I've often seen posts titled "Why I'm returning..." some device and in truth the first 2-3 days I had my Nook Hd+ I was thinking I would have to post the same. But, I gave it a little more time, and did a little more reading (both on and off the Nook ;-) ) and I'm very pleased that I'm keeping my new Nook HD!
Some background on where I was comming from. Just before the Nook HD+, I had a imported unlocked Galaxy SII, a Nexus 7 16GB (bought at release), and a Nook Color I had picked up early on when they first did the $50 off when they sold it on Ebay deal. I was pretty happy with all the devices. I had used manualnooter to root my Nook Color so that I could have my E-Reader but also a taste of a 7 inch tablet. When the Nexus 7 came out I knew it was something I'd use given my experience with my Nook Color. After that I pretty much reverted the Nook back to stock and just used it as an E-Reader. Problem was the Nexus 7 had a better screen, even though it was heavier it was the better reading experience for my eyes. So the Nook was used less and less. Near the end the Nook Color was only used to read content that didn't work on the Nook for Android app (some magazines mostly).
Then the Nook HDs came out. The Nook HD (7" display) wasn't for me as it was almost a duplicate of what I already had in my Nexus 7. But, the Nook HD+ (8.9") had a bigger much higher resolution display, was lighter and offered access to all Nook content. Price wasn't bad either, so figured it would be a great way to have a light experience of a larger format tablet for less money while giving me a great screen for reading. I read primarily books, but enjoy and occasional magazine or comic book which really does lend well to larger high-res displays. Video viewing is rare, but a nice option to have.
So I purchased it, loved the screen, but felt underwelmed by the functionality. I had no video content, it was a pain to mount to my Macbook pro (MTP, ugh..), ultraviolet didn't seem to work as it was supposed to, and app choice were limited and expensive. I really didn't want to have to go the rooted method again, it's nice functionality wise, but a pain to maintain. So I started having buyers remorse. Was $299 I spent on it a bad idea (I got the 32GB model), could I just forget some of the content access and stick with my smaller Nexus 7 screen? I had my doubts.
Then, I started reading. I started using it for reading and wow, the screen really is great. And it's light, lighter than my Nexus 7 yet a larger screen and a lot more pixels. It's just comfortable to the hands and the eyes. And all the magazine content worked, and browsing the web was even very nice. It has this nice little function called "Article View" which stiprs out all the adds and distracting side stuff of the webpage you are view and present just the text of the article. It does an incredibly good job of doing this, really amazing. And though dealing with MTP on the Mac is a pain I was able to sideload books from other sources no problems and though the covers didn't show up the book titles did and they worked great. Finally I read up on how to relatively easily sideload apps. This is a developer option, but works reasonably well for the ocassional app from google play store I want to use. Just copy the app off my Nexus 7, load it with adb onto the Nook HD+ and then use the secret key combo (Goto applications, press and hold up volume while tapping the app header at the top of the screen and you get the "extras" screen with your sideloaded apps) to access my apps when needed. Not super easy, but not to hard, and works for the occasional app use.
So now I'm very happy with it, and actually took the Nook + laptop on my last long vacation instaed of the Nexus + laptop. That screen is just wonderfull and the battery life has been great. For less than 2 hours a day of reading and light webbrowsing (usually at night in bed with the backlight low), I've had the thing last a week plus on a single charge.
My only challenges now are to find a decent case, the two I've tried so far have failed to work to my needs. I'll post reviews of those seperately. Also still waiting for zagg to put out a screen protector for this model, would love to cut down on some of the glare and fingerprints.
So, happy customer, and I'm NOT returning mine.
Some background on where I was comming from. Just before the Nook HD+, I had a imported unlocked Galaxy SII, a Nexus 7 16GB (bought at release), and a Nook Color I had picked up early on when they first did the $50 off when they sold it on Ebay deal. I was pretty happy with all the devices. I had used manualnooter to root my Nook Color so that I could have my E-Reader but also a taste of a 7 inch tablet. When the Nexus 7 came out I knew it was something I'd use given my experience with my Nook Color. After that I pretty much reverted the Nook back to stock and just used it as an E-Reader. Problem was the Nexus 7 had a better screen, even though it was heavier it was the better reading experience for my eyes. So the Nook was used less and less. Near the end the Nook Color was only used to read content that didn't work on the Nook for Android app (some magazines mostly).
Then the Nook HDs came out. The Nook HD (7" display) wasn't for me as it was almost a duplicate of what I already had in my Nexus 7. But, the Nook HD+ (8.9") had a bigger much higher resolution display, was lighter and offered access to all Nook content. Price wasn't bad either, so figured it would be a great way to have a light experience of a larger format tablet for less money while giving me a great screen for reading. I read primarily books, but enjoy and occasional magazine or comic book which really does lend well to larger high-res displays. Video viewing is rare, but a nice option to have.
So I purchased it, loved the screen, but felt underwelmed by the functionality. I had no video content, it was a pain to mount to my Macbook pro (MTP, ugh..), ultraviolet didn't seem to work as it was supposed to, and app choice were limited and expensive. I really didn't want to have to go the rooted method again, it's nice functionality wise, but a pain to maintain. So I started having buyers remorse. Was $299 I spent on it a bad idea (I got the 32GB model), could I just forget some of the content access and stick with my smaller Nexus 7 screen? I had my doubts.
Then, I started reading. I started using it for reading and wow, the screen really is great. And it's light, lighter than my Nexus 7 yet a larger screen and a lot more pixels. It's just comfortable to the hands and the eyes. And all the magazine content worked, and browsing the web was even very nice. It has this nice little function called "Article View" which stiprs out all the adds and distracting side stuff of the webpage you are view and present just the text of the article. It does an incredibly good job of doing this, really amazing. And though dealing with MTP on the Mac is a pain I was able to sideload books from other sources no problems and though the covers didn't show up the book titles did and they worked great. Finally I read up on how to relatively easily sideload apps. This is a developer option, but works reasonably well for the ocassional app from google play store I want to use. Just copy the app off my Nexus 7, load it with adb onto the Nook HD+ and then use the secret key combo (Goto applications, press and hold up volume while tapping the app header at the top of the screen and you get the "extras" screen with your sideloaded apps) to access my apps when needed. Not super easy, but not to hard, and works for the occasional app use.
So now I'm very happy with it, and actually took the Nook + laptop on my last long vacation instaed of the Nexus + laptop. That screen is just wonderfull and the battery life has been great. For less than 2 hours a day of reading and light webbrowsing (usually at night in bed with the backlight low), I've had the thing last a week plus on a single charge.
My only challenges now are to find a decent case, the two I've tried so far have failed to work to my needs. I'll post reviews of those seperately. Also still waiting for zagg to put out a screen protector for this model, would love to cut down on some of the glare and fingerprints.
So, happy customer, and I'm NOT returning mine.
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