Nook Simple Touch packs surprise Web browser

By Geoff Duncan June 10, 2011

Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch eReader (CEO William Lynch)

Barnes & Noble debuted its new Nook Simple Touch ereader last month, the company touted the unit’s touch-sensitive screen, improved contrast, better performance, and sleek design. But now that the units are reaching customers, they’ve found a bit of a secret feature in the device: a rudimentary Web browser. Just enter a URL into the ereader’s search bar and the unit will load the site in a built-in Web browser.

The Nook Simple Touch is based on Android 2.1, and while Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color is expanding into the wider world of Android applications, some ereader users have lamented that Barnes & Noble hadn’t done more with Android on the Simple Touch. Turns out, the company kind of has done more: limited Web browsing opens up whole new realms of possibilities for the ereader.

Of course, as video from The eBook Reader demonstrates, the Nook Simple Touch’s E Ink display doesn’t always make for the best mobile Web experience—which is probably why Barnes & Noble hasn’t flagged the browser as an official feature. However, there are many cases where some Web access is better than no Web access at all.

Of course, users who really want to tap into the Nook Simple Touch’s possibilities will need to root the device to install their own software—which, of course, falls outside the bounds of what Barnes & Noble wants people to do with the device. After all, literature fans probably haven’t lived until they’ve tried to play Words with Friends on an E Ink screen.

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Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Emerging Tech

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Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch eReader (CEO William Lynch)

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Spammers are exploiting something known as PLR content, or Private Label Rights. Though there is potential for this work to be of high quality, PLR allows someone to grab informational content for free or for very cheap on the internet and reformat it as a digital book. The form of PLR these spammers use tends to be poorly written, generic and lets them put anyone's name on it, slap a catchy title and churn it out for 99 cents. Amazon then pays out 30 to 70 percent of the revenue.
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Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch eReader

Bookseller Barnes & Noble isn't resting on its ereading laurels, revamping the lower tier of its Nook ereader line today with an all new Nook Simple Touch Reader. The Nook Simple Touch features a 6-inch E Ink Pearl display that the company says offers 50 percent better contrast than its first edition Nook ereader, along with a touch screen interface that eliminates awkward buttons and controls from the front of the unit. And Barnes & Noble says the optimized display offers 80 percent less flashing and the unit can run for up to two months on a single battery charge.

"We set out to design the easiest-to-use, most optimized, dedicated reading device ever created and accomplished it with the all-new Nook," said Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch, in a statement. "Touch makes it simple to use, and the beautifully compact design makes it the most portable eReader in its class."