Review of Nook Color (by owner)

The Nook Color for graduate students of the humanities - a review


As I looked into an ereader or tablet as a possible tool for graduate school, I
looked at everything from the Kindle to the iPad. Money was a factor, so the
iPad, for all it's coolness was out. On the other end, the e-ink Kindles and
Nooks looked attractive, but videos of their pdf support has me less than
impressed. So, I paid a bit more ($250, still half the price of an iPad), and
went for the Barnes and Noble Nook Color. This review will focus mainly on its
usefulness for me as a graduate student of the humanities (Spanish in
particular).Reading BooksThe Nook Color has a sharp
7-inch lcd touchscreen. Compared to e-ink, this has the disadvantage of "washing
out" in direct sunlight, but I really don't ever read outside. I have turned the
screen's brightness all the way up, and had no problem seeing the screen while
outside in the shade with the sun shining. Color and contrast are great, and
since you can adjust the brightness, I have found reading comfortable in a range
of lighting conditions. The screen size is also nice, as the entire device is
about the same size and shape as a trade paperback.As for reading, the
Nook comes with access to Barnes and Noble's ebook store, and you can load up
any epub file you download online. However, you can "root" the Nook, which
allows you to access the Android operating system that Barnes and Noble's
software runs over. This essentially makes the Nook Color an Android tablet, and
allows you to install Amazon's Kindle app as well, making both marketplaces
available to you. In the vast majority of cases, Barnes and Noble and Amazon
sell the same books for the same prices, but I have found that the Kindle store
has a better selection of free public domain books.As a graduate student
in Spanish, I do have to admit that the selection of ebooks in Spanish has a way
to come, but it appears to be getting better. My reading list includes a lot of
public domain books, so it's great being able to download those free, but the
more recent books are lacking. It seems that some new books are being put out in
ebook as they are published, though. For example, Edmundo Paz Soldán's latest,
Norte, is out for Nook, even though it has only been published in Spain.
It looks like I'll be able to save a lot on a book or two a semester this way,
but I expect the selection to keep getting better.One nice thing is that
you can highlight the text and make notes in both the Nook and Kindle apps, as
well as search for specific words or phrases. This is quite nice, but if you are
going to be writing a paper on a specific text, you'll still need a physical
copy, at least until the MLA recognizes ebooks and has a way of citing them. I
can see myself search the text, then seeing what chapter I'm in to find it in
the physical book for citation.PDFsOne of the main
reasons I have the Nook Color is to view PDFs. I was tired of printing off reams
of paper to read once, so being able to read it comfortably on a screen seemed
attractive. The native PDF reader is OK, but I highly recommend springing 99
cents and getting the app ezPDF. Pinch to zoom makes adjusting to different
kinds of pdfs (one or two columns, etc.) easy, which was one of the big
advantages over the e-ink readers. You can highlight, make notes, and such, and
if the PDF is one of the good ones with selectable text, you can read the PDF in
reflowable text rather than its PDF formatting. A lot of my PDFs are bad scans,
so even though you can't select the text, you can highlight by drawing a box
around the parts you want to remember.Other Good
StuffOther than that, if you root it, you can install all sorts of
other apps. I have Netflix and Youtube running on it, games like Cut the Rope
and Angry Birds, and the screen is great for surfing the web. Even though I
mainly use it as an ereader, there are lots of other uses for it.