The Nook’s most serious drawback is that it’s slow even for an E-Ink reader. It flips its virtual pages noticeably more sluggishly than the Kindle or the Sony–not a crippling flaw given that you need a moment to move your eyes back to the top of the page anyway, but still a flaw. When you open a book, the Nook pauses for several seconds to format it, a step the Kindle and the Sony somehow avoid. Even the speed of the touchscreen feels less than satisfyingly snappy.
I worried that this might be the case. Barnes and Nobles’ iPhone and desktop ereader software is poor at best, and it looks like that problem continues to plague them with the Nook. It’s unfortunate; I wanted very much to like the new device, but if it’s slow in comparison to a real book, there’s just no way.
