In 2012 Barnes & Noble launched their Nook range in the UK. Like the other main eBook reader makers, their range includes a cheap touch screen device, a similar device with the addition of a front light, and a tablet device. There are also apps for all the main computer and phone platforms.
The Nook range includes a number of large font and colour options. None of the devices include text-to-speech, although their app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch works with the built-in VoiceOver screen reader.
Nooks are being sold in supermarkets (Asda, Sainsbury, Waitrose), book shops (Blackwell's, Foyles) and other stores (John Lewis, Argos).
Nook Simple Touch GlowLight
The GlowLight has a 152mm (6 inch) eInk touch screen and weighs 197g. It can hold around 1000 books, and has a slot for an SD card which could hold up to 30,000 more. The battery life claims 30 hours of continuous reading withouth the GlowLight on, or half that with the light. It costs £109.
The Nook Simple Touch GlowLight has only a few physical controls on it:
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On/Off button at the top of the rear of the device,
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Ridges on each side of the touch screen which can be used to move forward and backward a page if you prefer not to use gestures on the touch screen,
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SD card slot behind a flap on the right edge,
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Raised 'n' below the touch screen - the Nook button, which opens a menu of options, and
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Micro USB connector on the bottom edge.
A wide plastic edge surrounds the screen to make room for the next/previous page controls.
The setup procedure requires an internet connection and a Nook account. If you don't already have an account, you can set one up during the setup process. The setup procedure ends with a demonstration of the GlowLight feature, and the first time a book is opened, an image showing how to use the touch screen appears.
There are six quite different fonts to choose from, and seven font sizes, the largest of which is around 22pt. These options are only available for the content of a book, and aren't available for the library or store screens.
The GlowLight has a built-in light that can be turned on or off, and have its brightness level altered, using the Nook button. When the ambient light is low, the GlowLight can make quite a difference. The light can be switched on at any time, so you can use it while browsing the books on the Glo, or buying a book, or reading.
Benefits
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152mm (6 inch) eInk Pearl display.
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Six font face options.
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Seven font sizes, largest point size 24 (approximately).
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Options also for line spacing and margins.
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Justification can be off, left or full.
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Font settings chosen in one book apply to all others when opened.
Obstacles
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No text-to-speech feature available.
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No text colour inversion option.
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Cannot increase font size of menu items, on-screen keyboard or Store.
Nook Simple Touch
The Simple Touch is the Simple Touch GlowLight without the front light, and costs £79.
Nook HD and HD+
The Nook HD has a 178mm (7 inch) HD colour screen with the best resolution of any similar sized device (1440 by 900). It weighs 315g. There are both speakers and a headphone socket, and it has an SD card slot. It comes in 8GB and 16GB variations, although 3GB of this is unavailable as storage, which cost in the region of £159 and £189 respectivley.
The Nook HD has the following physical controls:
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On/Off button on the left edge at the top,
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Stereo speakers on the back at the bottom, with a volume rocker on the right edge and headphone socket on the top edge,
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SD card slot behind a flap on the bottom edge, along with a proprietary charging cable socket,
There are good font options - eight font sizes, six fonts and six colour themes (black on white, white on black, white on brown and three black on light varietites). There are also three line spacing and margins settings.
The Nook HD+ is very similar to the HD, although it has a 226mm (8.9 inch) screen with an even higher resolution, at 1920 by 1080. It also weighs considerably more at 515g. There are 16GB and 32GB varieties costing around £229 and £269.
The Nook HD and HD+ are in fact Android tablet computers but they have been heavily adapted by Barnes & Noble so that their accessibility features are unavailable. There is access to a range of Nook apps rather than Android's standard Play Store.
Benefits
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178mm (7 inch) or 226mm (8.9 inch) HD colour screen with very high resolution.
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Six font face options.
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Eight font sizes, largest point size 24 (approximately).
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Options for line spacing and margins.
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Six colour themes.
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Font settings chosen in one book apply to all others when opened.
Obstacles
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No text-to-speech feature available.
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Cannot increase font size of menu items, on-screen keyboard or Store.
Nook apps
There are Nook apps for iOS and Android devices. Many of the display options are the same for both - once in a book there are:
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Five font sizes,
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Six font faces,
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Four colour themes (day, night, sepia and butter),
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Options for margins, line spacing and justification.
No dictionary is installed during the initial setup, but one can be downloaded at a later time.
The big difference is when it comes to speech or braille access. On an iOS device, the Nook app works with the built-in VoiceOver screen reader, offering the option to read at the level you choose, from one character at a time up to one chapter at a time.
Not only that, but when you install the app with VoiceOver running, it offers a short accessibility tutorial while the device is syncing your library. The tutorial can be started at any time from the Settings menu while VoiceOver is active. If you're lucky enough to own a bluetooth braille display, you can use this to read your books with, too.