A Look at the Nook

There's been a lot of fuss about Amazon's Kindle e-reader. But it's not high-class, top-shelf fuss — the fuss has a slightly tinny, synthetic quality to it. For example, Amazon announced that on Christmas Day, for the first time ever, it sold more e-books than regular paper books. Which is impressive. Except Amazon won't say how many e-books that is. Or even how many Kindles are out there. (Get the latest gadget news and reviews at Techland.com.)

Yes, Kindle has been getting the most attention among e-readers, but that's partly because it hasn't had much credible competition beyond the Sony Reader. Until now, that is: enter the Nook, from Barnes & Noble. Unlike the Sony Reader, the Nook arrives with a large bookselling infrastructure already in place around it. Like the Kindle, it costs $259.

The first thing you notice about the Nook is that it looks a lot like the Kindle. That's because its major component — that weird black-on-gray, matte screen — is exactly the same as the one in the Kindle. Amazon and Barnes & Noble get them from the same supplier, E Ink. (See nine of the latest e-readers.)

But there are differences. The Nook's design is better than the Kindle's. The casing around the edge, which doubles as the page-turn button, has a nicer feel to it, and its clickability is just right: tough enough to minimize accidental clicks — a major hazard with the Kindle — but tender enough that it isn't hard work.

The Nook also has a small color touchscreen for navigation, which brightens up the experience, and it's more responsive than the poky main screen. But it's a mixed blessing. The iPhone has trained us to expect high performance from touchscreens, and this is a decidedly pre-iPhone touchscreen. The interface hasn't been thoroughly play-tested either; there are a few rough edges and dead ends.

Bottom line: the Nook is a nicer package than the Kindle. But the real question is, Will either of them survive the arrival of Apple's tablet computer, which is expected in late January? We used to think the only way to read e-books was on drab-looking E Ink displays, but Apple's ultra-sharp iPhone screens have proved otherwise. As nice as the Nook is, like the Kindle, it will probably be obsolete long before paper books are.

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