to hold, it seems to have a rather large frame.  But, on the plus side that plastic body has been given a rubberised feeling paint so it is super comfortable to hold in your hand.

Only available as a wi-fi device, the new Nook goes on sale on 10th June priced at $139 making it a hot competitor against Amazon’s wi-fi Kindle 3.

The big selling point for this is that touch navigation.  And, don’t worry they haven’t put a touch-screen film over the all important e-ink either, so there is no distortion of the display quality.  Instead the Sony Readers touch technology has been utilised.  This is based on infra-red sensors placed around the edge of the display that can see where you are touching the screen.  In fact you don’t have to touch it at all.  Hold your finger a hair’s breadth away from the display and you will get an instant reaction.  You can find out more detail about this amazing touch screen technology here.

Barnes & Noble are touting this as having a two month battery life.  Don’t be fooled though, it has the same battery life as the Kindle 3, its just that B&N are calculating theirs on users reading for only 30 minutes a day, whereas Amazon used to allow us an hour’s reading to estimate a battery life of one month!

But with ePub support, an expandable memory and new social applications to make lending and updating your friends about what you’re enjoying at the moment, the latest Nook Touch will attract a lot of interest, from those wanting to avoid the Amazon monopoly on Kindle formatted text.

Nook Ebook Readers

Barnes & Noble had 3 ebook readers available currently.  Their classic Nook reader comes in two variations (wi-fi, or 3G and wi-fi enabled).  In addition the company offer a reader’s tablet in the form of the Color Nook.

New Nook Touch – The Simple Touch Reader

The latest Nook is smaller, brighter, faster and much neater than ever.   A squat body and a black rubberised body give a new feel to the device.

Using infra-red touch screen technology lets you navigate more easily without compromising the display (which is new and improved Pearl e-ink).

Only available as a wi-fi reader this is running on Android but can not run any apps and is definitely a dedicated ebook reader for those on a budget.  If you want to read, and read only, it is just the ticket.  But we do wish it was a little more competitively priced!

Classic Nook Ebook Readers

Updated – please note since the introduction of the new touch-screen Nook the Nook Classic have been reduced in price and will be slowly phased out.

This is the big competitor to Amazon’s Kindle 3 reader.  Using the an e-ink Vizplex display the reading experience is very similar to the current Pearl e-ink used by Amazon.  It allows for low power and high definition, making it great for reading.

Where the device differs significantly is by adding a color touch-screen for navigation.  This does away with the need for a keypad and makes navigating menus and your libraries far more intuitive, as well as simply giving the device a sexier look.

There are two to choose from.  One offers both 3G and wi-fi whilst the cheaper versions has only wi-fi.

As with Amazon’s reader you have a basic web browser so can use the wi-fi connection to access your email and browse online.  Of course, this is a simple monochromatic display so you won’t find web browsing quite as enjoyable as from a tablet or computer, but for basic access it more than manages.

The Barnes & Noble store offer around 2 million ebooks for sale, and because this ebook reader supports ePub format you are free to buy books elsewhere relatively easily.

You get a library online so any B&N purchases (along with your notes) will be backed up for you to transfer to other devices in the future.  Of course there are Nook apps available for all the leading handheld gadgets too so that you can read on smart phones and tablets as well as the Nook reader itself.

Key benefits (for some at least), of the Nook over Amazon’s Kindle are:

• An SD slot so you can expand the memory as needed (around 1500 books can be stored on the internal memory alone).
• The color touch-screen panel for easier navigation.
• Ability to upload photos to the reader for use as personalised screen savers.
• The original book lending facility, which has since been adopted by Amazon too.
• The support of ePub so that downloading books from other sites is more easy.  However, you can convert ePub to Amazon’s .azw Kindle format with a little help from Calibre software.
• Ability to borrow ebooks from libraries (though Amazon are introducing this facility too in 2011).

The drawbacks are:

• Only a 10 day battery life (rather than up to 4 weeks.
• Note taking and annotations can be a little difficult to get used to on the Nook.
• The B&B ebook store is not as large as Amazon’s
• The price is $10 more for each than the equivalent Kindle.
• The older e-ink displays used on the Nook aren’t as high quality as the newer Pearl ones used by Amazon.

As far as we can see the classic Nook ebook reader is dieing a rather slow death at the expense of the Kindle, and its bigger brother the Nook Color Reader:

Nook Color Ebook Reader / Tablet

Whilst the original classic Nook is starting to look a little tired, B&N hit upon a rather impressive idea with the Nook Color, released in 2010.  Rather than using e-ink, this is a back-lit LCD touch-screen just like those used in modern tablet PCs.

In fact a tablet is what this really is, albeit a tablet designed with reading in mind as its primary function.

Of course, web browsing is a whole lot more enjoyable when you have the speedy refresh rates, and high definition color of an LCD screen.  But, you are unlikely to be using this at the beach since LCD also means lots of glare.

With its built in wi-fi you can surf and download new titles just about everywhere at no cost.

And, if you are simply itching to buy a tablet but don’t want to pay the hefty price tag associated with most apparently these can be hacked to make them run more like the Android tablet device it is.

Current views are describing the Kindle 3 as the best e-ink based ebook reader, and the Nook Color as the best LCD based one, and we think they are probably right.  Which also begs the question, when will Amazon release a Kindle tablet to compete?

Kindle Ebook Readers

The Amazon Kindle is the dominant force in ebook readers today, currently holding around 47% market share in the US.  Thanks to wireless capability, simple devices that work straight out of the box, their readers have caught the attention of even the most technophobic book-worms.

There are currently several different Kindle eBook Readers available to buy new:

• The Kindle 4 with wi-fi (with or without sponsored ads and special offers)
• The Kindle keyboard 3G and wi-fi (with or without sponsored ads and special offers)
• The Kindle Touch with wi-fi or 3G and wi-fi (with or without sponsored ads and special offers)
• The Kindle Fire Tablet wi-fi
• The Kindle DX with 3G

Click to View All Kindles & Customer Reviews

 6″ Kindle Readers

Now the first three are all extremely similar.  With their six inch Pearl e-ink displays they all offer exactly the same reading experience.  Where they differ is how you can access the internet and the Kindle ebook store on them.  You can choose either wi-fi, or the flexibility of wi-fi and 3G, so you switch depending on where you are.

You can also choose whether or not to have a “real” keyboard, or to use a touch-screen virtual one. Finally you can save your money and go for the simpler Kindle 4 which is not touch-screen and relies on a virtual on-screen keyboard.

7″ Kindle Fire Tablet

This is unique amongst the Kindle range. It is not a true ebook reader, but instead a multi-functional tablet computer, using a back-lit LCD display to make books, games and movies come alive.

9.7″ Kindle Reader

The last model, is the much larger DX with the 9.7″ Pearl e-ink display.  It has only 3G capability so you will need to check the coverage in your area before choosing this model.

Of course you can still always get hold of older models, either second hand or factory refurbished.  Until the factory refurbished models come down in price considerably I don’t really see the point in buying them, since the latest models have so much more improved displays and firmware.

The 3rd Generation Kindle Book Reader

By far the most popular Kindle reader to date, the 3rd generation model from Amazon uses the most advanced e-ink screen technology to date, and has the best internet browsing capabilities.

Kindle With Wi-Fi, or Wi-Fi & 3G?

Whether you go for the 3G + wi-fi, or simply the wi-fi only version will really depend on just how flexible you need the internet access to be.  For all your daily browsing needs (checking web based email, and facebook for example), you will rely on the wi-fi access.  For browsing the Kindle ebook store, viewing Wikipedia and other selected sites the 3G access will give you a faster connection, but only if you have a strong 3G signal.

Most of the time you will simply be reading, and for that no wireless access is needed, so switch it off and double the battery life, to around a month!

Cheaper Kindle With Ads

The latest addition, is a $25 reduced Kindle 3 with sponsored ads and special offers.  After the success of the introduction of the $114 wi-fi version, Amazon have now also released their 3G model with a discount offset by sponsored ads and discounts.

These ads will only appear as screen-savers and on the home-screen so they shouldn’t interfere with your enjoyment, and might be a worthwhile way to get hold of a cheaper ebook reader.

Kindle DX Reader

If you want (or need) a larger screen, you might wish to consider the DX model which has a significant 9.7 inch display.  Of course the size makes it a lot less portable and also far heavier than its little brothers.  But for those viewing PDF, work or newspaper files it might be worth the pay off.  Personally I would opt instead for the Sony PRS950 Daily Edition Reader.  With its touch-screen, wi-fi and 3G it is more flexible and not quite so hefty either!

Next Generation Kindle Ebook Reader

Amazon have tended to be pretty secretive when it comes to possible advances and developments within their Kindle department.  But bearing in mind that the company own a touch-screen business, are developing Android applications, and looking into color displays it seems likely that the next generation Kindle will offer something significantly different to the current batch.  A color Kindle option might be on the cards, thanks to e-ink Triton and Mirasol color, low energy displays, or perhaps even a totally new Android Kindle Tablet to join the ranks of the Amazon ebook reader family.

It now looks pretty likely that we will see two new Amazon tablet devices, a 7″ color tablet to perform as a more versatile Kindle, as well as a completely new 10″ Amazon tablet with a focus on video streaming and cloud computing via Amazon’s own mobile computing services.

Whatever the future Kindle looks like, you can be sure we will be excited to check it out as soon as possible!