Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader leaks a bit early: $259,

[woodyear99]

http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/20/barnes-and-noble-officially-launches-nook-e-reader-259-pre-orde/

Looks like all those whispers were true -- the "Android-based" nook is alive and well, and it's calling itself the planet's "most advanced e-book reader." Measuring 7.7- x 4.9- x 0.5-inches and weighing 11.2 ounces, the device includes a top e-ink display from Vizplex and a color touchscreen (3.5-inches) below, which supports one-touch control and swipe-to-browse books with full-color covers. The rechargeable battery takes 3.5 hours to go from zero to full if using a wall outlet, and B&N claims that it'll last for up to ten days if you flick the wireless to "off." Speaking of which, inbuilt WiFi (802.11b/g) and AT&T 3G is included, not to mention 2GB of internal storage, a microSD expansion slot, MP3 player, built-in mono speaker, 3.5 millimeter headphone jack, a micro USB port and support for EPUB, PDF and MP3. The nook also supports bookmarking, making notes, and highlighting passages, and the 'LendMe' feature allows users to lend books for up to a fortnight at a time to other e-readers, cellphones or computers.

B&N also tells us that you can pick up where you left off (with markings and highlights in tact) on your iPhone or BlackBerry using its free eReader software, which just so happens to be the same app that allows sharing to iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, PC or Mac. As expected, the company will also let you sample ebooks before you buy, and you'll enjoy free WiFi each and every time you sashay into a Barnes & Noble retail location. It's available to pre-order as we speak for $259, with initial shipments expected to happen at the end of November. Introductory video is after the break, along with a few highlights about accessories and features.

[TriniXaeno]

I think an e-reader is poorly positioned @ the current pricepoints. It's an excellent device but for US$100 more you can get a netbook that does a world of a lot more.

Add $150.00 and you got a full laptop. 100 times more versatile.

If these devices were us$99.00, I'd consider em but still won't be happy with yet another digital device to add to my tech arsenal. In this age of convergence, where the phone now replaces a pda, mp3 player and digital camera. Come on, a dedicated device to read ebooks?

Playing nostradamus, as laptops become thinner, lighter and more affordable, I expect this segment to shrink. Check me back on this in five years.

Again, that's at the current price. If it becomes cheap enough, it could even replace/supplement school text books and earn the device ubiquity. The future need not be bleak.

[woodyear99]

The main selling point of the Kindle is the screen. It uses e-ink technology which is easier on the eyes for extended reading. I have never been able to read through a whole book on a laptop or desktop, my eyes get tired after a while.

Of course the lines between these devices will continue to blur over the next few years, it is already happening laptop -> netbook -> smart tablet -> mobile devices such as the N900 etc. No doubt that display technology will continue to improve and you may find such e-ink available on a bunch of different devices that don't exist today.

[Arcmanov]

I have to agree about the price.  I would like to have one, but not at 250.  Not even 200.  You just within spitting distance of smartphone and netbook price.

100 - 150 US and I'm sold.

[woodyear99]

Price is high right now as they are aiming at early adopters/reading aficionados, give it some time and ebook readers will be as common as the netbook. Remember just a few years ago that if you wanted a lightweight, compact laptop with excellent battery life you would have to pay a serious premium lol, and now the netbook selling like hot bread.

Actually whenever we talk about netbooks and how cheap they are it always reminds me of this Sony VAIOŽ UX180P Micro PC  -  http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&partNumber=VGNUX180P

While more of a mobile internet device than a netbook I could never get over how ridiculously expensive it was at the time lol.

[TriniXaeno]

lol @ us$1799 for that sony ux180p, ent.

US$100 - $150 and we can snuggle under the cover with a nook, something you can't do as easily with a PC/Laptop.

I've used a Kindle before and I don't see what all the fuss is about with the e-ink.

Read books on my pc (lowered the brightness) and had no trouble. The amount of codex I read in Dragon Age, my word...easily another novel.

Would also make for a great conversation piece and stocking stuffer.

[QZA]

Guys you are not really getting why the kindle and other e ink readers are worth the CURRENT price. my girlfrien got one of these she is studying in cali now she paid 259 USD. In two semesters not two years, she would have recouped the TOTAL COST of the device  in the savings on text books. yest text books thats the value of an e ink reader not casual reading of a couple pages a day.  Text books are on average 50 to 60%  of the cost of the paper edition. You can highlight and annotate on the device, oyu can make notes. on the kindle ( not the fake bells and whistles nook more on that later ) if u are stuck u can use the web browser to look something up on wikipedia or even google it. and yes google maps work on the device. even if you put out the extra and get the kindle DX which is better for large format text books u make back the money u spend after a full year at university. For students at american universities its a very sweet deal with the alliances that amazon has made with text book publishers, if you are doing a subject area where most of your books are available on the kindle its like getting it for free.

Also there is the little matter of free 3G broadband mobile internet on the bus in the park u can check email and instant message ( i have done instant messenger via yahoo messenger web based messenger on kindle it works ) for free no need to have internet for an obscene monthly fee on your phone just to check email or IM  on the bus or park once u get to a wi fi spot just use the netbook. the savings on mobile phone  broadband also pays for the device. and i know you wont use it for graphic intensive internet browsing. but its perfect to google something or do a wikki or chk email and reply on the go or to send a quick IM.

On the screen, you cant compare an e ink screen to an lcd apples and oranges. e ink is actually like physical ink on a page. physically it is not in a figurative sense. the image u see is created by many many individual micro capsules of charged particles just like droplets of ink. it requires no power to keep the droplets in place once arranged into an image. if u run out of juice the image on the screen will stay visible on the screen. yes this is true. also it actually does look like reading on a paper there is no backlight or gkare its a flat crisp paper quality display,on a kindle at least. and in all honesty to all gamers who claim they read a novel or text in games try reading 300 pages of a text book in a couple hours becuase of a deadline on an assignment on a netbook screen then report back to everyone. i did it, it f888s u up mno matter how accustomed u are to your sweet hd display but on a kindle its like actually reading a physical book easy as pie.

ok nook vs new modle 6 inch screen kindle.

firstly to say the nook has a 3.5 inch touchscreen is very misleading since its more than twice as wide as it is high you cannot use the screen for any content becuase the height is very small. it is good for displaying cover art though. bells and whistles bascailly, a nice convo piece but no practical use apart from being eye candy.

Ok here is the real deal breaker with the nook it takes 1 minute and about 40 seconds to boot up compared to a few seconds for the kindle, u can literally press the on button go pour a cup of coffee and come back before its juiced and running. total turn off. also it takes a long time to *turn pages over* its seriously laggy.

thirdly it does have mobile broadband but only for purchasing books, no quick email or looking up a topic on wikkipedia while at the back of class.

fourthly c'mon , its barnes and noble, if u expect to get more than 30% of your text books on a nook think again. it does support epub which is good but most new text books are not in that format AND ALSO NOT IN PDF. go check you will see.

a nook cannot read a plain txt file.  on a kindle u can save all your essays papers etc as a plain txt file and store it on the kindle wit a nook u have to convert it to a pdf first good thing this comes with a micro sd slot.

I cant see any real compelling reason to buy a nook. a kindle is much better as a value device for a student and honetly only students can really justify buying an e ink device at an economic level. If you just like to read books you are better off savung a bundle and buying the sony e ink reader the 5 inch model thats 179.99 right now. it also has an e ink display its actually the size of a paperback book becuase it does not waste space on a touch screen of keyboard.  and if comes with 512mb storage so u can put around 300 to 350 novels on it at a time and it has a card slot for expansion. if you are just an avid book reader thats the better deal.

[TriniXaeno]

or you can just join the library for free. Nalis has a broad selection.

[Arcmanov]

I feel he just copy and paste all that yes.  

If you're a student living in a big, metropolitan US city, then yeah, MAYBE, it'd be worth it, but we in TnT, where we still have to pay to import it, and wireless internet not that ubiquitous.

This gets a pass till price come down, and wireless internet is 'everywhere'

[QZA]

no I did not copy paste and yes for trinidadians the price point is a bit high to justify a purchase and also a trini uwi student  will not likely be able to get a majority of his her books on the device although if u can get 10 expensive books at half price might me worth it might bring down to relative price to what u guys are mentioning not likely though since the international kindle has a different book library you cant "legally: download about a third of the books on amazon for various international copyright reasons.

In trinidad a kindle will end up being a dedicated novel reader and not much more becuase the mibile broad band wont work here it will automatically fall back to the gsm edge network which  kinda lame, i downloaded a book using edge it took like 20 minutes my gf told me it took 30 seconds to download a text book over in the US. ofcourse u could jusrt dl via your pc or mac and usb transfer . and in trinidad u pay a surchage of 1.99 usd for wirekless download thats per book btw becuase tstt eh big enough for amazon to work out a deal with no websurfing in trinidad heh. so actually if i would likely buy a sony e reader 5 inch if i was really into books which i am but i eh payin 179.99 when at most i would make one book purchase a month. would not be practical far less 259. if i was a student in uwi though and i could get someone in the states to buy it and get them to legally download my booklist then i would not mind paying a little duty on it the total cost would still be a net saving and i would have a nice device for my private reading.

on a side note when they perfect color e ink i am buying the 9.7 inch kindle can u imagine reading comics on that baby it would be seriously SWEET you could store literally hundreds of pdf comics in the original format and view a pull page at a time. if the make a color version of the big screen DX and sell it for 349 i could see a lot of ppl buying it for business reasons all yoyur business or legal documents  in one device that reads like paper and it can read ms word and docx with a free conversion if it does it natievely in the next version along with pdf which it does now a 10 inch paper like color reader where u can also do light editing not too bad for 349 i think. it could mak the begining of a "real" paperless office

[woodyear99]

Such e-ink technology is the future, remember the cool tablets they use in Star Trek, yeh that is wat I waitin for hehe.

[TriniXaeno]

You make a very strong case QZA and I'm liking the direction these devices can take.

l agree that they need to get A LOT cheaper to compliment laptops/desktop/netbooks for any serious penetration in our market.

No doubt in five years the numbers will be looking a lot different.