New Barnes & Noble E-Reader, Nook GlowLight: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Barnes and Noble has released a new e-reader called the Nook Glowlight. Here’s 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know.

1. The Glowlight Will Retail for $120

The front-lit e-reader is but one dollar more than the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, but there is just one catch: The Amazon reader of the same price has advertising where as the Glowlight does not. Getting the Kindle Paperwhite without advertising costs a full $20 more, at $139.

2. The Glowlight Has One Thing All Other E-Ink Readers Don’t: No Flashing

If you’ve ever used a Kindle with e-ink, there is a slightly obnoxious quirk of the amazingly battery-lifed device, every time you change the page, the screen flashes, rapidly turning black, and then displays the next page. It’s not really a game-changer, but it is kind of an annoying thing. It is surprising and unique that Barnes & Noble with their relatively smaller resources has managed to solve this problem before the Amazon.com behemoth.

3. The Screen has 62% More Pixels Than Its Predecessor

TechCrunch’s Chris Velazco reported on the new e-reader saying:

It definitely doesn’t hurt that the panel is awfully crisp (it packs 62% more pixels into the same display size as its predecessor) and the lights nestled around the edge of the screen provided even illumination… if not quite as even as the new Paperwhite.

It seems that the front-lighting is not as tight as the Kindle Paperwhite, but still reasonably usable.

4. The New E-Reader Also Makes Recommendations

In contrast to Amazon’s algorithmic based systems that use customer’s purchasing and data-driven analytics to generate recommendations, Nook’s system features real, human people telling you what book you should read next. Seems like a huge difference for someone who wants something close to a portable librarian rather than just a portable library.

5. B&N Says The Thing Gets 8 Weeks of Battery Life

Ok, not exactly, that is what the above marketing material says but the fine print, as indicated by the tiny 2, tells a slightly different story:

With GlowLight on at the default brightness setting, a single charge will last over 1 month with wireless off based on 15 minutes of daily reading and 1 page refresh per minute. A single charge lasts over 2 months with wireless off and GlowLight off based on a half hour of daily reading time and 1 page refresh per minute. Battery life depends on device settings, usage, and many other factors. Battery tests conducted using specific units. Actual results may va

Uh, ok. Let’s be honest and just say the thing probably gets close to two weeks. Looks like a viable option, however, if you’re already invested in the Nook Universe, but otherwise I just can’t see the value in plunking down $120 USD when you could spend $20 more and get yourself a much fancier Kindle Fire HD. To each his own, I suppose.