Hands-On With New Barnes & Noble Nook

The new Corner from Barnes & Noble is lighter than a Kindle, simpler than a Kindle, and at $139 information technology's competitively priced with the Kindle. But behind information technology unseat Amazon's Kindle at the top of the e-book proofreader heap? It stands a chance a doing just that–once it becomes available June 10. The new Nook will replace the occurrent WI-Fi-only and 3G Corner models, and will Centennial State-exist with the Corner Color Reader's Tablet.

In demonstrations at a wardrobe upshot, I had the opportunity to take the new Nook for a twisting. From what I could see, the Nook's punch line, "The Simple Touch Reader" appears fitting. The new design Barnes & Titled Chief executive officer William Lynch said the new Corner was premeditated to appeal to non-techies. "You just push the Nook button and get right into the device," said Lynch.

The clean design has a single clitoris at the bottom of the screen and folio and scrolling buttons along the sides, practically hidden from looking like they're buttons. The Corner has significantly less clutter than the 38-button Kindle. The Provok has a full QWERTY keyboard beneath its display; the Nook relies on a adjoin screen keyboard.

Touch is the biggest news here: Or else of relying on those buttons, you can navigate exploitation the infrared touchscreen instead. In the demos, the display appeared responsive to the touch and scrolled swimmingly. Information technology actually seemed to excel on its touch reactivity, with little perceptible lag between commands. Swipes and pokes got quick responses and page turns were smooth and easy happening the eyes.

Video: Barnes & Noble Unveils New Nook E-Reader

Touching and holding a feel on a word of honor brings aweigh a menu of choices, including nonstop accession to Merriam-Webster's Desk dictionary. Affecting a spot on the screen and dragging your digit up or shoot down highlights a section of text, which can so be shared on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter; the social networking features use Nook Friends, a component already found on Nook Coloring. This characteristic, when demonstrated, worked fairly quickly.

Meanwhile, the six-inch projection screen was easy to read, and pages turns were fast. The company claims that the Nook suffers from 80 per centum less "flashing" between Thomas Nelson Page turns than otherwise e-book readers and at first flush, the unit seems to satisfy that claim. I institute the E Ink Pearl display comparable to other E Ink displays I've seen; dividing line seemed very good, too, which is one and only of the benefits to the Pearl display (which best appeared last summer on the one-third-generation Virago Kindle).

The Corner's size is more compact and easier to handle one-bimanual than before. It's an inch littler in height, and is extremely light at fair 7.5 ounces, Oregon 0.47 pounds–that's 35 percent lighter than its predecessor, and one and only troy ounce (operating theatre 0.06 pounds) lighter than the Amazon Kindle. The back has a soft-feel for rubber texture, which makes the e-reader model confidently and securely at issue.

The e-reader runs Mechanical man 2.1, which of course, is more ofttimes base in colourise covert tablets and smartphones. The habituate of Android 2.1 also bodes well for the Nook, which could possibly gain thousands of ported apps. The unit supports seven font sizes and six font styles. In addition to door-to-door downloads from the Nook e-bookshop, the unit supports ePub and PDF files foreign from elsewhere.

Lynch noted that the Nook achieves its stellar two months between charges attributable the combination of the unit's low-baron six-inch E Ink display and the new e-reader's trademarked electric battery management engineering.

With the integrating of touch, the Nook now has an butt against over its arch-rival, the Amazon Kindle. The touch screen is a major boost–information technology's an interface that appeals to users used to their touch screen cell phones.

Along Libra the Nook promises to be a solid Kindle competitor if non a Kindle Orcinus orca. With a snappy touch screen, a simple interface, access to huge e-book libraries and a undershirt-pocket-size, lightweight design that's easy to hold, the new Nook hits the ground running.