Nook

After long time considering if I need an e-book at all I finally bought a new Nook. My current life style allows me more time to read and after having recently read "Anathem" I realized that reading and keeping paper bricks in the age of advanced contemporary e-books is just not for me.

Why not an iPad

Speaking of the life style, I just don't see why I would need any tablet at all. When I'm at home I mostly sit at the table and work with the laptop. I also take it with me to conferences and for travel. I watch movies with my wife on the desktop machine with a bigger screen. When in the car, I drive the car. And while walking, tablet just doesn't fit in my pocket because of the smartphone that's already there.

Apparently the only thing I want to do that my laptop is not very good at is reading. And an e-book is just cheaper than a tablet.

I'm actually convinced that the only reason so many people buy tablets is that they have 500-800 bucks they just don't know how to spend :-).

Why not a color LCD screen

LCD screen is more expensive, heavier, suffers from glares in the sun light and has more chances to completely discharge during the long ride or flight. So eInk is the solution.

I believe color e-books are gradually being supplanted by tablets. The market will disappear when the latter become a bit cheaper.

Why not a Kindle

I would buy a Kindle hadn't B&N release this second generation Nook just in time. It has no apparent disadvantages against the Kindle but has its own unique features:

• touch interface eliminates the need for a keyboard
• you can lend books to others and such "lendable" books do exist
• faster page turns without color inversion of the whole screen most of the time
• can read your PDF and ePub files

Besides, I have a Barnes & Noble store within a 5 minute drive so I could fiddle with the device as much as I wanted before I decided on the purchase.

Little details

• You can't see it on pictures but the body of the device has some "rubbery" feeling. Not only it feels nice it also makes for a firm grip in your hands.

• The software is based on Android so in those places where the book does have an actual UI it is familiar and convenient (things like a multi-mode on-screen keyboard for different types of input fields). This has saved Barnes & Noble from reinventing all these things one more time.