Nook Color Review Round-up
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B&N seems to have finally started shipping demo and pre-ordered Nook Color units. It’s no wonder a ton of unboxing and review pieces covering Nook Color have been published just in the past couple of days. Nook Color is a very interesting device. It may not have an E-ink screen, but it does offer a better Android experience over its predecessor and does not cost too high. The color screen should make a lot of e-book fans happy (as long as they don’t plan to read a whole lot under direct sun light).
Most of those who have had a chance to review this unit are in general impressed with the device. Many were impressed with the improved LendMe feature. The larger screen does make a difference as does the color on it. The battery life has been surprisingly good considering the circumstances (some have gotten a day or two of work per charge).
While Wired.com was impressed with the device, it did see room for improvement for Nook Color:
NOOKcolor may not make anyone with skin in the mobile media reader game happy. It doesn’t have the 3G connectivity or battery life of the Kindle, which makes it harder for road warriors. Even though it’s an Android tablet, it doesn’t have full access to the Android market. It doesn’t have the giant screen and computing power of an iPad.
Do you know who that leaves? Everyone else. Millions and millions of people — who have a phone and a PC, who don’t scour the web for tech news, and for whom a device that costs $250 that does a little bit of everything pretty well and a subset of things extremely well is extremely compelling proposition.
Computer World was also impressed with Nook Color. But it put its fingers on the right issue (lack of an E-ink screen):
NookColor makes a strong case for the color e-reader, and it does so in a far more compelling way than any other device has so far. Still, for all of its screen enhancements, I wouldn’t suggest an LCD e-reader like NookColor if you will primarily use it outside in direct sunlight.
Nook Color does seem to have a lot of potential. It will never be a traditional e-ink type e-reader. At the same time, once B&N allows developers to develop third party applications for the device, the sky will be the limit.
What is your take on NookColor?
