E-book readers generally

This will be just a short post, why I like E-book readers in general (excuse my french :D)

Price

You can get very very cheap device that can read mobi, epub, azw (you name it) e-book. I myself bought my for 29 £ (if you wanna know what you'll get for lest than 30 quids click here -> Nook simple touch review). Although Nook Simple Touch is probably one of the cheapest, there are others with similar price range. 

Space

If you're living in share house, or some place not that much generous with space you'll love e-book readers. I'm myself not a big reader (irony huh?:D), but still there are few books I love to read when I feel like it. If I had to have them physically all the time, I can just stop here. Most of you probably use airplane as a form of transportation and unless you own King Air, there is limit how much your luggage can weight. Fighting for every damn hundred grams you can afford taking your precious reading material with you. 

Reading

Can you adjust font in your paper book? Unless you have magnifying glass you can't. Same goes for font, space lining - you name it. Flipping pages? Even easier just a click away.

Dictionary

From time to time (specially when reading Murakami books) there is a word I don't know. So what do I have to do? Extremely simple. Hold my finger on the word, and dictionary will pop up description what does that mean. I wouldn't bother at all doing the same thing with paper dictionary.

Books you're not paying

Popular books will be always available somewhere. You can download them really easily. OK, some of you might say - it's different format etc. Yeah, that's true, but there are free convertors doing much better job than official tools (oh irony strikes again big corps :D) 
If that is the case, you need convert something, here is the link - Ebook online convert (epub,mobi, azw, pdb etc.)
Sometimes, you can't even get physical copy even if you're willing to pay some cash. 



It's not that I have paper books, but I just can't see the point buying one - especially when your budget is tight. If you don't agree, you have something to say comments bellow are always welcome.

There might be some grammar (definitely there are) mistakes. Well, I have done what I could :D.






 

Books I've read so far 2012 - 2013

What was the main purpose behind buying the Nook Simple Touch? of course reading books ^_^.
Here is what I read and what I remember. Did you like it or not? You're welcome to share your opinion in comments!



Haruki Murakami selection:

Norwegian Wood

South of the Border, West of the Sun

Kafka on the Shore

1Q84



Robert Holdstock selection:
Mythago Wood

Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn

The rest:

Snow Crash

Fight Club


Although it's just seven books, you can read Murakami again and again.

Four months with Nook

It's been four months since I bought my Nook e-reader. Was it right choice? Well you will find after reading this article :).

A bit of story telling in the beginning show/hide.
Let's start with some background story. Why I bought e-reader in the first place? We have to go back, let's say before my eighteen birthday.  I barely read books that time and if I did it was just because school pushed me into, in other words no pleasure at all in reading books.) By the time I finished the school my eyes starting to open a little bit. Back then I was really stubborn knucklehead who thought that reading books is the worst possible choice how one should spend their time. Of course I was wrong ... a LOT.
There is a gap between my eighteen birthday a present, but I will not write about that now because it would be huge turnoff (for me writing it's quite hard, so I'm already sweating writing this:-).
Let's go back in July this year when I purchase my Nook for 29£. Why is 29£ bold? That's easy, I couldn't believe my eyes that e-reader that cheap is on the market (of course brand new). Luckily for me the largest book retailer Barnes & Noble started their promo action in UK. If I remember correctly the campaign was something like "let's push the education through reading books" bullshit, between rows I know that they didn't selling enough devices because someone in marketing department messed up and they need to raise selling in UK.
Four months was enough time to make review if I choose rightly or not.

Things I like about Nook Simple Touch 

• The User Interface. It's easy and very intuitive.
• Battery life. You can easily not paying attention to the Nook and he will switch off or put himself into hibernate mode which saves the battery a lot. 
• Body. Rubber body is very nice and comfy in hands when you're reading, but that's not all it also protects from scratches and marks.
• Books management. Putting new book inside your Nook it's very simple and user-friendly, all you need is USB cable which come with the Nook - no stupid DRM stuff like Kindle.
• SD card. This option which let me root my Nook when simply need more functions.
• Dictionary. I LOVE it! Very handy when reading books in English.

Things I don't like about Nook Simple Touch

• Reading while charging. You can't, this is big pain in the ass if you're reading once in the while.
• B&N library. It's horrible, can't imagine buying something from there. There is no option if you want to download a free book! Huge minus for B&N.
• Disabled browser. In early versions of firmware there used to be web browser but, not any more. 
• Reminder. Which pushing users to share what they reading on twitter.

With price 29£ when purchased (now 49£) Nook Simple Touch is ultimate e-reader with loads of functions and very friendly and intuitive user interface. Body wrapped with layer of rubber which make reading very comfortable and also provides protection from scratches. If you're geek (root option) or person that reads once in a while (user-friendly interface) this e-reader is the right choice (assuming you can still get it for 29£).

Chapter four: Rooting your Nook Simple Touch

For start I want to let you know that my Nook wasn't rooted and I have no plans for rooting this device in near future. I'm happy with my device condition and capabilities right now. I'm using maybe just 1/4 of the functions and that's it. That is why I have no desire to open new functions (it would be simply very ineffective). Anyway I do understand that someone might squeeze as much as possible from this device (I will cut the talk about warranty etc., and go straight to the rooting).

I found this article about rooting Nook Simple Touch. Basically this is what you need if you want to root your Nook.

A Nook Simple Touch with Firmware 1.2.0 (should be fine with 1.2.1 version also)
A micro SD card - 2 gb or more do the job (class 6 or more might give you better performance)
An external micro -SD card reader - might work with the one inside laptops.
A computer running Windows -  might be problem if you're surrounded by people with MacBooks :D 
Nook Manager 
Win32 Image Writer 
A Google account

If you are interesting please check this article for more detailed info. Did you believe you can "play" angry bird on your Nook?

Chapter Three: User interface

What I really love about Nook Simple Touch is User interface. Less than five minutes is needed to understand how to control your Nook.

1. Wake up the NOOK menu (simply slide with your finger from left to right)

 2. Main menu

 3. Quick Navigation Bar showing after pressing reverse U (also known as NOOK button)

 4. Library

 5. Settings(wifi, timezone, language etc.)

 6. Reading Now button (take you exactly where you ended)

 7. Book menu (tap once on screen)

8. Content

9. Highlight/Look Up in the dictionary 

10. Moving through the book 

 11. Adjust text size/font/line spacing/margin

 12. More information about the book

This is the list of what I'm using mostly. If you want to see for example social sharing or some other function, please leave a comment :). 

Chapter Two: Why Nook Simple Touch

You might want to ask why Nook Simple Touch and no other e-book readers like Amazon Kindle. Well I can't provide you answer for this question, but I can give you my reasons why I bought it.

Reason number 1:

Price. I always wanted to buy a e-book reader, but the device was either too expensive or didn't meet my requirements. With the price 29£/44$ I could buy it without hesitation. For example: the cheapest Amazon kindle cost 69£ which is more than double.

Reason number 2:

Body. Nook Simple Touch or just Nook Touch has rectangle shape with rounded corners. Screen is 6"  inch long, which is about the right size for me. Back is covered with black matte surface made from rubber. All of these elements make it very comfortable when you are holding Nook in your hand. Device itself is very durable, I would compare it to old Thinkpads, there is no way you can squeeze or twist the Nook.

Reason number 3:

Touchscreen. I was a bit skeptic about touchscreen on e-book reader, but this one works very well. I found it very handy when I'm reading. Navigation through the menu is very fast or when I need to find out some words in dictionary (I'm doing this very often).


So far these are the reasons why I choose Nook Simple Touch and why you might do the same. But there are of course some cons.

-unsupported formats (you can easily convert your books with this handy site - Ebook online convert).
-lack of 3G (in this price range I don't know about any device capable of 3G).

Chapter One: Where to buy Nook Simple Touch?

If you are living in UK, you have two options (the easiest ones), go into ASDA (something like Walmart) and buy one, you should find it in electrical/gadget department. The price is 29£. Second options is order you Nook Simple Touch online from ASDA or Argos. Now you can pick up the e-reader from branch for free, or pay for delivery which starts on 3.5£ in total you will pay 32.5£. You might want to ask why the price is so low? Well, one of the reason is that company that made this e-book reader "Barnes & Noble" trying to take part of the customers in UK which is the reason why they slash the price to 29£.

Here is the link - Bernes & Nooble "Get London Reading" e-book reader price slash