Nook Android App Review
It’s been called the Kindle killer which is something not to be scoffed at. The Barnes and Noble Nook e-book reader, that is, and that was only when the actual device was debuted. Since then, Barnes and Noble have released their Nook in the form of an Android app (considering it was based on Android to begin with) – now you can read e-books on your very own Android device, from version 1.6 onwards. Today we look at Nook on Android on our own Nationite MIDnite. Read on for a brief review of the app and how it performs on the MIDnite.
The Skinny
Upon first launching Nook, you’re greeted with your library pre-loaded with some sample books available for download, as well as classics now on the public domain such as Dracula by Bram Stoker or Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
Also pre-loaded is a Nook for Android Quick Start Guide, which provides you with an introduction to the Nook app for Android. Being a man, I refused to take directions. No, I would cast myself out into the wild e-book reader world with but only my Wits in hand.
You are able to sort the books in your library by recently opened, title and author. It is disappointing that genre isn’t in there, but genre is a fickle thing. That could have been overcome with a tagging system, like Aldiko had. No deal breaker, though.
Toward the top of the library “dashboard” you’ll find a link: ‘shop books’ in lowercase. Whether or not ‘shop books’ refers to books within a shop, or is asking me to shop for books is neither here nor there. However, if the meaning is indeed the latter, removing the preposition adjoining the two nouns seems like a poor choice considering the target audience: the literate. Upon further reflection, the former meaning also suffers from a curious case of bad English.
The shop page that loads is easy to navigate and buying books should be no problem.
Back to the actual e-book reading app, we’ll step into Bram Stoker’s Dracula to test out the actual reader. On our Nationite MIDnite, all 433 pages loaded in under 2 seconds. The table of contents were neatly sorted links to chapters, and selecting any resulted in the equally speedy loading of that chapter on our device.
Page turning is extremely smooth. The flip animation can be manipulated every which way and the MIDnite never chugs it, which is a bonus. If you don’t like the flip, you can opt for a “sliding” effect, where you simply drag the page horizontally across yourself. Both flip and slide allow you to tap either side of the page, roughly in the middle, to turn.
Font options are varied and so are size options, allowing you to select the font and size for best reading experience. This is expected.
The Go To button in the menu allows you to go to any “linked” page – that is, every link in the table of contents. Alternatively, there is a tab at the top for bookmarks, allowing you to jump to any page you might have bookmarked.
Which leads me onto perhaps the smallest – yet best – feature of the e-book reader app. Bookmarking. It’s simply brilliant. It’s done by pressing the top right corner of a page. This has the effect of folding the page corner, and then acts as a bookmark. We all know the perils of doing this to real books – and we all know we shouldn’t. But some of us just can’t help it and this small addition to charm and aesthetic is undoubtedly welcome. It also offers a visual aid for bookmarks which other e-book readers may not have.
However, there is one lack of a feature which the Aldiko e-book reader app had, which I find disappointing, in which you are not able to reverse the colours of the background and text. That sort of thing might prove useful in a dark/light situation, and is such an easy feature to implement. Also along those lines is the inability to change font colours.
Also lacking is access to a wide-ranging free e-book store. Not that free e-books generally offer much of anything, but it’s still something.
Parting Words
Nook certainly is a good e-book reading device. It offers the full experience, for free, and ran bug-free and without any trouble. Navigating the menus is easy, selecting books to download is easy. The bookmarking system is great fun and true to life. Switching landscape to portrait offers no problems whatsoever.
I can hardly think of anything bad to say, except for the aforementioned colour-switching absence as well as the free e-book thing, both of which are extremely minor. Nook ran without a single hiccup on the MIDnite.
If I were to ever read e-books, then I’d use Nook for my paid-for reading.
Note #1: If your device does not have a G-Sensor, whatever orientation you use nook in will be carried over after you’ve exited the application. This can be annoying for those whose devices do not have a g-sensor, as it means manual re-orientation of the screen to the preferred position.
Note #2: In a brief test, I also ran Nook on the Telechips TCC8902-based MID we have here, and while performance was admirable, especially in page turning, the MIDnite has it beat in terms of book loading times. To load Dracula’s 433 pages, the MIDnite took under 2 seconds. The Telechips TCC8902-based MID, however, took closer to 4. Not world-shattering, but something to mull.
Categories: App Review, MIDnite, Nationite, Review
Comments (1)
Good stuff! I have a MIDNite on order and really looking forward to it. Do you know if the Kindle app will work on the MIDNite too?