But I’m not going to lament the Nook’s ePub/DRM compatibility failings that sucked away a good portion of my wife’s weekend when she just wanted to read – those have been well-documented on plenty of message boards by now. Nor will I complain that the arrangement of left and right page turn buttons is completely counter-intuitive. (Why wouldn’t a button on the left of the screen flip pages back while a button on the right flipped pages forward? Instead, B&N uses an odd stacked arrangement.)
OK, I won’t complain about those quirks much.
I just want to point out something so ridiculous that it encapsulates every obvious and avoidable design flaw with the Nook; it should serve as a symbol, a mascot, if you will, for all that is wrong with what should be a device every bit as natural to use as a book.
The Nook has a two-page, seven-step set of instructions to explain how you pull the thing from its plastic case. I’m not exaggerating. Within the scope of the grandma test, it’s fail incarnate.
The sadder point? Even with as many electronics as I unbox a week, it took me a good five minutes to figure this process out on my own. (After all, I never thought to turn to the instruction manual just to open the package.)
In other words, the Nook packaging actually necessitates these lengthy instructions, as ridiculous as they are in their own right. Somehow, they’ve invented a box that’s every bit as complicated as their product.
Rulers of B&N – CEOs with names I’m too lazy to Google at this time – don’t let some prima donna designer or marketer tell you how to make or package your product. Ask your mum or grandma. They always knows best.
Read our full Nook review here.
kDavis
Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 6:45 AMI got my wife a nook and we received it Dec 24th. She LOVES it! I didn’t use the directions to open it, and it took me like 20 sec. I didn’t think it was that bad. As for the buttons, I think they make perfect sense. My wife is left handed and she is more prone to use the L and R buttons on the left side. I use the buttons on the right side. I believe they made it that way so you would have to reach across the screen to go back a page. There are a few bugs in the software, but each update has made it faster and better. Also, iPad will be nice, but the nook is made for reading and ONLY reading. If that is what you are looking for, the screen is a lot better for reading than the iPad’s will be. I will buy one anyway, but not for an e-reader. Just wanted to share my thoughts!