6 ms·

New BN eReader: iPad's first real competition?

13 points by dave1619 16y ago

dave1619 16y ago
Impressive specs for the new BN eReader by PanDigital: 7 inch screen (vs 10 inch for iPad) .5 inch thickness (same as iPad) 1 lb (vs 1.5 lb for iPad) 6 hour battery life (vs 10 hour iPad) 1gb internal storage with SD card (vs 16gb+ for iPad) full touch-screen runs Android only $199
- FluidDjango 16y ago
  I know it's been said so often before, but "specs don't bring in the general public." For B&N to make any inroads, they're going to have to do something more than build huge, dead product display areas like the one at my local BN store. Anyone see action around the "Nook" displays at their BNs?
  - yumraj 16y ago
    I think you missed some reports that Nook has been selling better than Kindle: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20003387-17.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20003387-17.html So, it seems to be doing OK.
    - GavinB 16y ago
      This is based on the number of items shipped. B&N needs to outfit every one of their stores, while Amazon only needs to supply a few warehouses. Also, Amazon has a headstart on production and may already a large number of kindles on hand. The numbers just aren't comparable.
    - Groxx 16y ago
      I certainly hope not, the Nook is a POS every time I've touched it. edit: ok, some justification. I've crashed it twice inside of 5 minutes (the third time I used it, it took 20 minutes). The display device had what looked like burn-in on the screen until it had refreshed the whole thing a half-dozen times. It was in a B&N, but it either couldn't connect to their network, or couldn't display the first page once it connected (first happened once, second twice). The interface requires a manual; I had trouble with it, and I've not seen anyone pick it up and get anywhere from just fiddling. They get frustrated and leave in a couple minutes. (sample size: 10+, plus chatting with 20+) P. O. S.
      - hugh3 16y ago
        What don't you like about it? I've been thinking of getting one, or maybe a Kindle, or maybe the Sony equivalent. I've been reasonably impressed by the readability of the Nook every time I've touched one, and that's all I really care about. Realistically I should probably remain indecisive for another year and there'll be something better available for $99.
    - mattmaroon 16y ago
      As an author whose book was published on one of B&N's imprints, I can tell you this first hand: do not underestimate B&N's ability to sell stuff. It's unbelievable. My book (Winning Texas Hold'em) was one of the best-selling poker books of all time, despite my not having notable appearances on nationally televised poker events. I sold far more copies than poker players who were considerably more famous than me for no reason other than my book was on the stand right when you walked in the door at thousands of their stores.
  - dpapathanasiou 16y ago
    Anyone see action around the "Nook" displays at their BNs? Not sure where you are, but here in NYC, the Nook has been in demand (I had to wait 2 months after ordering mine). Without knowing what the Pandigital screen actually looks like, the color aspect could be a game changer. We publish ebooks in full color, and the difference between how they look on an iPad versus Kindle/Nook is huge.
- keltex 16y ago
  Since Amazon announced their Kindle application for Android (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/google/another-nail-in-kindles-coffin-android-kindle-app/2119 http://www.zdnet.com/blog/google/another-nail-in-kindles-cof...), will you be able to read you Kindle books on this device?
  - dave1619 16y ago
    I think Google is not allowing tablet manufacturers to install Marketplace until Google finalizes an official tablet android os release.
watmough 16y ago
I hope this is a better device than the abomination that is the Pan Digital photo frame my mother in law bought me for Christmas. Crappy hardware, ugly, difficult to use. I'm looking forward to a profusion of great (and open) tablets to compete with the iPad, but I'm betting this won't be one of them, sadly. At $200, I doubt that's a capacitative screen, which is a deal breaker for people who are buying the machine to use themselves.
- dave1619 16y ago
  I agree... the screen is likely to be terrible, especially at the $200 price point. But it's still remarkable a $200 touchscreen 7" tablet.
- Groxx 16y ago
  I dunno, if you make the interface basic enough, and treat it as a reading device, I doubt there would be a need for a capacitative screen. Tap to go forward, tap back, and basic dragging is easily possible with other methods. Capacitative is just a bit more reliable (with fingers, worse with anything else) and reads multiple inputs more easily. If it's not a generic app platform, do you need multiple-finger input? Especially on a decent-sized screen? On an iPhone, certainly, there's no room to waste on UI, but on 7"?
jrockway 16y ago
The screenshot made me throw up a little bit in my mouth. I will stick with the Kindle -- I enjoy the minimalism. I don't want my electronic book to have an explosion of colors, or music, or videos, or photos -- "do one thing, and do it well". I already have a laptop and mp3 player.
- dkarl 16y ago
  I partially agree and don't see why you were downvoted. If you don't want to browse the web, then the Kindle's screen is far superior for reading. The Kindle needs more speed, better resolution, and a better interface for hopping around in a book, but I always put it in my suitcase when I travel, and given the choice between reading a novel on the Kindle versus reading a novel on a beautiful bright color tablet like the iPad, I would choose the Kindle. A tablet that has an e-ink mode will have a very large advantage in my book.
- tzs 16y ago
  I don't see how you can tell from that screenshot what the book reading application will be like. The screenshot is clearly showing some kind of home page type view.
lleger 16y ago
No.
Groxx 16y ago
800x600 resolution? For long-term reading? Count me out. I'll get an iPad before that, though I still think the future for reading is E-ink.
- glhaynes 16y ago
  But it's a 7" display instead of 10". So I'd think text resolution would be pretty similar. (Of course, it very well may not be a high-quality type of panel.)
  - Groxx 16y ago
    True. But Apple's shown they use utterly fantastic displays, unlike nearly everyone else. * shrug * I guess density could be good enough. I'll definitely go in and give it a run-through, but B&N hasn't exactly proven themselves as good device makers, IMO. (see another of my comments here, I won't go into it in this thread) ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1374992#score_1375363 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1374992#score_1375363 )
- CamperBob 16y ago
  It'll be interesting to see if that prediction bears out. I'm skeptical. E-ink may be better for reading than an iPad-class LCD device, but it's certainly not a hundred times better, and that's what it will take to avoid being completely steamrollered by iPad-class devices that can offer a hundred times more functionality. If E-ink devices are given away free in cereal boxes, then yeah, they'll win the market-share battle, but that's hardly a fair fight.
  - Groxx 16y ago
    Oh, me too, I've no idea if it'll actually happen. I just hope so. Or at least enough that it'll be a viable option, instead of having to deal with the mostly-crap lock-in readers we've got now. Emissive displays are a pain to read for a long time, IMO (and others), and they perform poorly in large amounts of light / outdoors. That, coupled with high power use, seems like a death-knell for my purposes. But I want a device I can take camping with me for a week, and never have to charge. And put ALL my books on, and screw paper forever. An iPad doesn't cut it for me (sans color-printed books / magazines of course, but I have precious few of those).

13 points by dave1619 16y ago

Impressive specs for the new BN eReader by PanDigital: 7 inch screen (vs 10 inch for iPad) .5 inch thickness (same as iPad) 1 lb (vs 1.5 lb for iPad) 6 hour battery life (vs 10 hour iPad) 1gb internal storage with SD card (vs 16gb+ for iPad) full touch-screen runs Android only $199

FluidDjango 16y ago
I know it's been said so often before, but "specs don't bring in the general public." For B&N to make any inroads, they're going to have to do something more than build huge, dead product display areas like the one at my local BN store. Anyone see action around the "Nook" displays at their BNs?
- yumraj 16y ago
  I think you missed some reports that Nook has been selling better than Kindle: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20003387-17.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20003387-17.html So, it seems to be doing OK.
  - GavinB 16y ago
    This is based on the number of items shipped. B&N needs to outfit every one of their stores, while Amazon only needs to supply a few warehouses. Also, Amazon has a headstart on production and may already a large number of kindles on hand. The numbers just aren't comparable.
  - Groxx 16y ago
    I certainly hope not, the Nook is a POS every time I've touched it. edit: ok, some justification. I've crashed it twice inside of 5 minutes (the third time I used it, it took 20 minutes). The display device had what looked like burn-in on the screen until it had refreshed the whole thing a half-dozen times. It was in a B&N, but it either couldn't connect to their network, or couldn't display the first page once it connected (first happened once, second twice). The interface requires a manual; I had trouble with it, and I've not seen anyone pick it up and get anywhere from just fiddling. They get frustrated and leave in a couple minutes. (sample size: 10+, plus chatting with 20+) P. O. S.
    - hugh3 16y ago
      What don't you like about it? I've been thinking of getting one, or maybe a Kindle, or maybe the Sony equivalent. I've been reasonably impressed by the readability of the Nook every time I've touched one, and that's all I really care about. Realistically I should probably remain indecisive for another year and there'll be something better available for $99.
  - mattmaroon 16y ago
    As an author whose book was published on one of B&N's imprints, I can tell you this first hand: do not underestimate B&N's ability to sell stuff. It's unbelievable. My book (Winning Texas Hold'em) was one of the best-selling poker books of all time, despite my not having notable appearances on nationally televised poker events. I sold far more copies than poker players who were considerably more famous than me for no reason other than my book was on the stand right when you walked in the door at thousands of their stores.
- dpapathanasiou 16y ago
  Anyone see action around the "Nook" displays at their BNs? Not sure where you are, but here in NYC, the Nook has been in demand (I had to wait 2 months after ordering mine). Without knowing what the Pandigital screen actually looks like, the color aspect could be a game changer. We publish ebooks in full color, and the difference between how they look on an iPad versus Kindle/Nook is huge.
keltex 16y ago
Since Amazon announced their Kindle application for Android (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/google/another-nail-in-kindles-coffin-android-kindle-app/2119 http://www.zdnet.com/blog/google/another-nail-in-kindles-cof...), will you be able to read you Kindle books on this device?
- dave1619 16y ago
  I think Google is not allowing tablet manufacturers to install Marketplace until Google finalizes an official tablet android os release.

watmough 16y ago

I hope this is a better device than the abomination that is the Pan Digital photo frame my mother in law bought me for Christmas. Crappy hardware, ugly, difficult to use. I'm looking forward to a profusion of great (and open) tablets to compete with the iPad, but I'm betting this won't be one of them, sadly. At $200, I doubt that's a capacitative screen, which is a deal breaker for people who are buying the machine to use themselves.

dave1619 16y ago
I agree... the screen is likely to be terrible, especially at the $200 price point. But it's still remarkable a $200 touchscreen 7" tablet.
Groxx 16y ago
I dunno, if you make the interface basic enough, and treat it as a reading device, I doubt there would be a need for a capacitative screen. Tap to go forward, tap back, and basic dragging is easily possible with other methods. Capacitative is just a bit more reliable (with fingers, worse with anything else) and reads multiple inputs more easily. If it's not a generic app platform, do you need multiple-finger input? Especially on a decent-sized screen? On an iPhone, certainly, there's no room to waste on UI, but on 7"?

jrockway 16y ago

The screenshot made me throw up a little bit in my mouth. I will stick with the Kindle -- I enjoy the minimalism. I don't want my electronic book to have an explosion of colors, or music, or videos, or photos -- "do one thing, and do it well". I already have a laptop and mp3 player.

dkarl 16y ago
I partially agree and don't see why you were downvoted. If you don't want to browse the web, then the Kindle's screen is far superior for reading. The Kindle needs more speed, better resolution, and a better interface for hopping around in a book, but I always put it in my suitcase when I travel, and given the choice between reading a novel on the Kindle versus reading a novel on a beautiful bright color tablet like the iPad, I would choose the Kindle. A tablet that has an e-ink mode will have a very large advantage in my book.
tzs 16y ago
I don't see how you can tell from that screenshot what the book reading application will be like. The screenshot is clearly showing some kind of home page type view.

lleger 16y ago

No.

Groxx 16y ago

800x600 resolution? For long-term reading? Count me out. I'll get an iPad before that, though I still think the future for reading is E-ink.

glhaynes 16y ago
But it's a 7" display instead of 10". So I'd think text resolution would be pretty similar. (Of course, it very well may not be a high-quality type of panel.)
- Groxx 16y ago
  True. But Apple's shown they use utterly fantastic displays, unlike nearly everyone else. * shrug * I guess density could be good enough. I'll definitely go in and give it a run-through, but B&N hasn't exactly proven themselves as good device makers, IMO. (see another of my comments here, I won't go into it in this thread) ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1374992#score_1375363 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1374992#score_1375363 )
CamperBob 16y ago
It'll be interesting to see if that prediction bears out. I'm skeptical. E-ink may be better for reading than an iPad-class LCD device, but it's certainly not a hundred times better, and that's what it will take to avoid being completely steamrollered by iPad-class devices that can offer a hundred times more functionality. If E-ink devices are given away free in cereal boxes, then yeah, they'll win the market-share battle, but that's hardly a fair fight.
- Groxx 16y ago
  Oh, me too, I've no idea if it'll actually happen. I just hope so. Or at least enough that it'll be a viable option, instead of having to deal with the mostly-crap lock-in readers we've got now. Emissive displays are a pain to read for a long time, IMO (and others), and they perform poorly in large amounts of light / outdoors. That, coupled with high power use, seems like a death-knell for my purposes. But I want a device I can take camping with me for a week, and never have to charge. And put ALL my books on, and screw paper forever. An iPad doesn't cut it for me (sans color-printed books / magazines of course, but I have precious few of those).