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Barnes & Noble's new Nook Simple Touch adds 'GlowLight' for better night time reading

Barnes & Noble is bringing E Ink technology to the other 12 hours in the day. The Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight is a front-lit touchscreen ereader coming early May. We've got all the details — specs, impressions, hands-on pictures, and video — and a discussion with B&N's President of Digital Devices Jamie Iannone. Here's everything you need to know!

  • Sam Byford

    Oct 29, 2012

    Sam Byford

    Nook Simple Touch Glowlight out in the UK for £109, HD and HD+ tablets coming November

    Gallery Photo: Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight review pictures
    Gallery Photo: Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight review pictures

    The e-readers' release has been met with the launch of the UK-specific Nook site at uk.nook.com. For UK residents more interested in Barnes & Noble's new tablets, you can also pre-order a 7-inch Nook HD for £159 ($256) or a 9-inch Nook HD+ for £229 ($368) now. Both tablets will be shipping in late November.

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  • David Pierce

    Apr 24, 2012

    David Pierce

    Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight review

    Nook Simple Touch GlowLight hero (1024px)
    Nook Simple Touch GlowLight hero (1024px)

    Odds are, if I'm reading a book I'm doing it in bed. At night. In the dark. That's not so great for ebook readers, which (like a paper book) require a light in order to be seen. I've been asking ebook manufacturers why they wouldn't add lights to their devices for some time, and now Barnes & Noble has done it.

    The Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight is a virtually unchanged version of last year's model, but the company added a glowing white light that makes the screen readable in darker environments. It's not as bright and painful to look at as a lit-up LCD, nor as kludgy as an ebook reader with a light attachment, and at $139 it's no more expensive than the ad-free Kindle Touch. Is the new Nook worth an upgrade over last year's model? Is it enough to make Kindle owners jump on the Barnes & Noble bandwagon? Read on.

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  • Ross Miller

    Apr 12, 2012

    Ross Miller

    Nooks with E Ink get seasonal sales boost in summer, tablet bundles doing well

    Gallery Photo:
    Gallery Photo:

    The timing of the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight — out intentionally just before Mother's Day and before summer — is no coincidence. That's of course no surprise, as product are meticulously planned at all stages of its cycle, from research and development to engineering to sales and marketing. But there's a particular boost in E Ink interest just in time for beach weather, according to Barnes & Noble's President of Digital Devices Jamie Iannone. He's been a figure in Nook's development since joining the company in 2009 following a stint at eBay.

    Still, Iannone said that the Nook Color and Tablet have not affected sales of the E Ink-based Nook Simple Touch. "You've somewhat got different customer segments. E Ink is really for the longer form readers that don't want magazines, apps, videos." Iannone said the company has been seeing many customers buy both and has been testing selling bundles, E Ink and LCD devices together. "It's actually worked really well," he said.

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  • Ross Miller

    Apr 12, 2012

    Ross Miller

    New Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight coming early May for $139 (hands-on video)

    an e-reader with a top glowing edge on its screen
    Gallery Photo:

    It was almost a complete surprise, barring some leaked early promotional material yesterday. Today, Barnes & Noble has officially announced the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight, for all the insomniacs to read at night, in bed, without disturbing loved ones. (As B&N noted in a survey it recently conducted, more than 50 percent said they would read more if it didn't affect their partner's sleep.)

    The Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight (official name) is nearly identical to the earlier model — same 6-inch E Ink Pearl touchscreen display, same internals, same size and chassis — but is actually hair lighter, at 6.95 ounces vs. 7.48 ounces. And, of course, the GlowLight. Barnes & Noble calls it a patent pending technology that consists of scattering LEDs up top that work with an anti-glare screen protector to uniformly spread light across the screen. There might be some other tricks at play to make it uniform, specifically along the sides and bottom, but they wouldn't tell us anything more. Alas, we only had limited time with the device and weren't allowed to break it apart and explore further.

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  • Nathan Ingraham

    Apr 11, 2012

    Nathan Ingraham

    New Nook Simple Touch with 'GlowLight' front-lit screen revealed by store signage

    Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch
    Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch

    We heard a few days ago that Amazon was readying a Kindle with a front-lit, E ink screen — now it appears that Barnes & Noble is ready to do the same thing with the Nook. The Digital Reader has just posted an image of what appears to be a Nook Simple Touch with a front-lit E ink screen that Barnes & Noble has dubbed "GlowLight." While this is by no means guaranteed yet, these images do look fairly authentic, and these details corroborate an earlier report from The Ebook Reader. It sounds like the Nook will use a similar technology to what was described as being used on the next Kindle — a thin layer that covers the entire screen and evenly distributes light across it. While we're not sure when we'll see the latest Nook hardware, it wouldn't surprise us to hear something very soon considering the info that's starting to leak out.

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