Fly away, Firefly....comparison between Nook Simple Touch and Onyx Firefly

As much as I love some things about the Boox Onyx Firefly, its failures may cause me to sell it.

Yes it is so great for organizing documents in folders and subfolders! Yes it has 4gb memory and SD card slot! Yes it has a light! Yes it has page turn buttons and a back button! Those are all GREAT things.

The Nook Simple Touch matches most of those things, only 2gb memory but SD card makes that ok. No light. Everything else, yes.

But...the light on the Firefly makes the text look washed out. (Not to mention it can be seen from the space station).

The Firefly processor is slow, in my unofficial comparison, much slower than the Nook ST. Try opening a book on both and it becomes very clear.

I have tested several books on each device...the same books...each of which had been opened previously, so no start up caching was necessary. The Nook takes 1 second to go to the last page. The Firefly takes 7-10 seconds to go to the last page. Maybe that doesn't sound like a lot, but it is.

The Firefly is much heavier than the Nook.

But the biggest drawback of all, and the deal breaker, is the text display. The Firefly has 3 applications to display text.

1. PDF reader, which can display epub fine, but which will not use side loaded fonts. Deal breaker.
2. FB Reader, which will not display any italics. Deal breaker
3. Cool Reader, which will display italics on some documents correctly, but completely ignore them on others. That is not the deal breaker.  But the fact that it deletes ALL spaces between paragraphs, including page breaks between chapters, is a huge deal breaker. Instead of my nicely formatted epub documents, it displays one long continuous unbroken field of text. Big time deal breaker. Even though I can use my font, it is just not comfortable or enjoyable to read like that.

The Nook, I did have to root and add Mantano to get my own font. Now that I have done that, the display is excellent. All my formatting is retained, the italics are correct, the font is sharp, dark, and I can use my preferred font, altogether making it overall much nicer to read on than the Firefly.

So despite the light, and the larger memory, the Nook ST wins the contest. The Firefly is going to have to fly away. I just can't read on it like that.

The good thing is, I just got a good deal on a Nook Glowlight. So when that gets here, I will compare it with my others.

UPDATE 8-31

Yes I sold the Firefly. It did not meet my needs. Still waiting on the Nook Glow, the site I am getting from is a slow shipper. I do plan to put Nook Manager on it as soon as I get it, and Mantano + my favorite font. Unless I hate the light, then I will resell it. But any light is better than no light. So I will probably like it and sell the unlighted Nook.

June/July 2013 Books I read

Books I read for the month of June 2013:

Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs (UF) Mercedes Thompson #7. As with everything she writes, fantastic! 5 stars.

Steele Trap (Bonds of Justice #4) by Elayne Venton, SF erotica. Really good series wrap up! 4  stars.

Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs (Jane Jameson #1) by Molly Harper. Paranormal chick lit? It was excellent! I look forward to reading more. 5 stars.

Sins of the Night (Dark Hunter #8) by Sherrilyn Kenyon. PNR. Awesome book! 5 stars.

Hope by Sam Crescent. Post apocalyptic. Stunk so bad I doubt I'll read any more by this author. 1 star.

Edge of Danger (T-FLAC #8) by Cherry Adair. Romance suspense. Wow really great! 5 stars.

Hainted by Jordan Hawk. M/M fantasy romance. This was an excellent story and I want to read more by this author! 4 stars.

Reaper's Justice by Sarah McCarty. Historical paranormal romance. This was really good! I hope the next in the series is as good! 5 stars.

I Can See for Miles by Lisa Worrall. Contemporary MM. It was average. Not really my thing. 3 stars.

The Warrior Within by Sharon Green. Old Skool SF. All the rapes and stuff, not my thing. 1 star.

The Perils of Pleasure (Pennyroyal Green #1) by Julie Anne Long. Historical Romance. Really pleasant. 3 stars.

His Forbidden Submissive by Brandi Evans. BDSM. Really good! 4 stars.

Kiss of Midnight (Midnight Breed #1) by Lara Adrian. PNR. I am disappointed that I didn't like this better. But I will be reading more. 3 stars.

Eli and Sarael (Hunters #2) by Shiloh Walker. PNR erotica. Pretty good. 3 stars.

Tortured Souls (Men in Love #6) by Carol Lynne. MM. Nothing special. 3 stars.

Devour Me by Paige Mathews. ATROCIOUS. As a public service, I left a bad review on Amazon. One of her friends replied with a lot of whining and crying. Honestly, people deserve to know not to waste their time! 1 star.

Sanctuary Unbound (Red Rock Pass #4) by Moira Rogers. PNR. Good story. 3 stars.

First Shift: Legacy (Wool 6) by Hugh Howey. Post apocalyptic SF. SO FREAKING GOOD. 5 stars.

Second Shift: Order (Wool 7 by Hugh Howey. SO FREAKING GOOD. 5 stars.

Under the Cat's Paw by Camille Anthony. SF erotica. Good. 3 stars.

Silent Blade (Kinsmen 1) by Ilona Andrews. SF. Really good! 5 stars.


JULY 2013 Books I read

Third Shift: Pact (Wool 8) by Hugh Howey. SO FREAKING GOOD. 5 stars.

The Cad by Edith Layton. HR. Average. 3 stars.

Pride Mates (Shifters Unbound 1) by Jennifer Ashley. PNR. I was disappointed that I didn't like this better. Will be reading more in the series. 3 stars.

Storm's Heart (Elder Races 2) by Thea Harrison. PNR. Wow. What an utter disappointment. The first book in this story was so incredibly fantastic. This one was like written by a different person, it was that much worse. I am done with this series. 2 stars.

On the Edge (Edge 1) by Ilona Andrews. PNR. Loved it! 4 stars.

A Different Yesterday by Linda Mooney. Post apocalyptic romance. Tanked. 2 stars.

Venom (Elemental Assassin 3) by Jennifer Estep. UF. LOVED it. 4 stars.

Secret of the Wolf by Sienna Mathews. PNR erotica. It was good, better than I expected! 4 stars.

The Sword (Sons of Destiny 1) by Jean Johnson. PNR. Excellent! Look forward to reading the entire series. 4 stars.

The First Bride by Sophia Hunt. Siren erotica. It was not too bad. 3 stars.

A Firm Hand by Fallon Blake. BDSM. REALLY well written and EXCELLENT story. I LOVED it! One of the best I've read this year! 5 stars.

Nightfall (Dark Age 1) by Ellen Connor. PNR. WOW. Really awesome! 5 stars.

First Grave on the Right (Charley Davidson 1) by Darynda Jones. UF. Totally LOVED this one!!!! 5 stars!

My ereaders - musings

So now I have more than a handful to choose from...

1. I can choose the Nook Touch, which is light weight, easy to hold, pleasant to look at and read on, and holds thousands of books on the SD card in folders and sub-folders by author’s name! But, it has no light. I have rooted it and added Mantano and my favorite font. If it had a light, it would be perfection! It’s a nice one to throw in my bag and not worry if it should get messed up.

2. I can choose the Amazon Paperwhite, which is lighted, rooted and hacked, but severely limited by 2gb space (in actuality, that’s 1gb) and uses collections, not folders. I hardly even pick it up anymore, but my son uses it most every day.

3. I can chose my Kobo Glo, which has a wonderful light, and an SD card, but seems to slow when it has a lot of books on it, and uses collections, not folders. Easiest to manage using Calibre, however. No need to root. The lightest on my list.

4. I can choose my Onyx Firefly, which has a light, an SD card slot, and I can keep files in folders and subfolders!!!! Utterly perfect. Even has page turn buttons! I have thousands on the internal memory with no noticeable slowing. Only drawback, it’s a little heavy to carry out of the house. And utterly irreplaceable should it get damaged--it is expensive and only available in Europe. (I got a GREAT deal on a used one)

5. I can choose my Nook HD 7” tablet, which I got to read on (before the Firefly)...of course I can put every book I own on it and not run out of room, all in folders and subfolders. It is even fine to read on outside! It is, however, heavier than everything else on my list. But I LOVE it for reading.

I am happy with these 5, and don’t think I am going to sell any of them. The trouble comes when new readers are released, and I am tempted. However, I have made my list of upgrade requirements, and I am sticking to those.

Desired requirements for any upgrade as of 7/10

on board memory 8gb (minimum 4 gb) or SD card slot

high resolution

front light

1ghz or higher processor

weight 185g or less

text - customizable margins, line spacing, font size

fonts - must be able to add custom fonts

must be able to manage collections using Calibre!!!! OR use folders & subfolders!

5” screen

Those requirements will probably rule out any new Kindles. Here's hoping for a lighted Kobo Mini. I'd probably get one even without an SD card slot. I just sold my Kobo Mini, and I do miss it. But the light is a killer feature. I may eventually sell my Nook Touch, simply because it is unlighted.

The other thing I am obsessed with is weight. Here is a summary of all the current gadgets in my house:

Kobo Glo       185g    6.53oz

Nook Touch   212g    7.48oz

Paperwhite    221g    7.80oz

Onyx Firefly   250g    8.19oz

Nook HD         315g  11.11oz

KFHD             395g  13.9oz

Nook HD+      515g   18.2oz