Hands-on: B&N nook updated to version 1.1.0
I have been one of those people who have been very happy with my nook thanks to the fabulous clarity and contrast of the eInk display that is better than the Kindle 2 (darker, bolder fonts and higher contrast background) and on par with the Sony PRS-505 and the plethora of content sources from where I can load up my nook (Fictionwise, Sony eReader store, Shortcovers/Kobo, local library, etc.). I haven't had any stability issues or anything with my nook either. The page refreshes could indeed be faster, but I have adapted to tapping the page button as I get to the last line of the page and it hasn't been much of an issue.
According to Engadget's post, I understand this update was believed to include the following:
- Page turning and formatting of downloaded e-books has been improved.
- Start-up time for My Library, The Daily, and Setting has been improved.
- Barnes & Noble in-store content and promotions roll-out is fully supported.
- Launches reader immediately on Select from The Daily and My Library for books and subscriptions that have already been downloaded.
- Reading Now takes customer straight into the last book page read without reformatting the content.
- Displays the correct time on the status bar.
- No longer unprompted to the home screen when pressing the arrow or the select button.
- Displays correct error-message for pre-ordering books that are not yet available.
My update downloaded flawlessly, then the device reset itself and the update status appeared on the lower display. All of my local downloaded content was not appearing in the My Documents view on the nook so I connected my nook to the PC and found that the ebooks were still there. I had them in my own folders before that appeared fine on the nook, but found they now need to be located within folders in My Documents. You can still have custom folders inside there though.
After the update I can confirm the following:
- Page turns are faster (will record a video of this later)
- Formatting appears for a shorter time period than before
- There is now a progress status in the bottom display
- When I select to read a book, I no longer have to indeed confirm I want to read it. There is an option to View Item Details & Options instead if you want to check that out rather than making this a required step.
- My time has always been correct so this wasn't an issue before
- Everything seems a bit snappier so now my nook is even better than before
I will be visiting a physical Barnes & Noble store tonight to check out what works in the physical store and report my findings here later.