In designing its ‘Nook’ e-reader – which sold out before Black Friday (News - Alert) – Barnes & Noble said it asked its customers what they wanted in an eBook reader, and specifically designed a device to be the most full-featured, fun, easy-to-use eBook reader on the market.

 

 “With our nationwide footprint, Barnes & Noble customers can see, touch and hold nook,” said William J. Lynch, president of Barnes & Noble.com, in a press release announcing the device’s mid-November launch. “Our 40,000 booksellers are ready to help customers discover how easy it is to download and read eBooks on nook, and what a pleasure it is to have access to their favorite eBooks, magazines and newspapers any time and anywhere.” 

 

Turns using the nook is less pleasurable than hoped, said at least two major newspaper media critics who spent time with the e-reader.

 

Although Nook features the first Android (News - Alert)-based operating system, with a color touch screen for navigation and 3G wireless access on AT&T’s mobile broadband network, its technology leaves something to be desired, wrote the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg.

 

“Like the Kindle, the Nook has built-in cellular connectivity with no monthly charges,” Mossberg said. “But it also adds WiFi (News - Alert), which is free at Barnes & Noble stores, though mostly unusable at other commercial hotspots, because the Nook lacks a Web browser that would allow you to log in. The Kindle has a crude Web browser, but no WiFi.”

 

Mossberg also criticized the Nook’s battery life, saying it is worse than Amazon Kindle’s.

 

“It claims about 10 days of typical use with wireless off, and just two days with wireless on,” said Mossberg. “In my week of tests, with wireless on constantly, I had to charge it three times. Amazon rates the Kindle at 14 days of typical use with wireless off and seven days with wireless on, which squares with my own Kindle experience.”

 

New York Times tech writer David Pogue’s review was a bit more scathing.

 

“Navigating the Nook makes the 1040 tax form seem like a breeze,” Pogue charged.

 

Although Nook has a few hardware advantages, including a removable battery, a memory card slot and a slightly “trimmer” shape, Pogue said the Kindle is a better e-reader overall.

 

“It’s faster, thinner, lighter and much easier to figure out,” Pogue said. “Its battery lasts more than three times as long … Amazon also syncs with the Mac, PC, Kindle and iPhone (News - Alert) copies of your books, so you’re always on the page where you stopped, even if you’re on a different gadget. Any notes and highlighting you’ve added to your books also appear magically on your other gadgets.” 

 

The Nook has a few advantages over Amazon Kindle and Sony’s e-reader, however.

 

First is the fact that when you’re enjoying an afternoon in Barnes & Noble, in addition to getting free WiFi, Nook owners who enter a Barnes & Noble store can read books on their Nooks for free, and get help from staff members, Mossberg noted.

 

Second, the Nook features a memory card and removable battery.

 

Third, with Nook’s “LendMe” technology, users can reportedly lend a wide selection of eBooks to friends free of charge, for up to 14 days at a time.  Just choose the book you want to share and send it to your friend’s nook or iPhone, iPod touch, select BlackBerry (News - Alert) and Motorola smartphones, PC or Mac with Barnes & Noble eReader software.

 

However, “only about half of the commercial titles are eligible for lending, you can lend each one only once to a given person, and loans expire after two weeks, “Mossberg said. “In my tests, lending worked OK after a couple of false starts.”