Despite my old-fashioned love of equally old-fashioned printed books, I decided to take the e-reader plunge. Despite reading and researching, not to mention enlisting the input of someone more tech-savvy than me, I still couldn't decide whether to get a Nook or a Kindle, as both seemed to have unique virtues. The answer, or so I thought, was to get one of each.
To borrow from Elvis Costello, it was a fine idea at the time now it's a brilliant mistake. Mistake turned out to be the one word description of the Nook purchase, while the brilliant part applies to the Kindle, whose popularity is easily understood after a short time using it. Though the navigation takes some getting used to, it's fundamentally user-friendly both to read and to search. Having gotten the 3G equipped version, that searching process works very well and I haven't had a single problem downloading a book or periodical without the need for WiFi.
Sadly, the same was not true for the 3G version of the Nook. While the reading experience compares well to the Kindle, and the touch-screen controls are in some ways easier than the Kindle's physical keys, the process of getting content from Barnes & Noble via the 3G network was an exercise in repeated frustration. Even when the Nook indicated a strong 3G signal, nearly every attempt to download content, even just sample chapters, yielded no reading material beyond "network unavailable" or similar error messages.
Allowing that it could be just an issue with my specific device, I exchanged it for a new one - which had the same issues. Any doubts about what to do were dispelled after I took the advice of one of the error messages and called B&N's customer service line. After some pointed questions, the B&N rep conceded that they'd had a number of complaints about 3G access problems. She went on to attribute the download problems to AT&T's 3G network not being stable enough to maintain a connection long enough to download a book.
As an iPhone user who's rarely had an issue downloading material (especially apps) much larger than most digital books/periodicals over AT&T's 3G data network, that last point was news to me. Considering that some sources report that the Kindle's (very effective) 3G service also uses AT&T's network, it raised the distinct possibility that she either didn't know what she was talking about or was lying. Taking her at her word is no less troubling, since she basically admitted that her employer is charging an extra $50 for a feature they know doesn't work effectively. While I appreciated her fit of honesty (or delusion, as the case may be), it certainly didn't make me want to own a Nook.
So, back to the store it went. I'll miss the enjoyably frustrating built-in sudoku game, and I liked the touchscreen navigation, which looks cool and compares favorably to the functionality of the iPod Touch and iPhone. Of course, that latter element also contributes to a sense that the the designers of the Nook (or at least this model of it) were more focused on competing with the iPad than making an effective reading device in its own right. Whether that's really the case or not, when an e-reader has trouble executing the fundamental function of providing access to reading material, bells and whistles don't count for much. I might feel differently had I been comparing the Wi-Fi only versions of these devices, as it functioned smoothly on both, but of the versions I compared the Kindle was simply the superior device.
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