Should i buy nook color

This way, I could create a better comparison of the books available between Kindle and Nook. The results were a decent mix of non-fiction and fiction, including both brand-new books and classics.

There are undoubtedly some books that are still exclusive to one service or the other, but this at least shows that the selection should be roughly similar across both platforms. Besides the built-in store, you can also sideload your own books in ePub or PDF format.

The Nook seems to slow down when viewing PDFs with extremely high-resolution images I ended up freezing it while trying to read a high-res comic book , and there's no option to rotate PDFs.

If you want to read something oriented for landscape viewing, you'll have to rotate the file itself before copying it to the Nook. After using my GlowLight 3 for a few weeks, I'm impressed by how much of a fight it puts up against Amazon's e-readers. The GlowLight 3 does lack some of the features I liked on my Kindle Paperwhite, but the core reading experience is more or less the same.

The book selection also seems to be very similar, which I wasn't expecting at all. If you're looking to get an e-reader, and you don't want a Kindle for whatever reason, I definitely recommend picking up a Nook. It's rare that the underdog in a product category is so close in features with the market leader, but unless you love audiobooks, or you follow indie authors that don't publish on other platforms, you're not really losing anything by switching to a Nook.

Corbin is a tech journalist and developer who worked at Android Police from until Check out his other work at corbin. For a more complete rundown of the additions that are a part of the Nook Color firmware 1. Anyone who didn't like the interaction between the touch-screen color strip and the e-ink screen on the standard Nook will find the full touch-screen interface a breath of fresh air.

We also liked that the designers included a physical home button--it's the "N" at the bottom of the device--rather than a virtual one. The hard button makes going back to the home screen easier and it's well placed. That home screen is different than the ones found on most Android tablets we've seen. You can drag and drop items you want to have quick access to into the middle of the screen, then navigate by touching menus on the bottom and side of the screen.

Anybody who's used the iPad knows there are big advantages in moving to a touch-screen interface, especially when it comes to e-reading you can highlight passages with a finger, look up words in the dictionary by tapping on them, and so forth. We can't say those magazines will be a bargain price-wise, but they do look pretty good on the device. Yes, the screen is smaller than the iPad's, but you can zoom in and out by pinching and spreading your fingers, and there's a special "article view" that blows up the text and presents it in a more readable vertical column.

Also, with a tap of button, you can access a thumbnail view that lets you scroll quickly from page to page and select the page you want. It's also worth noting that the Nook Color does display video, and the company says, "Periodicals, available by subscription and single copy, will continue to become even more interactive next year. This is mainly due to the fact, that internet browsing is not really indicative to the Nook Color, especially if there are user fields for you to enter, we missed clicking fields many times, because even when we were totally zoomed in, they seemed small and feeble.

We almost were wishing they included a Stylus to be able to interact with the device while internet browsing. Although some websites that mainly written content, such as our own Good e-Reader Blog, were easy to navigate while surfing the internet, websites that had lots of fields, or complex websites did not look so good, and were a nightmare to navigate. From beginning to end, this device is great! The one feature I would say is going to create a ton of controversy is the LCD aspect of it.

Many e-ink purists may knock this device, saying LCD is not conducive to a proper e-reading experience. It comes down to a matter of preference. From Televisions, to MP3 Players, to Smartphones and computer screens LCD dominates our lives; some people find adapting to e-ink this late in the game is something they are not willing to do. Most people, who find themselves reading in lowlight conditions or reading at night, find e-Ink is not the best option for their environment. With LCD it does offer a back-lite screen so you can read in most circumstances, and with Vividview the new proprietary anti-glare system Barnes and Noble is employing, it actually reads better outdoors.

It will be interesting to compare Pixel-QI screens with VividView technology to see how they both rate. When it comes down to it, this unit is not as expensive as an Apple iPad, which is the device of choice for LCD based e-reading, if sales numbers do all the talking. Both screens are made with the same IPS screen technology, minus the Vividview, which allows for degree viewing angles of the screen.

Also the unit plays Youtube videos, although the resolution over WI-FI is not that great, it makes up for it when you load your own videos into it.

I think Barnes and Noble scored a total win with the Nook Color. After a few days of playing with it, it has been stable and easy to manage. I have encountered a few bugs and drawbacks of it, but nothing huge. For example, if you are on a website that has image bases Google Adds, they do not display well, it seems like the Nook Color has a hard time loading the animations that are built into them. While browsing Youtube videos we have had some troubles getting higher quality, even with P videos.

Also, there is an ongoing problem with the USB cable and various versions of windows. Apparently some of the cables that have shipped with the Nook Color are defective, and I had to use my Blackberry cable in order to even work the device. Other users report troubles with 64 bits of Windows 7 and Windows Vista and recognizing the device as a valid USB device.

Sign up here. NookColor vs. Kindle 3 NookColor vs. Kindle 3. Join the newsletter! Sign in with LinkedIn Sign in with Facebook. Keep up with the latest tech news, reviews and previews by subscribing to the Good Gear Guide newsletter. Chris Jager PC World.