Barnes & Noble NOOK Simple Touch Pro Reviews

At $139, the Nook Simple Touch With GlowLight is the best e-reader you can buy today. The built-in light makes for a compelling addition, and puts this speedy e-reader in a class by itself until other manufacturers play catch-up. The illumination alone is worth the premium, but honestly it’s not so much of a premium when you consider that archrival Amazon continues to sell its Amazon Kindle Touch, without “Special Offers” advertisements and lacking a light, at $139. That alone should make bookworms bask in the glow of the Simple Touch With GlowLight.

Ebook readers can be harder to deal with than cell phones or almost any other gadget, because you're so married to whatever you choose. Once you pick an ecosystem, you're effectively locked in, and the fact that I bought a Kindle three years ago and then dozens of books through Amazon means I can't feasibly switch to the Nook. If I were in the market for a first ebook reader, though, or upgrading from an older Nook, I'd take a long look at the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight. It works really well, lasts basically forever, and as long as you just want to buy, lend, and read books, it's definitely on par with the Kindle and Amazon's ecosystem. The Kindle does better with outside content and syncing, but if you're buying an ebook reader to replace your huge paperback collection, the Nook does a great job. The Nook Simple Touch plus a good, useful light is a pretty great combination — but we've heard Amazon's working on something similar, if Bezos and company already have their hooks into your collection.

The NOOK GlowLight is simply the best eInk reading device currently available. It's small and light, with expandable memory, outstanding battery life, and a lighted screen that makes it perfectly usable in all reading conditions, whether you're laying on the beach or curled up in bed. While it doesn't have a web browser or any apps, it does offer a great reading experience. Due to the current eBook marketplace riddled with DRM, which locks most purchased eBooks to one platform, I can't recommend that anyone who has already made a heavy investment in Kindle books should make the switch. But I do strongly recommend the NOOK GlowLight for anyone just starting out with eBooks, or for owners of the previous NOOK devices. The GlowLight technology is a gamechanger in the best possible sense of the word, and this newest NOOK has become my reading device of choice.

With good reason, when Barnes & Noble was ready to unveil the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight it skipped the pomp and circumstance it usually reserves for Nook product launches. There was no splashy press conference this time out; just one-on-one meeting with members of the press. The company says this was because the GlowLight technology doesn't translate as well in a press conference-type setting. Fair enough, but it's to imagine a relatively minor upgrade like this commanding that kind of all-star treatment. Still, that upgrade is a rather welcome one, as it addresses a key issue with e-reading technology and could even have a real effect on users' reading habits.

Barnes & Noble asks a $40 premium for the NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight, over the regular model. $139 puts it on a par with rival touchscreen ereaders also using E Ink displays, though for the moment the GlowLight system is unique. There’s no doubting GlowLight works. What’s really impressive is that it does so without adding to the bulk of the existing NOOK Simple Touch: no clunky clip-on lights, or eye-searing backlighting. The slight loss of some crispness thanks to the diffuser layer may frustrate some, but in our experience it – like with the momentary refresh delay inherent to e-paper screens – you soon come to ignore it. Is the GlowLight the best NOOK so far? The NOOK Tablet still offers more flexibility with its LCD screen and broad app supports, and the regular Simple Touch is, at $99, arguably better for those on a budget. If you’re a dedicated reader though, then the NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight delivers the best of e-paper and LCD: a paper-like reading experience with self-sufficiency in its lighting. That’s enough to make it a winner in our book.

Thanks to plenty of upgrades, a new lower price, no ads, and a laser-sharp focus on the reading experience, the refreshed Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch keeps its Editors' Choice award.

The NOOK STR is the perfect eReader device for anyone who just wants to read, without a lot of the bells & whistles found on the NOOK Color or the much higher price tag of something like the iPad. It's dead simple to use, so you can safely hand it to your mother or even your grandmother and not worry about whether or not she'll be able to use it. The screen is crisp, the touchscreen navigation is far superior to the Kindle, and the battery life is excellent. If it were a 3G device like the original NOOK, or like the Kindle, it would be almost perfect, and the best eInk reader device on the market. As it is, it's still highly recommended, but if the user/gift recipient doesn't have Wi-Fi and doesn't regularly visit a B&N store (which has a Wi-Fi network to which the NOOK STR will automatically connect, no setup required), actually getting books onto the device could be a slight problem, especially for less tech-savvy users. It's definitely worth a closer look, however, and definitely recommended. If you don't have to have 3G access and a full web browser, it's a budget priced alternative that is worth serious consideration. It's a great addition to Barnes & Noble's lineup of eReader devices, filling an important niche with fantastic ease-of-use and killer touchscreen navigation.