New B&N Nook GlowLight e-reader gives the Kindle Paperwhite a run for the money

Mark Twain once remarked that the report of his death was an exaggeration. The same could be said of Barnes & Noble's Nook -- or so Mahesh Veerina, the new chief operating officer of Nook Media, told CNET, as the company officially launched its next-generation 6-inch e-ink e-reader, the Nook GlowLight, on October 30.

The new model shares the same shape as the earlier Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight, but it sheds its carbon-colored shell for a warmer, off-white housing that has a rubberized gray trim around its border. The silicone rim helps you get a good grip on the device and it's also supposed to help protect the device in the event of a drop. Just as importantly, the device as a whole has been trimmed down from the previous GlowLight model, dropping from 6.95 ounces to 6.2 ounces (175g), which works out to 15 percent lighter than Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite. (For those following the 6-inch e-reader weight standings, the Kobo Aura is the lightest, weighing 1 gram less than the Nook GlowLight).
I liked the overall look and feel of the new Nook. The back has a soft-to-the-touch finish, and since it's white, it doesn't show fingerprints like the previous model did.

The GlowLight, which features an improved lighting scheme, is shipping now for $119 (click image to enlarge).

 While Barnes & Noble has thankfully eliminated the "Simple Touch" title from the device's name, this is a touch-screen e-reader that sports a display with the same resolution (1,024x758 pixels, 212 ppi) as the Kindle Paperwhite and delivers similarly sharp text. I got to play around with it a bit in the days before the launch, and it seems nicely responsive, though I would have liked to have seen Barnes & Noble go with the 1GHz processor that's in the Paperwhite (and the Kobo Glo) instead of sticking with an 800MHz processor.

Aside from improving the display and slimming the chassis, the biggest enhancement Barnes & Noble has made is to the integrated light -- the GlowLight is now significantly brighter at its highest setting, looks whiter, and displays more evenly across the screen. On top of that, Barnes & Noble has completely eliminated the flashing you typically get from e-ink based e-readers (with e-ink, the screen needs to refresh every so often, which is what causes the flash).

It's also worth noting that this model comes with 4GB of internal memory instead of the Paperwhite's 2GB, and runs on Android 2.1 (Eclair). Both the Paperwhite and the new Nook offer up to two months of battery life with wireless off and, in the case of the Nook, the GlowLight set to the default setting or off.

In other words, they're both pretty energy-efficient. And not surprisingly, Barnes & Noble has matched the $119 price of the base Wi-Fi-only Kindle Paperwhite, which is known as the Kindle Paperwhite with Special Offers because it serves up some small ads at the bottom of the home page and as screensavers when the device is in sleep mode. Some people don't mind or even like the Special Offers, while some people hate them. If you're willing to pay an extra $20, you can get the version of the Kindle that's ad-free. The Nook doesn't have any ads.

The device has a silicone trim around its edge to protect it in the event of a drop (click image to enlarge).

Barnes & Noble is offering an additional discount through the end of the year: new and existing Barnes & Noble members get a 10 percent discount on the Nook GlowLight. You could put that $11.90 toward one of the new Clip On Covers, which attach to the left or right side of device and protect the screen while adding very little weight to your e-reader. That's all good, but the $29.99 price for the new covers is too high; they feel like they're worth about $14.99).

Why buy the Nook Glow Light over the Kindle Paper white?
Barnes & Noble was one of the first to market with an integrated light (Sony was first, but no one really remembers that) and when the Nook Simple Touch with Glow Light hit the market, Amazon was still several months away from releasing the first-generation Paperwhite.

As it stands today, Amazon already has its new Paperwhite out and it's a very solid product that earned a CNET Editors' Choice Award. At first glance, the new Nook GlowLight seems to measure up very well. It has a few advantages (it's lighter, has more memory, and for those who don't like ads, there aren't any). Barnes & Noble also likes to point out that you can get in-person assistance with your device by stepping into a Barnes & Noble brick and mortar store, where you can read any Nook book for free for 1 hour while connected to Wi-Fi at any location. Veerina, the new chief operating officer, also adds that the company has improved the shopping experience on the device. And there are new optimized fonts to choose from.

Barnes & Noble is selling Clip On Covers ($29.99) that protect the screen while adding very little weight to the device.

Those are all positives, but I don't think the new Nook GlowLight brings anything so revolutionary or different to the world of e-reading that one might turn from being a Kindle customer to being a Nook customer. However, I do think the new GlowLight will help Barnes & Noble retain its existing customers and maybe even acquire some new ones who aren't ensconced in the Kindle ecosystem, which continues to add features.

Of course, I'll withhold any final judgments until I get my hands on a final shipping product (that should be soon since the device is available as of October 30). So check back in the coming days for a more detailed comparison of the lighting schemes on the new Nook and new Kindle, as well as a closer look at their responsiveness.

The new Nook is slightly thinner than the previous model and also charges via USB.