Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch eBook Reader (Wi-Fi Only)

I was going to deploy to my third deployment to Iraq in 2011 and I wanted some way to read all my books. As you may know, space is precious when you're talking about military gear. We were very strict on what we could or could not bring on the deployment. Also I need something that could go a long time on a single charge. None of the full tablets were going to cut it and than I discovered the paper white. It claims that you can go several weeks on a single charge (or was it months) I can't remember since it's been son long. There were times on my last deployments where we went almost a month without any electricity. After a successful deployment I can defiantly say that this nook proved it was up to the task. I don't think I charged it more than twice and the second charge was just because I had the time and means. The tablet was also very well built. As you may know, Iraq has lots of sand. There were even a few times where I dropped the tablet in the sand. The device kept on trucking and did not give up.After my deployment I put it away in a drawer and forgot about it until I discovered it after I recently moved to my new town house. I would recommend this for anyone who want's a cheaper tablet for reading and does not mind not having sound or video. I currently have the finances and the means to get a much fancier and expensive tablet but I still love using my paper white. I do a lot of reading in the evening and I like how my eyes don't get strained from looking at a lit screen. I'm the type of person who can sit down and read for hours and hours.

I think, the title sums up my opinion about this purchase good enough, but since I need to write 20+ words about it as well, here it goes.Putting some background, I don't have time nor money to purchase every book I want to read in paper, I find reading off the laptop screen impractical and uncomfortable because my laptop is too big to unsheathe it every time I want, while getting somewhere on a bus or a tram. And I'm not rich enough to buy myself an iPad :DSo I was looking for a simple e-reader without bells & whistles, MP3, 3G, video playback capabilities and other stuff I won't use anyway, because I have an mp3 player for music, laptop for games, internet and movies, and I needed another piece of hardware to just read. Yeah, I'm all for "divide and conquer" and don't like combining everything in one :)Getting to the point - this device is just what I wanted. Text quality is great: "paper" is almost white, letters are black, just what I expected form the latest generation e-ink. The screen itslef barely blinks even without any kind of special protection (of course if you don't try to put it right under the lightbulb). Page-turning buttons could be a little easier to press (that's why I gave it 4 stars in "controls"), but who needs buttons, when you have a touchscreen anyway?What else? Well, controls are easy to learn, but in case you forget something, the user guide is already inside as your first available book. Easy to hold in hands, however I recommend you to buy a protective case for it to make your reading even easier and more comfortable. Requires wi-fi internet (b/g not n!) for activation when you turn it on for the first time.Wrapping it up - worth the money, does its job, good-looking. Buy it if you're in doubt =)

I purchased this device new through Amazon Marketplace from JJ's RealBuy.It's perfect. Exactly what I wanted, an e-reader only, simple to use, sharp paper style screen, reasonably priced and with an expandable memory. If this is what you're looking for as well, go for it.You can manage the Nook using the free library management program Calibre, adding and deleting books from the Nook without having to log on to Barnes & Noble with the device. You can also get a ton of legally free books from Project Gutenberg, organize them in Calibre, and transfer them over to your Nook.The built in memory space on the Nook is only 250 MB for books not purchased through Barnes & Noble. The rest of the built in memory is reserved for the OS and your B&N purchases. But who cares, since this Nook has a Micro SD card slot for up to 32 GB of additional space! I just went ahead and bought a 32 GB card at the same time I ordered the Nook. I now have space for thousands of books!This does not have the built in reading light, but I didn't need that, and the newer Glo Light models don't have the expandable memory. I've also read that the battery drains faster on the Glo Light.If you like to listen to audible books, you can't do that on this Nook. Personally, I don't listen to audible books, so it's not a drawback for me. But if at some point in the future I did want to do that, I would just use my phone.