The Nook Color-B&N vs. iPad 2-iBooks

First I’d like to ask you to all bear with me. I’ve only had my iPad 2 for a few weeks and over the past few days I’ve been investigating the Nook Color. The biggest difference of course is access to the 3G Network. I will say though, even when Wi-Fi was available I had trouble logging in with the Nook.

In my mind, the iPad with iBooks wins the User Interface Award hands down. I think it all comes down to the size of the screen. The iPad has a much bigger screen. Therefore, all your tools are in plain site. The Nook is not as intuitive. I found myself surfing the web to find out how to create a note or bookmark. The web refers you to the manual. Oh please, don’t point me to a manual I don’t have access to. This is suppose to be fun!

On the other hand, I downloaded the digital version, on my iPad , of the Great Cover-Up. In the hope, I’ll help Barry Sussman reach his 18 copies for the week. At the beginning of his book, it actually gave me directions on how to make notes and bookmark. Brilliant! What a time-saver!

I also did another little experiment. I let my 65-year-old mother test-drive the Nook as well as the iPad 2. The Nook was too much for her to handle. Again what do you push? How hard? How do you find all these hidden menus? She did struggle a bit with the iPad 2 but in the end was much more successful at manipulating it. Thankfully, my iPad 2 is staying. So Nook Color, it’s back to class for you.