Barnes & Noble’s Nook Makes a Turnaround

Barnes & Noble’s Nook e-reader owners are able to install the 1.2 update. With a sigh of relief, the software upgrade is meeting expectations. Although, highlighting can still be a bother, it feels as though Barnes & Noble is finally perfecting its e-reader. The big question is, “Is it perfect enough so as to be considered as a worthy competition to Amazon’s Kindle?”

The Nook first shipped in December of 2009, but received some negative reviews. Users complained about slow page refreshes and slower response of the touch screen. With 1.2 however, users will find faster refreshes and a responsive touch screen. The UI on the nook has been updated to make the buttons three dimensional for screen navigation. The cursor moves more quickly as well.

Frustration still lies with the highlighting, though. In order to select text to highlight, you have to tap buttons that are displayed in a circle. The buttons are small, and hard to tap. Additionally, the nook doesn’t synchronize bookmarks, highlights, or notes with other versions of the Barnes & Noble eReader apps. Nooks will finally be available in Barnes & Noble stores this week, and they should already have the 1.2 upgrade applied.

If you are a Kindle user, the nook won’t “wow” you. Barnes & Noble created a product that competes with the Kindle 2. It is slightly shorter and narrower than the Kindle, but one ounce heavier. The nook has a color touch screen-3.5 TFT Color LCD, touch control, and navigation where users can quickly view book covers in the nook’s library. Barnes & Noble offers up over 500,000 free titles for its nook users and exclusive content like free e-books and promotional offers when in a Barnes & Noble store.

One of the unique features of the nook is the “LendMe” technology. You can lend e-books to friends and family for up to 14 days. With that being said, you won’t be able to read the book yourself until you get it back after the 14-day period. The person you lend the book to doesn’t need to use a nook as they can download free eReader software for a variety of platforms such as iPhone, iPod touch, PC and Mac OS to name a few with promises of more platforms. Books can only be lent once, and there are only certain titles that apply.

All in all, it seems like Barnes & Noble has entered the market with strength this time, offering a product that can compete with the Kindle. Not only in looks, but functionality as well . . . finally.