巴诺新款Nook抢先体验

    假如我们去问Nook或Kindle的买家，他们最喜欢自己的电子书哪一点，他们可能迅速列出如下几点：价格实惠，重量轻，而且易于在室内外阅读电子图书。而巴诺（Barnes & Noble）认为用户不喜欢的是，在光线暗淡的情况下阅读电子书。如今已经是触摸屏和无线网络普及的时代，可夹式手电筒实在算不上什么先进技术。

    为此，巴诺正推出其NOOK Simple Touch的升级版。这款新产品将于下月初推出，售价为139美元，带有名为“GlowLight”、直接嵌入显示器内的新型照明。巴诺公司称，这是首款采用电子墨水屏幕且设备中内置光源的电子阅读器。GlowLight通过LED灯以及覆盖在整个屏幕上的一层薄膜发挥作用。LED发出光，薄膜则充当导管，将光线均匀分布到屏幕上，这样读者就不会经历巴诺公司产品副总裁史蒂芬•梅斯所说的刺眼“聚光灯体验”。

    根据梅斯的说法，Nook的小灯配件一直是最受欢迎的配件之一，还有和它配套的防眩光保护膜。所以当研发团队开始设计新款Nook时，他们将这两大功能都考虑在内了。梅斯说：“最大的挑战在于，如果设计不对路，电子书会变得过于笨重，这样一来，纸质书的感觉将荡然无存。我们希望用户看到的是最出色的电子墨水。”新款Nook增加了新功能，但重量却减轻了15克。

    我们同时还要保证续航时间。在开启GlowLight的情况下，新款Nook的续航时间有望达到一月之久；如果关闭背光和WiFi，续航时间则有望达到两个月。在最差的情况下，新款Nook的续航时间能和亚马逊的79美元Kindle打成平手；在最好情况下，则能和上代Nook电子书以及Kindle Touch打成平手，后者是由位于美国西雅图的亚马逊在去年末推出的新产品。

    梅斯在比较新款Nook和亚马逊的对应产品时并未口下留情。在售价方面，无广告版的新款Nook将与Kindle Touch的价格相当，但梅斯表示，如果算上额外附件——例如亚马逊推出的售价60美元的原版带小灯皮套，那么Kindle Touch的价格会更高。此外，新款Nook对控制触摸界面的软件进行了修改，现在反应更加灵敏了，不过其主要功能仍与上代基本一致。

    分析人士将密切关注新款Nook的表现。虽然巴诺的Nook电子书业务在今年有望实现15亿美元营收，但梅斯承认去年春天推出的Simple Touch的销量并未达到公司预期，尽管该产品获得了技术评论家的一致好评。《财富》杂志（Fortune）去年曾经撰文指出：“Nook（是）一款无可指摘的电子阅读器，它没有什么别的功能……但在分内的工作方面表现上佳，甚至比与其差距最小的竞争产品Kindle更出色。”

    Ask a Nook or Kindle owner what they love about their readers, and they may rattle off several points: they're affordable, lightweight, and easy to read e-books indoors or outside. What Barnes & Noble believes users don't love is trying to read such devices in low light. In an era of such whiz-bang technology as touch screens and pervasive wireless networks, clip-on flashlights aren't exactly state-of-the-art.

    To that end, Barnes & Noble (BKS) is introducing an updated version of its NOOK Simple Touch. Launching early next month, the new $139 Nook includes a new kind of lighting called "GlowLight," embedded directly into the display itself. That, the company says, makes it the first e-reader with an e-ink screen to integrate a light directly into the device. GlowLight works through a combination of LED lights and a thin film that sits atop the entire screen. The LEDs pipe out light, and the film acts as a conduit, evenly distributing that light across the screen so readers don't experience what Stephane Maes, Barnes and Noble's Vice President of Product, calls a harsh "spotlight experience."

    According to Maes, the Nook light add-on remains one of the top accessories owners purchase, along with an anti-glare film. So when the team set out to design the next Nook, they included both features. "One of the greatest challenges, if you're not doing right, is it makes the devices heavier, it takes away form that paper-like feel," says Maes. We wanted to maintain the great e-ink experience." The new Nook adds features, but also sheds 15 grams of weight.

    It also won't skimp on battery life. With GlowLight on, readers should expect to go one month in between charges, and with the light off, expect two months of battery life with WiFi off. At worst, that puts it in the same league of battery life as Amazon's (AMZN) $79 Kindle; at best, it's the same as the last generation Nook e-reader and on par with Amazon's Kindle Touch, which the Seattle-based e-commerce giant rolled out late last year.

    Maes doesn't pull any punches when he compares the new Nook to Amazon's counterpart. An ad-free version of the Kindle Touch sells for the same price as the ad-free Nook will, and when you factor in extra accessories like Amazon's own $60 leather-bound case with a light, he argues they push the price even higher. Otherwise, the Nook will feature a more responsive touch interface thanks to tweaks made to the software, but remain largely the same as its predecessor.

    How the newest Nook performs will be something analysts watch closely. Although the overall Nook business is expected to generate $1.5 billion in sales for the company this year, Maes admits the Simple Touch, which launched last spring, has not sold as well as the company had hoped despite universally favorable reviews from tech critics. "The Nook [is] an unapologetic, laser-beam focused e-reader that does little else ... but what it does do, it does exceptionally well, better than its nearest rival, the Kindle," Fortune wrote last year.