Last week B&N released update 1.3 for the nook. I’ve had mine for about two months now and while I love the convenience of it, there are definite drawbacks. One of the major annoyances was the lag between page turns. I could count one-onethousand, two-onethousand, three-onethousand before it would switch pages. That may not seem like a long delay, but when you’re in the middle of a sentence – or sometimes a word – it really is. I’m happy to report this update takes care of that. I’m also really happy with the added battery life. The battery used to last for a day, maybe a day and a half. Since the update I can read for a week or longer and not run out of battery.
Unfortunately those are about the only reading issues this update addresses. They’ve expanded the reading capabilities in-store; you can now read full ebooks on site – for up to one hour. They also added wifi capability in more areas, but overall I’m mostly unimpressed with the update.
Games: I find the addition of games to be rather silly. This is a reading device. Why do I need games on it? Not only does it seem unnecessary, but using the LCD touchscreen to play them is awkward because the screen is so small and you have to scroll constantly back and forth to make changes. Plus, the choice of games is..well, I guess Chess and Sudoku wouldn’t have been my first choice, especially considering the LCD touchscreen size.
Browser: The idea of having a browser on the device is great in theory. In practice it doesn’t work so well. Again the LCD Touchscreen doesn’t lend itself to easy browsing. I had no problems logging into Gmail and Goodreads, but trying to navigate the sites was almost ridiculously hard. The major drawback, IMO, is that it runs solely on wifi and can’t be used with the 3G network. The only place I really connect using wifi is at my house..and I have internet here. So why would I need a browser on my nook? I think if they want to make it effective they’ll have to open it up and allow browsing on the 3G.
I do like the new home screen. Having icons for all applications on the home screen is nice so I don’t have to hunt for them (ie, audio player and wifi).
I would have preferred more reading upgrades over the addition of games and a browser. The ability to organize my bookshelf still remains the #1 thing on my wishlist.
Something I’m curious about, unrelated to the update : I heard a rumor way back before its release that you can only lend a book once on nook. Does anyone know if that’s true? I lent one to my brother about a month ago and I tried to lend it to him again yesterday and I couldn’t..the lend link isn’t there anymore. Anyone else have this problem?
I just got a nook 2 days ago so I didn’t know that some of these things were new and part of the update. Glad I missed the page lag and the battery issues. I’ve charged it once since Wednesday and the power is still almost full.
I like the sudoku game on it, but the nook is more for reading than games.
I agree that the browser is hard to work. I got frustrated with it quickly. The nook is not going to be a replacement for my laptop anytime soon.
Oh I also loved going to B&N and using the nook there – especially the coupon for nook users for a free dessert at the cafe. (I am easily bought by food).
I love my nook I just got it for mothers day. But my battery seems to drain really fast even with the update. I charge it and by that night it is down to 63%. Any suggestions would be appreciated I did exactly what the directions said. I also would like to see some organizational tools like folders to put organize authors and what not. As for the games I can’t play either one they better get a word search or something.
To preserve battery life I leave mine in airplane mode most of the time. Because really I don’t need wifi unless I am shopping or downloading things. The WIFI and mainly the 3G uses lots of batter power. With it off…I can lave my Nook for days and come back and it is still not under 50%.
As for the LEND ME feature. Yo ucan only lend a book once to the same person is my understanding. So if you lend your brother a book, after the 14 days it expires and gives him the option to buy the book…but you cannnot relend him the SAME book. I assume this is some copyright type issue.