An Engadget reader sent in an early hands-on report on his brief experiences with the Barnes & Noble Nook—along with some photos.
It is still too early to judge based on these preliminary reports, but the reports are not entirely encouraging. Apparently there is some lag between the small color screen and the larger e-ink display, the system for wireless browsing in stores will not be in place until 2010, and when it is it will be limited to an hour at a time rather than the unlimited period that had been touted earlier.
A few days ago, Engadget reported that the ship date for new Nooks has slipped to January 11th.
(Note: Under a different headline, this item appeared earlier. We’ve given the post a fresh time stamp so it can once again be at the top of the blog—for those who missed it. Also, we changed the first link to refer to an individual item still online. – D.R.)
Related: Ellen DeGeneres holds Nook upside down during demo (video).
Sounds awful. The LCD touch panel is so slow and sluggish he reports he hated it, couldn’t wait to get to the eInk screen, and it should’ve been an eInk touchscreen.
I sure hope they can speed it up before too many users get the word out. Otherwise B&N is in big trouble here.
That link just goes to the main Engadget page. What’s up with that?
Hi, Karen. Not sure what happened, but I did track down a German Engadget article and linked to a Google translation. Perhaps Chris can find a permanent link to an English-language item if it exists. Either way, he made quite a find. Thanks for the catch! David
Another early reviewer didn’t seem to have any problem with the performance:
http://www.nookboards.com/forum/index.php?topic=361.0
“The touch screen is very responsive, and the controls for the reading screen are quite easy, too.”
Thanks, Jim—that’s exactly why Chris emphasized that the report was just preliminary. Users can disagree, and individual units can differ. Let’s hope the other version is on the money. David
Yeah, I’m looking forward to seeing more reviews over the next week or so, as people get their units. I’m also planning on popping into one or two of the B&N’s near me to check out their demos and get a feel for it.