The GlowLight Nook's six-inch, 800 x 600 E Ink Pearl display is old hat for ebook readers — the new Kindles use it, last year's Nook uses it, and a host of other devices use it. The GlowLight Nook has a screen protector on top of the display, though, which makes text appear slightly softer and lower-contrast than on last year's model. I didn't notice until I held the GlowLight Nook next to last year's Nook and a Kindle, and even though all three use the same display technology the GlowLight Nook's text didn't look quite as sharp. It's a fine screen, but it's nothing remarkable anymore, and I'm starting to wish for a slightly higher-res display that renders text a little more sharply.
The big change here is the GlowLight — it makes the Nook's name a serious mouthful, but it's a wonderful addition to the device. There's a new item in the main menu for toggling and adjusting the light, or you can press and hold the "n" button for about three seconds to turn it on or off. Barnes & Noble doesn't want to explain how the light works, but it's basically a set of eight LED lights at the top of the device, slotted in between bezel and display. The lights shine down onto the Nook's display, and Barnes & Noble works its patent-pending magic to spread the light uniformly over the whole screen.
I wouldn't describe the light as uniform, though. It's really bright at the top, right next to the LEDs, then there's a dark stripe right below. It evens out considerably by the time it's illuminating any text, but it's still inconsistent enough to make certain lines of text look slighty darker or lighter than others. None of it really impedes the reading experience, but it's not as nice-looking as a cool, even glow would be.
Still, all things considered, the light works really well. Rather than a backlit screen that seems to glare out at you, the Nook's screen really does glow a bluish white, which is both easier on your eyes and just generally a nice effect. The light's intensity is customizable, and will go from just-barely-on to blind-you-immediately levels of brightness. Reading in bed, I was able to use the Nook with the light only slightly above the minimum level, and still read comfortably. Barnes & Noble touts that the light is much less disturbing to your partner in bed, and that it'll pretty much save your marriage forever; given that I could turn up the GlowLight and use the Nook as a flashlight, I don't know how much I buy that. Still, it's far less obtrusive than using a lamp or an iPad, and that's good for you and whoever's in bed next to you.
Despite the addition of the GlowLight, Barnes & Noble still promises impressive battery life from the Nook. You'll still get two months of use without the light on, just like the last version, but even if you read for 30 minutes a day with the light on the company says you should still get a month between charges. That number doesn't specify a particular brightness level, but since the lowest settings are totally sufficient, that number's probably not far off. I haven't used the Nook enough to kill the battery yet, but over four days of pretty heavy reading and testing, I barely made a dent — you shouldn't have a problem with your Nook dying too often. One word of caution, though: if you accidentally turn it on in your bag you could run your battery down by accident, so double check that the screen timeout is set to a lower number — two minutes or five minutes. Barnes & Noble VP Chuck Neugebauer told us the device will last over 50 hours with the light on, but that's still a far cry from the month-long battery you expected when you tossed it into your backpack.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtnampfaXxzgI5rcG9xYmmDcK7Aq6Weq12jvKO4xGalqKebYsCquc%2BlnGasn6qwqXnWoquhZZehvLi4yKCfrWWimsOqsdY%3D