New Nook Glowlight 4?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Shadilly

Hopefully it will support a cover that wakes and sleeps when open and closed. Especially with my Plus its very janky to press the home button, wait for the Nook to wake up, swipe once, swipe twice and finally it opens and takes me to...my home page. I'd love to just open the cover and be reading a book in a second rather then 30 seconds.

Oh yeah! I forgot that. It is weird that no Nook so far supports a sleep cover.

The screen saver is also a bit dated, just give me the option to display my book cover and we'll be good.

That should likely become the norm.

In the days of the Simple Touch you could add your own screensavers, which was also nice. I'd be happy to see that make a comeback.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

That should likely become the norm.

In the days of the Simple Touch you could add your own screensavers, which was also nice. I'd be happy to see that make a comeback.

OTOH I hate book covers as screensavers. I didn't mind Kindle or Nook general screensavers, but on my Kobos I had to install custom ones so that I wouldn't see book covers there.

One man's bread and so on...

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Shadilly

Hopefully it will support a cover that wakes and sleeps when open and closed. ...

I checked for that when the covers were still up on B&N's site. Unfortunately there was nothing about them being sleep covers. So that looks to be another thing they haven't changed with the GL4.

Originally Posted by Shadilly

B&N definitely knows what it's money maker is. The page turn buttons! There's something special about having buttons on both sides of the device.

Agreed.

[christianbk]

Yeah I'm concerned this will come out with some OK specs but no real killer competitive advantage OR enhancements with their ereader software. Which is too bad

[Renate]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I hate book covers as screensavers

I agree with you. Even if you have a nice looking modern book, being rendered in B&W diminishes its interest. If you have some stupid abstract geometric cover from gutenberg.org, yuck!

I just have my own basic sleep image but with the sleep cover I only see it fleetingly anyway. I wasn't sure that I'd like a cover but I've grown to like it and it keeps the screen cleaner too.

[rcentros]

There's now five other covers up on B&N's site for the GlowLight 4. The two that were up yesterday black and white sparkles, are not back up — so at least seven cover choices all together. If you like colorful covers (like the Kobo Nia) you'll like this selection. Chocolate (dark brown), Daffodil (yellow), Red Rose (red), Emerald (green, doesn't look emerald on my screen) and Violet (looks purple on my screen). Nothing about auto on/off (sleep), but they do mention "water resistant interior lining" — which may mean the GlowLight 4 is waterproof (water resistant).

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/nook%20glowlight%204

I don't know if these will also disappear, like the two last night. But they're on the B&N site currently.

[Renate]

Hmm, it doesn't say anything about sleeping, although there could be a Hall sensor in the back, certainly not the front.

Although, the ntx_hwconfig does say TLE4913, NTX's choice for Hall effect sensor. OTOH the 7.8" Glowlight has the same config and AFAIK has no Hall sensor.

P.S. I do dig the "Daffodil" though. Maybe I'll save my money and just buy the cover.

[Calenorn]

Those Gutenberg covers are a fright. What on earth are they thinking?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

OTOH I hate book covers as screensavers. I didn't mind Kindle or Nook general screensavers, but on my Kobos I had to install custom ones so that I wouldn't see book covers there.

One man's bread and so on...

I do remember when ereaders were catching on that some readers considered it an advantage that others couldn't see the covers of their books, so I do understand.

Generally, if the book cover isn't used for the sleep screen, there's an option to display something else. Doesn't Kobo offer that?

For me, I would like the option to have the book cover, but I really don't mind the current generic Nook sleep screens. (Though I really would like the old Simple Touch 'add your own' feature.)

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by christianbk

Yeah I'm concerned this will come out with some OK specs but no real killer competitive advantage OR enhancements with their ereader software. Which is too bad

Realistically, I expect the Glowlight 4 to come out with exactly the same firmware my Glowlight 3 and Glowlight Plus use.

On the upside, many features can be added via firmware updates (aside from sleep/wake). And B&N have rolled out a few nice improvements recently.

But expecting the Glowlight 4 to ship with firmware that is a massive improvement over what Nooks use now isn't likely to go anywhere. (Though I would be happy to be proven wrong.)

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Renate

P.S. I do dig the "Daffodil" though. Maybe I'll save my money and just buy the cover.

I like the Daffodil cover as well, though I don't like the flap on the side.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Realistically, I expect the Glowlight 4 to come out with exactly the same firmware...

Wow, you're cynical. And wrong.
The Glowlight 3 and the Glowlight 7.8" have stock reader software version 650.
The Glowlight 2 and the new Glowlight 4 have stock reader software version 631.
Yup, the discontinued Glowlight 2 and the latest, greatest have the older version reader software.

Spoiler:

  "model": "piper", // Glowlight 2
      "bnereader": {
        "url": "http://su.barnesandnoble.com/nook/piper/4.2/bnereader-master-4.2.1.1-release.apk",
        "version": "631",
        "md5": "e7a3ca70e0958b8425fe0fbc062e7769"

  "model": "jay", // Glowlight 3
      "bnereader": {
        "url": "http://10.227.6.183/~wlee/bnereader-master-2341-release.apk",
        "version": "650",
        "changelog":  "Testing changelog for 4.7.0.1334 bnereader OTA update",
        "md5": "7993ca0a425784b9e039d983fb5cc5b1"

  "model": "quill", // Glowlight 7.8"
      "bnereader": {
        "url": "http://10.227.6.183/~wlee/bnereader-master-2341-release.apk",
        "version": "650",
        "changelog":  "Testing changelog for 4.7.0.1334 bnereader OTA update",
        "md5": "7993ca0a425784b9e039d983fb5cc5b1"

  "model": "gentoo", // new Glowlight 4
      "bnereader": {
        "url": "http://su.barnesandnoble.com/nook/piper/4.2/bnereader-master-4.2.1.1-release.apk",
        "version": "631",
        "md5": "e7a3ca70e0958b8425fe0fbc062e7769"

Yes, the OTA updates do indicate this, but I think that's just copy/paste errors. The reader in the new Glowlight is 51 Megs vs 36 Megs for the Glowlight 7.8". I'll try to see what the difference is.

So, I installed bnereader.apk on my cell phone and got this:

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Renate

Wow, you're cynical. And wrong.
The Glowlight 3 and the Glowlight 7.8" have stock reader software version 650.
The Glowlight 2 and the new Glowlight 4 have stock reader software version 631.
Yup, the discontinued Glowlight 2 and the latest, greatest have the older version reader software.

Spoiler:

  "model": "piper", // Glowlight 2
      "bnereader": {
        "url": "http://su.barnesandnoble.com/nook/piper/4.2/bnereader-master-4.2.1.1-release.apk",
        "version": "631",
        "md5": "e7a3ca70e0958b8425fe0fbc062e7769"

  "model": "jay", // Glowlight 3
      "bnereader": {
        "url": "http://10.227.6.183/~wlee/bnereader-master-2341-release.apk",
        "version": "650",
        "changelog":  "Testing changelog for 4.7.0.1334 bnereader OTA update",
        "md5": "7993ca0a425784b9e039d983fb5cc5b1"

  "model": "quill", // Glowlight 7.8"
      "bnereader": {
        "url": "http://10.227.6.183/~wlee/bnereader-master-2341-release.apk",
        "version": "650",
        "changelog":  "Testing changelog for 4.7.0.1334 bnereader OTA update",
        "md5": "7993ca0a425784b9e039d983fb5cc5b1"

  "model": "gentoo", // new Glowlight 4
      "bnereader": {
        "url": "http://su.barnesandnoble.com/nook/piper/4.2/bnereader-master-4.2.1.1-release.apk",
        "version": "631",
        "md5": "e7a3ca70e0958b8425fe0fbc062e7769"

Yes, the OTA updates do indicate this, but I think that's just copy/paste errors. The reader in the new Glowlight is 51 Megs vs 36 Megs for the Glowlight 7.8". I'll try to see what the difference is.

So, I installed bnereader.apk on my cell phone and got this:

That looks exactly like the software running on my Glowlight Plus (internally referred to as the Glowlight 2, I guess).

The only difference between the firmware on my Glowlight 2 and 3 is that the 3 has extra controls for the amber lighting.

I hope the 2 and the 4 sharing the same firmware isn't a sign that the 4 won't have amber lighting. I couldn't imagine they would drop that though.

I really like the author stacking. I would like to see series stacking as well, but unfortunately it doesn't work for sideloaded content.

If B&N made the database accessible by Calibre so I could control series and shelves via Calibre (like I can on Kobo) I would be a happy camper.

(Incidentally, I don't think I was being cynical. It seemed obvious to me that at least the 3 and 7.8" Plus would run firmware like the 4. And since the 6" Plus is updated every time the 3 is, I would assume that will continue as well.)

[Renate]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

That looks exactly like the software running on my Glowlight Plus.

Oh, sorry. My error. It's been so long since I've touched the bnereader.apk I had no idea what it was all about. I'm surprised that the first thing that it makes you do is login. It's also interesting that the tutorial screen shots that I showed previously don't agree with the actual UI.

Still, it seems silly that they pack 12 Megs of fonts in the app instead of just putting it in the system.

Nah, you weren't being cynical, I was only joking. Still, apparently B&N took the path of least resistance and didn't update much.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Renate

I'm surprised that the first thing that it makes you do is login.

Why? Kobo and Kindle do the same.

Still, apparently B&N took the path of least resistance and didn't update much.

They've been releasing updates to their software recently, introducing new things like the revised footer.

Adding features like more font sizes, the ability to add your own, changeable screensavers, these can all be done via software updates. Amazon did it with the Kindle.

I really hope that with the release of the 4, they will add some of these.