Barnes & Noble Nook Touch Reader (Wi-Fi)
Editors' rating: 4 out of 5
The good: The 2011 Nook is a compact and lightweight e-book reader with a responsive high-contrast Pearl e-ink touch screen that offers quick page turns. It's got built-in Wi-Fi for direct access to the online Barnes & Noble store, an expansion slot for additional memory, and long battery life (up to two months). The Nook supports e-book lending and EPUB loans from libraries, and it offers some enhanced social-networking features.
The bad: The 2011 Nook has no support for audio, no 3G option, and no Web browser. The rubberized finish on the back of device attracts fingerprints.
The bottom line: The new touch-screen Nook is a major advancement over its predecessor and offers some real advantages over the current Kindle.