The latest feature for the Nook Simple Touch is getting glowing reviews, but we still want more.
The Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight has lit up the world of e-ink. Simple, dedicated ereaders, with their subtle, paper-like pages offer an immersive reading experience that's not diluted by a peek at email or a Google search that goes down a rabbit hole.
Although the GlowLight has eliminated the need for ugly, clip-on light sources to read in dark bedrooms or dim airplanes, there are a few items still on the wishlists of ereading aficionados:
1. Standardized book formats
Ereaders function with different formats. Kindle models are on the Mobi platform while Nook, Kobo, and Sony models work on ePub and never the twain shall meet (without some assistance, anyway).
2. Ownership of the book
When you buy a book, you're purchasing the actual book. When you download an ebook, you're licensing the content, meaning that unless a publisher specifically allows for it, lending is not possible for books. Neither is simply transferring the download from one device you own to another, even if they both use the same ebook format.
3. Color eink
We're not talking Retina display, just a fairly faithful rendering of what would be on a page of a magazine, a graphic novel, or a comic. Even perusing the covers of an ebook collection would be a more aesthetically pleasing experience with a little color.
4. A better selection of books
Amazon's Kindle store has more than one million books and the Nook store is stocked with more than two million, but there are still empty shelves. The works of J.D. Salinger, To Kill a Mockingbird, and One Hundred Years of Solitude are notably absent, possibly because publishers may be reluctant to lose the reliable sales of these required reading titles. But among the missing are also some highly anticipated books from independent publishers, like Two Dollar Radio's I'm Trying to Reach You by Barbara Browning.
5. Faster, smoother performance for comics.
Graphics weigh down most ereaders, making them sluggish or unresponsive, which is the opposite of a desired comic book-reading experience.
6. Audio
This is really a Nook-specific item. The Nook Simple Touch and its GlowLight follow-up lack the Kindle Touch's option to have a computerized (but not unpleasant) voice read books out loud. Conversely, the Kindle Touch is now going to be perceived as slightly dimmer than its competitor.
Are there other things you'd like simple ereaders to do? Tell us in the comments.
