Hands-on with new Nook: Better than the Kindle?

The day after Kobo served up a new $129.99 touch-screen e-reader, Barnes & Noble,as expected, unveiled its own touch-screen e-ink Nook, which it's branding as "The Simple eReader."The first thing you notice about the new Nook is that it's nice and compact, and it looks shorter and squatter than the Kindle. The designers also coated the device with something called soft-touch paint, which gives it a nice, smooth rubberized feel, but this type of finish does show finger smudges.Now the reps at Barnes & Noble didn't let me poke around the screen with my finger (I could hold the device but I wasn't supposed to touch the screen; that act wasreserved for Barnes & Noble reps), though I did inadvertently touch the screen a few times.