Ray Hendon

MG Siegler of Tech Crunch Blog has posted an account of his one hour session with the rumored Amazon Kindle. His time with the new entrant into the tablet arena is instructive as for what to expect from Amazon this coming November.

Rumors of Amazon’s entry into the iPad territory have been too widespread to be ignored for the last few months, and it looks now that the final touches are being added to the new device, with the expected date of release during November—in time for the 2011 holiday buying season.

The picture shown is a guessed-at look based on Mr. Siegler’s description of what he saw.

The fundamentals of the new tablet are:

· A 7-inch tablet with capacitive touch sceeen.

· Internally illuminated—no e-ink to be found, and color defines the experience.

· Tight integration with all of Amazon’s current offerings: e-books and magazines, downloadable music and videos, the Amazon market place in place of Android Market.

· Android is the underlying operating system, but we may not recognize it because of the extensive modifications Amazon has instituted in the interface. No Honeycomb or otherwise a recognizable Google version of Android—this it Amazon’s baby all the way.

· Cost is $250—about the same as the Color Nook of Barnes and Noble.

· A 10-inch version will not be this year, but one may be released early next year.

· A full browser included.

· Mr., Siegler guesses the 7-inch version will be a single-core processor. The 10—inch, he assumes, will be dual core.

· Minimal RAM (probably 6GB) emphasized the “cloud” nature of the device.

· WIFi only for the first version, but Amazon will be working with carriers to bring a 3G/4G version to the market later.

· No camera.

· Overall looks are similar to the RIM Playbook.

Overall the new entry is designed more to compete with the Color Nook rather than the iPad, or so it appears. The 10-inch version will be more in the iPad’s category.

With the price point now revealed, or at least guessed about, it is becoming clear that the 7-inch tablets do not compete well with the 10-inch models. The original 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab now going for $200 from Verizon, with a service contract for 3G services, and the Color Nook priced at $250, it is clear that 7-inches will sell at a price size-adjusted for the area of the screen.

Having used the Galaxy Tab 7-inch model for a month or more, this seems about right. There is a huge difference between surfing on the iPad vs. the Galaxy Tab. $200-$250 seems about right using screen area as the dominant criterion.

As an e-Reader, however, the 7-inch device has advantages over the 10-inch devices. The lightness and small size allow the G-Tab to be held with one hand and held for a long time. The iPad is simply too heavy and clumsy for prolonged one-handed operation.

With the heft of Amazon’s marketing and strong and loyal installed base of e-Readers, Amazon is going to be accounted for in this new area. Although late to the party, they will get some notice, and they will probably outdistance the Nook efforts for their fine color machine. The game isn’t over just yet.

Ray Hendon

Sony has finally gotten into the tablet market, and they have done it with  Sony’s typical independent notion of how a tablet should be. 

The pictures above are of the two models, the S1 and S2.  The S1 is the more conventional tablet design.  It has a 9.4-inch screen, making it quite close to the iPad2.  Its internal specs are what all other Android tablets are using, an NVIDIA Tegra 2 1GHz processor.  Also typically, Sony is superimposing its own user interface on top of Android 3.0.

The S2 has two 5.5-inch screens and folds over into a clamshell design that can fit in an inside pocket of a suite coat.  Sony takes advantage of the two screens with a custom book-style UI layout for its e-reader app, split keyboard and messaging displays for email, and split display and game controllers for PS One gaming. Both the S1 and S2 are PlayStation Certified, support DLNA, and are WiFi and 3G/4G “compatible”

Both devices aren’t schedule to reach dealer shelves before September.  But this lateness doesn’t deter Sony from aiming at the number two position in the tablet market.  For now Samsung’s Galaxy Tab is number two, but it is a far distant from number one, and the competitors are coming fast and furious.  Sony is late to the party, so I remain skeptical of their goal.  We won’t be seeing any hands-on reviews on their new devices for some time.

One other interesting point, however.  It appears that Sony is planning on a wide adaptation of the small screen S2 as an eReader.  They are making special arrangements for the dual screen to accommodate their eReader software, and the size is right for most stand-alone units.  I’m not so convinced that their odd clamshell will be a compelling item.  I thing that the Nook Color is closer to the right form factor for eReading, but I could be wrong.

There is an old country song that began with the lyric: “Won’t you by my number two?  Number one and I are through.”  Sony hopes this sentiment will carry them to a profitable relationship with those who reject number one.

There seems to be a misunderstanding about eReading on the various operating systems that power many of the new tablets coming to market this year.  Some fear that the larger screens and new operating systems will not be able to read electronic texts of the major vendors.

Each of the major new tablets is reviewed below for its ability to read Kindle, Nook and Sony electronic formats.

Android Tablets

There are four Android tablets that are either out now or will be soon.

· The Motorola Xoom is on sale now at Best Buy and at Verizon stores.

· The LG G-Slate is expected this month.

· Galaxy Tab 10.1 doesn’t have a date set, yet.

· Acer has its Iconia Tab A500 set for a date sometime in April.

All are slated to run Android 3.0, the Honeycomb version, and the first Android system made for large screen formats. The new version of Android is a source of much of this confusion. Earlier versions of Android were written for cell phones with their 3 and 4-inch screens. It appears that some believe that the new software will not work with the older eReader applications that were written with small screens in mind. The pictures below show the Kindle apps that Amazons offers its customers.

Note that the second icon from the left, the Kindle for Android, is depicted as a smartphone. This is probably the origin of some of the confusion. Android versions from the first through version 2.2.1 were written for this size screen. However, the new Android 3,0 scales these apps to larger screens with good results.  The problem of clunky graphics that plagued the iPad for apps that were brought over from the iPhone, are largely avoided by Android. (Update 4/23–Amazon announced a few days ago that they were re-writing their Kindle App for Adroid 3.0.  So any problems with the larger screens will be addressed with the new release. RH)

The Galaxy Tab 7 uses the older version Android eReading apps, and the Kindle eReader works well on it. The same is true for the new Honeycomb versions of tablets. I checked Motorola’s Xoom yesterday and the Kindle app scales well on the larger 10.1-inch screen. I can say the same for an independent eReading app from Aldiko. The reading page looks fine on both apps and all the font and brightness controls available on the small-screens  work as they are supposed to.

The only drawback to the scaling is that when the Xoom is turned horizontally, neither the Kindle app not the Aldiko switches to a dual-pane display—this feature isn’t available to the small-screen versions of eithr reader.  I suspect that Amazon will make this adjustment quickly, however. They made it for the iPad within the first month it it going one sale.

I mention this because on wide screens a dual- pane division is helpful to the reader. Long lines are hard to follow, and a dual pane window solves the problem nicely.

The absence of a dual-pane switch tells me that Amazon and Barnes and Noble will most likely rewrite their reader software for the larger Android screen.

The picture below is of devices for Nook eReaders.

They match up well with Amazon with the exception of a Windows Phone 7 app, but that will probably have one soon. The scalable properties of the Nook are the same as for Amazon and Aldiko, so Nook owners need have no fear of buying an Android tablet.

Other Operating Systems: HP’s WebOS and BlackBerry’s QNX

Kobo is the only eReader app available for the Palm/HP WebOS. The Palm Pre is shown on the far right in the picture below.

The Pre runs the Palm OS that HP now owns.  HP has enhanced the OS and blown it up for the larger tablet screens. It isn’t known how the older apps will scale to the new 10.1-inch dimensions of the HP Touch Pad’s. But I cannot imagine HP not taking care of this issue before releasing their new tablet, scheduled sometime in the summer of this year.

I feel confident that HP’s new WebOS will have a full complement of reader apps when the time comes for them to go on sale. HP has too much credibility in the industry not to be able to convince Amazon and others to build reader apps for its tablet and smartphones.

RIM’s BlackBerry Playbook has several options of bringing their existing eReaders to the new seven-inch platform. First, with their huge installed base of BlackBerry smartphones, no book seller is going to be caught without a new app ready for it the day it is introduced. (Rumor has it that April 10^th will be the day).

RIM has also said that the Playbook will be able to run legacy apps from its earlier OS days, so existing apps from Kindle, Nook, and Kobo, for example, would be able to run on the new OS. There is also the real possibility that the new OS of BlackBerry will be able to run Android apps. Company executives have dropped the hint that they are considering making it compatible with Android —their hardware inside the tablet is certainly capable of being programmed to do it, and I would not be surprised to see it happen.  (Update 4/23–the only eReading app ready on the day of its release was Kobo.  I noticed the Kobo icon on the home screen when I checked the Playbook out at my local Best Buy store.  Kobo will read ePub files, so early adopters of the Playbook will have plenty of reading material available from day one.  RH)

Windows Tablets

On the few tablets that run Windows, all of the major booksellers already have software for it.  If it runs on your PC, it will run on a tablet.

This is not true for Windows Phone 7, however.  The eReader apps will have to be re-written, but that is already underway. Kindle had their app pre-installed on Windows Phone 7 smartphones the day they were introduced. Also, there are no expectations that this new operating system will be ready for a tablet until sometime in 2012.

Whether they will be as easily scalable as Android, though, we cannot know for certain until Microsoft steps forward with more details.

Overall it looks good for those who enjoy reading on electronic devices. The options are growing daily, and many of the new tablets have features that exceed what we have come to expect from laptops and the iPad. With the syncing ability of the major vendors of electronic titles, it is easy to switch devices without losing your place and without having to buy new copies.

As more magazines and newspapers become available in an electronic format, we can expect more and more time spent reading our favorite material whenever and wherever we happen to be. This is the liberating power of the new technology.

For its first years of existence eReading existed in a black and white world, satisfied with emulating the texts of printed pages.  This system worked well enough, and millions of individuals who loved books and reading found it a joyful experience.  Nook Color Shown Below

The iPad, which exploded into the industry last April 3rd, is now beginning to change the equation.  Being one of the early buyers who eagerly followed my shipping number from Hong Kong to my home, I immediately tried the new reading software Apple included in the package.  

It was clear that color added much to the experience, but only if graphic material was included with the text.  Almost none was, so the full benefits of adding color were confined to the book covers that were displayed when accessing the library of iBooks and the single free book that Apple included with the package, Winnie The Pooh.  It had color illustrations included with the text and gave an indication of what was to come.

The popularity of the iPad as an eReader was quick to take hold, even if many of the readers used Amazon’s Kindle for the iPad to get their reading material rather than iBooks, the native application lodged in iTunes.

About a month ago Barnes and Noble introduced their color eReader, the Nook Color, and now publishers are beginning to incorporate color illustrations within the text materials of their popular children’s titles.  Both B&N and Apple have special contracts with publishers for new titles that is now just a trickle but will reach flood volume before this time next year.  Color content will push the leading edge further and faster into the next generation of electronic reading. iPad and Galaxy Tab shown to left and below.

The iBooks store today introduced 100 new titles that incorporate color, including children’s books, photographic essays and cook books available for download to the iPad. 

B&N has some titles available now, and contracts with major publishers to handle their libraries of color print as soon as they are digitized.

In a quote published by the New York Times,  Jon Anderson, the publisher of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, said the publishing house had been “itching to do it since e-books became possible,” but there were always limitations because the books were in color.

“It finally gives us the opportunity to have our picture books join the e-book revolution,” Mr. Anderson said in an interview. “It gives us a great opportunity to monetize our content in a way that we previously haven’t been able to.”

Mr. Anderson also indicated that their plans for early 2011 are to introduce the electronic version of new titles at the same time they release the printed edition.

Harper Collins released two children’s books through Barnes and Noble for the Nook Color:  “Amelia Bedelia” and “Fancy Nancy” series.  These titles have been available on the Nook Color for about a month.

There are a batch of new reading devices with full color coming to the market.  All the Android tablets out now have the native ability to read color illustrations, but their reader software software needs to be updated, which it probably will be soon enough.

In less than a month the Consumer Electronics Show begins in Las Vegas, and there we can expect a deluge of new tablet computers running a bevy of operating systems, all with color built in.  So the move to color will be accelerated for the rest of the year.

From my personal experience, I still use my Kindle 2 to read books, and I continue acquiring new titles.  But my tendency is to put them on the iPad, too, and more and more I find myself using it as my first option for short reading sessions.  For longer periods or out of doors reading, which I don’t do much, the Kindle is still preferred, but it is losing its position in my lineup as the primary tool used for reading electronic materials.

 I expect authors and publishers to take to the new medium with enthusiasm and begin creating new ways to incorporate color illustrations and videos into their work in the future. The traditional book as we know it will most likely yield to the new medium as it is more fully understood.

The revolution began in the first half of this year.  It will only gather momentum as 2011 unfolds, and like all true revolutions, there will be no going back.

Kobo, whose deal with Borders as a featured eReader for that firm, catapulted its name into the visible sphere of those interested in electronic reading.  But, this device has captured neither a compelling presence nor a strong following. 

Its price was too high for the poor design and performance it offered.  Only those entirely new to the industry would fork over enough money to buy the supremely competent Kindle or Nook in order to take home a cheap knockoff with subpar performance. 

Now Kobo has upgraded its performance.  It has 16-gray scale resolution, and a Pearl E-Ink display. It is faster in page turns and higher contrast—all welcome, but still a little short of adequate.

Kindle, Sony eReaders, and the Nook are still far better and more polished, and, except for Sony, sold at the same price. 

In my view, Kobo would be attractive at a price of $79.95, but at $139 it is not.  If Borders wants to join the digital age of electronic reading it must do better than that.  Otherwise, they must be content to become the defining standard of the cheap end of the user spectrum.  All the cheap tablets from Cruz, Andros and others form a motley lineup of reading devices that all are pulled in from the back alleys of the industry.

There may be a profitable place for this position, but it seems odd for Borders to settle for such a demeaning spot, given that they sell the same quality books that Amazon and B&N sell.  They need to add some quality to their product line or they will slip down the slope of second rate.

Specifically, the reviewer for PC World criticized its operations because of discernable screen flicker when turning pages, and sluggish operations, poor ergonomics and unpolished navigation buttons. 

Its on-line bookstore is far to slow to allow for a pleasurable stroll through the inventory of books Kobo offers.  Screen refreshes at the on-line store were SLOW to the point of distraction—not what you want when shopping for a new title to read.

For a more detailed review of the new device, follow this link.

From engadget, the following quotation: “About a year ago, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said he believed general-purpose gadgets were the future, and dedicated devices such as the Kindle were on their way out. Early numbers suggest he may be right.”

A marketing research firm, ChangeWave, tabulated results from the 2,800 people who responded  to their survey of eReading.  The results, shown in the graphs below, indicate that the iPad is rapidly gaining on Kindle as the eReader of choice. 32 percent said they used an iPad as an e-reader, while 47 percent said they used a Kindle.

If the survey results are truly representative of all those who use eReaders, the iPad is headed for domination of this market by the middle of next year.  This is a phenomenal rate of a market shift in response to the iPad and, probably, by implications, all color multipurpose tablets.  E-Ink, again, if these results are a true indicator of the buying public, is soon to find itself relegated to the back burners.

ChangeWave also asked their respondents about their plans for purchases of eReaders within the next  30 days: 42 percent said they were likely to buy an iPad, while 33 percent said they’d probably buy a Kindle.  These results are graphed in the second chart, below.

The story doesn’t end here, though.  The repercussions for the sale of eBooks, supposedly what they all are aiming for, promises to help sooth the pain for Amazon.  Its eReader software for the iPad and Android devices continues in widespread use, so the sale of eBooks by Amazon will probably continue prospering, regardless of the fate of its E-Ink reader.  According to research firm Cowen, Amazon sales through the eBook store were on track to grow 195 percent to $701 million this year.

The evidence on the side of Amazon’s eBook software, however, is clouded by the revelation from ChangeWave that 60% of iPad customers whom they surveyed are downloading apps through the iBooks store while only 31% go for the Kindle app.

This particular statistic may or may not be stable over time.  New owners of iPads are likely to use the iBooks store and its eReader more at first, but as they gain experience, and sample the virtues of Amazon’s larger library and well-functioning reader app, they may migrate more to Amazon’s side.  At least anecdotal evidence supports this interpretation of the maturing process of eReading on the iPad.

According to the AllThingsD, “Credit Suisse analystSpencer Wang predicted earlier this year that Amazon’s share of the e-book market will shrink from 90 percent to 35 percent by 2015.

There are a couple of other factors to consider before jumping to any of these apocalyptic conclusions.  First, the survey was carried out before the advent of the Nook Color and many of the current crop of color tablets hit the market.  This dynamic is unaccounted for in their results.

Secondly, the study was done before Google announced its intentions to bring their eBook site live in December of this year.  That would probably indicate a further eroding of Amazon’s market share of eBook sales.

One conclusion I draw from this research report is that the eReading market is undergoing a rapid change in response to new technology.  Any firm that stays too long with its tried and true solutions will likely find the market quickly moving away from them.  In this industry, what was true yesterday is likely to be untrue tomorrow.

Ray Hendon

11/20/2010

The month of November has been a watershed for this website.  For the period from November 14th through the 26th, the number of inquiries per day jumped about 600%.  And then, on November 24th, the drop off was dramatic.  Black Friday marked the end of the surge.

During this time of greatly expanded inquiries, I noticed that certain articles were receiving a huge proportion of the hits, and now that it is over, I have gone back to my data and painstakingly compiled exactly which ones got how many requests.

The results for the top 14 of the eReaders are posted in the table below:

*Face-off is for a single article posted that compared the iPad, the Sony Reader series, Kindle and the Nook.

A bar chart of the percentages is shown below.

I tracked six additional names, but none of them got to the one percent level.  Also, the iPad got relatively few hits, but this is a site for eReaders, so those looking for information were, I assume, looking at the iPad as an eReader and not as a full functioning tablet computer.

A number of things stand out in the data.  First, color rules.  I didn’t count the request under the generic heading of “Color eReader,” but if I had, this generic label would have placed rather high in the ranking.

Secondly, the numbers of requests for Kindle information is not good news for Amazon.  From a third to half of the Kindle requests were for an article I did on the possibility of a color Kindle in the near future, and which I answered in the negative.  Thus a large percentages of the Kindle requests resulted in an answer that would possibly point the interested party away from Kindle.

If my conclusion that color rules is correct, then that explains part of the reason Sony, the third largest supplier of eReading devices, places so poorly in the rankings.  It also expalins why the Nook (without color) didn’t even make the top ten.  I expect the price of it and the Kindle to fall in the not too distant future, if this shift to color is as pronounced as it appears.

A third conclusion is that the seven inch tablet is a strong product, at least for those looking.  The Nook Color, Velocity Cruz, View Sonic, Galaxy Tab and RIM Playbook are all seven inch screens, and all with color and fast refresh rates.  If they dominate in sales the way they dominated the requests my site received, seven inches is a winning number.

The last thing that stands out in the numbers I collected is that there is a great deal of price elasticity for tablets.  This means that a small price drop will bring in more revenue to the seller through a large increase in sales.  There is some pent-up demand for colorful surfing and eReading from a segment of the population that can’t pony up the $500 or more for an iPad or Galaxy Tab.  A manufacturer that can bring a good quality tablet to the market under the $500 price mark will likely be rewarded by large sales.

For these reasons, it looks to me that Barnes and Noble has won this Christams from Amazon.  Its Nook Color has hit a sweet spot among those looking for eReaders with color and surfing ability.  My guess is the the Nook Color is going to be under many Christmas trees soon.

Ray Hendon

November 22, 2010

Less than one week ago I summarized a number of hands-on reviews of the Nook Color. Looking back at the reviews, the writers were fairly consistent in criticizing the Nook Color as being less than a fully functioning Android tablet. This is understandable, given the expectations most of us have now about what an Android device should be. To read the initial reviews, click here.

Later reviews noted this fact, too, but praised the device as being a fine eReader, with easy access to new books and its library of downloaded books. The reviewers also consistently noted the good display properties of the small screen.

The magazine features have been praised by some as innovative and helpful; by others this feature was criticized as less than helpful.

Because of the conflicting conclusions, I wanted to see for myself, so I made the hour’s drive to my nearest Barnes and Noble retail store in Beaumont, Texas. I wanted to settle the issues by looking at it with fresh eyes, so to speak, and to use it for the things I do with gadgets of this type.

There was no need to look for it when I entered the store: it was in the middle of the main isle, a few steps from the entrance, surrounded by a huge backboard with colorful graphics, all dedicated to the Nook Color. In the middle of the front display shelf, the Color Nook, tethered and charged, was ready for anyone who wanted to try it out. I had a brief wait, and then had it to myself for as long as I needed to draw my conclusions.

There were two aspects of the Nook Color that stood out most conspicuously: the brilliance and clarity of the screen, whether surfing or reading, and the smallness of the device. I am used to my iPad by now, but at a pound and a half it is a heavy guy to carry around. The Nook Color, at less than a pound, is easy to hold, and 7-inch screen is right for eReading.

I began my evaluation, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised at most every turn. As an eReader, it was excellent. The words on the screen are clear and distinct, with contrast in proper proportion. Page turns are quick–accomplished with a simple tap on the right side of the screen for going forward and the left side for going back. The library display is colorful and functional, using a rich mixture of graphics and text. And one can organize the books with more options than either Kindles or Sony Readers.

There are some apps supplied from the factory: email client, calendar, contacts and other utilities; all of them look good on the screen, and navigation with its capacitive touch screen is smooth and effective.

As a magazine reader, which is one of the main functions Barnes and Noble seem to have in mind for their new star, it takes an odd approach. When viewing a magazine, the full page of the magazine is shown on the screen, but only the headings are readable. Tapping on one of the feature articles pops up a vertical strip in the middle of the screen that displays the text of the article in a readable font. When through with it, you tap something else and the strip disappears.

I found this feature distracting at first, but I think it will be OK once one is used to it. I prefer reading magazines on a full-sized screen anyway. None of my iPad magazines apps are as good as reading the magazine in its regular on-line mode. So, this feature of the Nook Color is not one I would use often, so I do not find that a significant demerit. This is one feature each reader must decide.

For surfing the Nook Color it is less than perfect, but its high resolution screen helps make up for its smallness. The full width of a 1000 pixel web page is shown in full page, so you don’t have to scroll in order to see the entire width. I noticed the same problem with the Galaxy Tab, but in both tablets, combination of high resolution and good color works for surfing. Although more cramped that a 10-inch screen, I found it entirely adequate for surfing and email for light weight use. It is functional but not outstanding.

The largest failing as a general purpose tablet is the absence of apps. Android and iPad need apps to yield the full benefits of a tablet, and here B&N made some tradeoffs that reduce its functionality. The Android Marketplace is not freely available to the Nook Color. The apps, generally made for a cell phone screen, do not scale up to larger screens well.

This will probably be remedied within the first six months of its existence when Android 3.0 is released. In the meantime, the wealth of Android apps will simply not be available unless B&N pays the costs of adapting them for its proprietary features. This has been done for calendars, eReading, surfing and some other general purpose utilities, but I wouldn’t be expecting too many others until mid-year.

While many may see this last limitation as critical, I find it livable for a short duration. My interest in it is primarily as an eReader, so anything else that comes with it is just an added benefit.

I believe it will eventually be much better as a tablet than it is now, but remember that the cost of this gadget is $250. For that price, you get a good eReader and a usable table. I cannot recommend any other similar gadget in this price range that will do half as well as the Nook Color. It will not replace an iPad or Galaxy Tab—it wasn’t designed to. But for casual surfing, email and other low-intensity uses, it will do a fine job.

If I were buying an eReader today, I would probably pay the extra $100 that it takes to jump from E-Ink to color. Being able to surf and do other internet things without compromising the reading capability, would make it worth it in my way of calculating costs and benefits. Not everyone will agree with my calculations, but if you are shopping for a stand-alone eReader, the Nook Color deserves your consideration.

In my view, Barnes and Noble has hit the right note with their new baby. It is, in one sense, a new category of tablet—an eReading Android with high functionality as a reader and meager functionality as a full-fledged tablet. For the price they charge I would happily accept that tradeoff.

Ray Hendon

November 16, 2010

The Color Nook is in some stores today, and Gizmodo has published their review.Click here for the full review. Also, a review from engadget is supplied below.  The actual release date, though, is November 19th when it will be in all stores.

A third review, by PCWorld is also out,here, and it is probably the friendliest of the three reviews.

Generally the reviewer, if I am reading it correctly, is about as conflicted about the device as the device itself is conflicted about what it is.

The Color Nook may be seen as a stripped-down tablet computer, or it may be seen as a color eReader.  As as an eReader, it seems to fill that function well.  As a tablet, it does not.

As with the first Nook, which I review shortly after it came out, here, there is a disconnect between the idea of something and the implementation of the idea.

The idea of the first Nook’s use of a small color screen used to navigate page turns and menu selections seemed like a good idea.  But its implementation was so poor as to, in my view, negate the usefulness of the screen.

For the Color Nook, the idea of a tablet as a good eReader, which we have in the iPad, is a good one.  But, as it is implemented by the Barnes and Noble engineers, the tablet part of the device is poor.  It does not play videos well (slow and poor resolution), and it cannot format a magazine or newspaper page so that it can be read from the initial screen. News articles must be read one at a time by using another application for that purpose.

The other failure on the tablet side is the absence of apps.  Although the Color Nook runs on Android, apps written for Android phones cannot be downloaded except through the B&N site.  Unfortunately, the site has no apps at this time and none are expected until next year.  It appears that for straightforward Android apps to run on the Color Nook, they must first be tweaked by B&N.

The other major failing of the new device is its slowness in formatting—shades of the black and white Nook, where it took (and takes) a long time to reformat a page turn.

There may be reasons to buy this new device.  At $250, it is half the iPad’s price, but it seems to be substantially less than half and iPad in functionality, unless you count eReading as half the value of an iPad.  For me, this is a non-starter.  I use the eReader of the iPad frequently, but eReading for me is probably less than 5% of my total use of that device.

For others, the tradeoffs may be more in favor of the Color Nook.  Take a look and consult your personal preferences.

I am making a trip to my closets B&N store today, so I’ll have a more personal take on it soon.

For another review, this one by engadget, click here. This review is more detailed than Gizmodo’s, but it reaches a similar conclusion.  Videos are poorly implemented, and many do not play at all.  Slow response time, etc.

On the plus side, engadget sees the Color Nook as good for magazines and newspapers, although they, too, have issues with the implementation of this function.

The PCWorld review also emphasizes the suitability of the Color Nook for children’s books.  This device is touted for this use, with its emphasis on a number of children’s color-illustrated books available.

Ray Hendon

November 4, 2010

There is an article today on cnet about what the next Kindle will look like.  The author, David Carnoy, speculates about the possibility of either a color Kindle (think Color Nook) or a touch-screen black and white version (think Sony Touch). 

Mr. Carnoy believes that Kindle will stay with black and white, but probably will add the newer type of touch that Sony deployed on its newest Readers. Click here for the full article.

I don’t pretend to know which if either way Amazon will go, but it is clear to me that if the Color Nook proves popular and begin eating into Kindle sales, we will see a color Kindle as soon as they can get one to market.  If Amazon goes that way it will be forced to decide on whether to go with Pixel Qi, Mirasol , LCD or some other display technology.  I don’t have a clue about how that would turn out.  

Personally, I think that LCD would be preferable, because once the decision to go with color is made, then it would make sense to have a full functioning browser with fast refresh and fully saturated color.  Such a move would put Kindle in direct competition with iPad, and this may not be a bad idea IF the price for a reduced package of features could be sold at the price the Color Nook is sold.  $250 is an attractive price compared with a minimum of $500 for an iPad, so there would be a market for it if the feature set were adequate.

Mr. Bezos has been committed to E-Ink, however, as the technology that gives an avid reader the best experience as an eReader.  Throwing in all the iPad features makes it a substantially different device, but I think the market is going in that direction.  Lower prices may keep the Kindles and Nooks around for a while, but there may be a gradual erosion of their market by the more talented tablet devices as they come to market in greater numbers and lower price points.

The reason I feel this way is that I have a Kindle and an iPad, and, except for the weight of the iPad, I find reading on it is great.  I just get tired holding up a 1.5lb devices.  The 10oz Kindle is light enough to avoid muscle fatigue.  The Color Nook, however, comes in at less than a pound at 15.8oz.

Look for an update on this article within a few days.  I’m going to check out the Color Nook more carefully by getting some hands-on time.  My report will follow.