How would you change Barnes & Noble's Nook?

We know that some of you chaps are still waiting for your Barnes & Noble Nook to arrive, but by now, we're hoping that the vast majority (read: all) of you that were jonesing for one can finally say that yours is in-hand. For those that got one during the madness that is the holiday rush (or yesterday... that works too), we're interested to know how you'd do things differently. Are you kosher with the dual-screen approach? Is the user interface smooth enough? Would you tweak the e-book buying process? Do you wish you would've held off for some magical Mirasol-based device to hit "later this year?" Be sure to toss out your opinions in comments below, but make sure you think before you type -- the Nook sees and hears all, don'tcha know?

[BrentK Posted Feb 14th 2010 2:45AM]

Add a touchscreen to the e-ink. There's so much that I want to copy when I read most the time, and it just sucks having to retype already digital text.

There's just nothing else that really bothers me. I soft rooted and I haven't used any of it, except to play with. I have better ways to feed read. I guess if everything was quicker it'd be alright, but still not necessary to me.

I'd rather never have to hold a book again.

[fencesitter Posted Feb 14th 2010 2:55AM]

Way late here, but it would be nice to be able to shut off just the 3G and not the WiFi at the same time. Yeah, you could just pull the SIM card, but what a pain.

Also, more stock fonts would also be nice. How do I add other fonts anyway?

[donatiello Posted Feb 14th 2010 3:49AM]

1. passcode access feature
2. goto page for "My Documents" PDFs and Epubs, or some sort of slider to change your spot.
3. More use of the lower screen. Might use more power, but there are replacement batteries...
4. Open up the android features. I would pay a small fee to exploit some bandwidth or purchase apps
5. MicroSD door is poorly constructed
6. More native fonts / ability to change fonts in "My Docs" - Stanza can!
7. It would be actually awesome to swap out the default reader app with something like an FBreader or ireader app.
8. Some nook proprietary apps would be acceptable. RSS reader, weather bug, doc editor maybe..

its obvious that BN should exploit the android os. people will buy it for that alone, and end up buying books...

[jtang Posted Feb 14th 2010 8:19AM]

1. Increase the responsiveness of the touch screen. The touch screen is what makes the Nook cool.
2. Allow zoom and pan for PDF books.
3. Add support for unicode language, like Chinese.

[raddg Posted Feb 14th 2010 10:04AM]

the adult ereader = nookie

[deltax9 Posted Feb 14th 2010 11:13AM]

i would install a color screen. and boost the processing ability. therefor providing a faster device. we have so many devices that are underpowered. this way barns and noble can sell a device that can display both books and magazines. i usually make pdf files that have full color but i cant read them because my media is in black and white. if you are a reader like me of magazines like seed magazine, who have full color charts, that hold significance, its better to do it in color. we don't only read books. there are other things we look at such as articles, and even reports. so i don't thing its sensible to keep selling color less screens. capitalize on innovation.

[InspectorEngadget Posted Mar 16th 2010 1:28PM]

@deltax9 Read about eink. Color eink is still in development and isn't mass-marketable yet.

[cyborg5001 Posted Feb 14th 2010 12:44PM]

My only gripe so far is the page buttons. I think it's nice to have both next and previous page buttons on both sides of the screen, but why are the previous buttons on top on both sides? Why not switch them, the next is on the bottom on the right and on the top on the left? Or make thier assignment a user pref?

[groberts1980 Posted Feb 15th 2010 10:41AM]

The one thing I would change is battery life. Right now it's terrible. Other than that I love the device.

[Lelang Posted Feb 17th 2010 2:08PM]

I'd make the use of the LCD a little more consistent. When I read the NY Times, for instance, I'd like to tab through articles on the screen on the bottom and read them up top, rather than having to nudge clumsily with the touch arrows while using the slow e-ink selector on top. The whole reason I bought the thing is because I hate using menus in e-ink on the Kindle.

Example two would be word look ups - why the crap does the definition show up top, replacing my book page, when there is lovely real estate below?

Firmware 1.2 made it much, much better.

[jalsina Posted Feb 28th 2010 11:30AM]

After near a week now with my Nook, the balance is that I like it pretty much. It is my first experience with an e-reader gadget, but...... there are a couple features I would not even have dared to include them, if I were B&N. I mean the "word lookup feature", the highlight feature and the associated word navigation.
The lookup dictionary is really a joke. Most of the words have no definition, even common words. the very few definitions I get sometimes are so funny, like the word "sought" defined as the past of "sight", bingo!
I wonder if I could replace the dictionary with something more solid (i.e. WordReference) including choices for translation dictionaries. What I am asking for is something like the pocket Encarta in the Microsoft e-reader for computers.
The programmers should improve the word navigation, speeding it up and maybe with horizontal and vertical sliders located in the touch screen area.