App Review: Nook for iPad

I recently decided to skip a trip to the bookstore, and instead, buy a book through the Nook app on iPad. After finishing the book, I think that in the future, I'll stick with bookstores or try another app.

Upon opening the Nook app, you are greeted with a page showing the covers of the books that you already own. It works, but doesn't have the graphical richness of the iBooks app.

A basic book list

Purchasing the book is where the problems start to begin. When you press the "Shop" button, the app exits, and opens a Safari page, where you are directed to the Nook section of bn.com. I had a gift card that I wished to use to buy the book. However, to use the giftcard, you had to make an account, go to your account settings, and then add the giftcard, rather than just adding the giftcard at checkout. Once I had added the giftcard (which covered the cost of the book), I went to purchase the item, and found that it needed a credit card number, even though I had a gift card! I entered the credit card number, and my purchase was complete(the cost was charged to the gift card).
Reading the book was not as "fancy" as reading in iBooks. There was no page flipping animation, just a scrolling animation.

No page flip animation for Nook

Personally, that suited me just fine, but the app didn't have the polished feel of iBooks. Making notes and highlighting phrases also didn't feel as polished as iBooks. However, I also have Nook for PC, and the bookmark sync works exceptionally well.

Pros:
-Carry your nook eBooks with you
-Offers a greater selection of Books than iBooks
-Great bookmark sync technology

Cons:
-No integrated store
-No page flipping animation
-Gift card support not implemented the way I'd like it to be

Unless you own a Nook and want to read your books on your iPad, I would recommend waiting for a few updates to the Nook app.

Note: I do not own the Nook app, Nook logo, or the covers of the books in the Nook bookshelf.