Barnes and Noble officially released their second generation Nook called the, Nook Simple Touch Reader yesterday. At $139 with free shipping, it is a little more than half the price of the ever-popular NOOK Color, but what does it offer in comparison to the NOOK Color and the 1st Edition NOOK? What benefits does it have over the market-leading ebook reader – the Amazon Kindle?
The first thing you will notice about the new NOOK 2 ebook reader is the lack of buttons. Although there are some “ridges” on the sides to allow you to advance forward in your eBook, the idea is to utilize the touch screen instead to peruse page by page. The touch screen comes as no surprise, as most eReaders are taking a tip or two from Steve Jobs and making their devices more and more like the ever-popular iPad.
The screen size is 6″ and uses E-Ink Pearl technology to display the text on the screen. The contrast and clarity is improved from the previous NOOK, and as always, the ebook reader is easy to use when outside in the sun, something that the iPad cannot boast over the uni-tasking eReaders available on the market today.
The best thing about the Barnes and Noble NOOK Touch Reader is the battery life. In comparison to the Amazon Kindle, the new Barnes and Noble NOOK has approximately three times more battery power, allowing an individual to read for about 150 hours, versus 56 on the Amazon Kindle. For those who read a few hours a day, this comes out to about two months of reading on a single charge. Not bad at all, considering the first edition of the NOOK could only go about ten days.
Of course, there are some downsides to the new Barnes and Noble NOOK. It appears a little bland, due to its gray-scale display and basic “tech gray” color, but it serves its function for book-reading. However, if you’re more of a magazine or newspaper reader, you may prefer the NOOK Color instead due to its full color graphic display, but plan on shelling out another hundred dollars or so for the privilege.
But the new Barnes and Noble NOOK has made some great strides since the first generation model, especially when it comes to its response and page refreshing abilities. The E Ink display that the NOOK utilizes can sometimes have a “ghost effect” when pages are changed, but this is greatly reduced in the new NOOK 2 in comparison to the first generation model.
The new NOOK Touch Reader is priced at the same market retail value as the Amazon Kindle Wi-Fi, at $139, which makes eReader shoppers wonder: which one is better? The Amazon Kindle does not offer touch screen capabilities, is a little larger in size, and weighs about an ounce heavier than the new NOOK, but all in all, the reading experiences are similar on both. But with the release of this new second-generation NOOK, what can we expect from the upcoming Amazon Kindle rumored to be released in early fall?