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@Phil W

@Phil W

You seem to be missing my point.

I did do my research before buying. Like a lot of Reg-tards, I tend to get at least as much fun reading reviews and forum discussions about my toys before buying as I do from actually using them.

So I was fully aware of the fact that the Nook Simple Touch was released in 2011. The age of the underlying technology is totally not the issue. My point is B&N did not state on their website that these ‘firesale’ Nooks had been sitting on a shelf somewhere for over two years before being sold and might therefore not perform as expected.

If you do a bit of cursory research on the intarwebs, you’ll find there’s a consensus of opinion that Li-ion batteries are generally considered to have a useful shelf life of around three years and that Li-ion batteries begin to degrade from the date of manufacture IRRESPECTIVE of whether or not they are actually being used. Therefore, selling a Li-ion powered gadget that has been sitting on a shelf for two years is essentially the same as selling the same item with two years prior use.

As regards 3-4 days’ battery life not making the device unusable, again you seem to be missing the point. The device is advertised as having a battery life of two months with moderate daily use. I’m getting 3-4 days on standby with no use at all. That’s about one fifteenth of the stated battery life.

Now, pedantically speaking that may not make the Nook unusable, but it’s certainly not good enough for a gadget that’s sold on the fact you can charge it up and take it away on holiday with you, without worrying about it running out of charge [the very reason I bought an eReader].

If that’s not enough for you, let me try a simple analogy:

You buy a new Android phone [somehow, I’m guessing from your hostile attitude, you’re a *Nix user]. The phone is advertised as having 15 hours’ battery life with moderate use. However, in practice you find it lasts under half an hour on standby [proportionally the same as 2 months vs 4 days].

Would you think you’d been swindled or –wary of being accused of over-reacting– would you happily consider your new purchase to still be “usable”?

The B&N Nook SimpleTouch firesale rip-off

Like a lot of fellow commentards, I was inspired by the recent firesale on Nook Simple Touches [hereinafter referred to as Nooks], as reported by this very organ:

<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/01/barnes_and_nobles_slashes_nook_prices">Barnes & Noble bungs Raspberry Pi-priced Nook on shelves</a>

Thinking that "for £29 a pop, you can't go wrong", I bought two of these gadgets and have had a month now to evaluate them. My conclusion is that, even for £29 a pop, you most certainly CAN go wrong:

* On arrival, both Nooks revealed themselves to have been built in 2011, so had been sitting on a shelf in a warehouse somewhere for two or more years.

* Far from B&Ns claim that the batteries will last for two months with half an hour's reading per day and a similar amount of WiFi use, I have found that on both my Nooks, the battery will run completely flat in about 3 or 4 days –even with WiFi turned off and the Nook being completely unused. That's worse battery life than my bloody iPhone! [Incidentally, both Nooks had vastly different serial numbers, so this is not a case of one bad batch here].

* B&N have completely ignored two polite emails I've sent them, enquiring about having the batteries or the Nooks replaced. Their customer service seems non-existent.

Has anyone else who thought they were snapping up a £29 bargain been similarly disappointed with what they received –or am I just exceptionally unlucky?

If my experience is the norm, rather than an exception, I think there should be a pretty good case for bringing a class action against B&N for this "rip-off". It seems to me they've cleared out a load of old Nooks with age-degraded batteries at a bargain basement price, without informing customers that the Nook they would receive is effectively no longer fit for purpose.