My Nook Simple Touch changes pages on its own

September 6, 2012 2:08 PM

I purchased a Nook SimpleTouch with glow light in May to replace my well-loved Nook Classic. I love it! Except it turns pages on its own.

When I was done reading my old Nook, I just would close the cover & pop it in my bag. If I do that with the Simple Touch, when I return to reading I'm a goodly chunk of pages away from where I left off - either forward or backward.

I chatted with Nook support, and the rep's suggestion was that it could have been a bug in the book I was reading at the time. That's not the case, as it happens with all of my books. There are no hairs on the screen, I have a simple folding cover for it, and I've tried doing a hard reset.

My current workaround is bookmarking my current page and clicking the power off button in the back after I've stopped reading. It's a tiny pain, considering I was used to the Nook holding my page for me. But the phantom touch persists. A few days ago the Nook was one click away from signing me up for a free trial of Motor Trend magazine!

I've checked some Nook forums and found one similar question with no good answer. If I have to bring it into a B&N I will, but I was wondering if anyone in the hive has experienced this problem and if there is a solution.

posted by kimberussell to Technology (7 answers total)

I'm not sure exactly what your normal actions would be. Any exact button presses/etc you do when it changes pages might be helpful. But to me it sounds like the case is the one changing pages. Something doesn't have to literally touch the screen to change a page on the SimpleTouch since it uses infrared for touch sensing.

My standard actions when I'm commuting between bus/metro/street is to tap the button on the back (which really means lock/sleep when you just tap it once) and then hit the "n" button on the front and swipe to wake up when I want to read again. I can't image not locking it if I'm putting a cover on it or throwing it in a bag.

You shouldn't have to use a bookmark if you lock the Nook Touch when you're not reading, since it remembers your current place in pretty much all your books.
posted by skynxnex at 2:17 PM on September 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

You shouldn't need to lock it if you don't want to, though. I never do, and mine never skips pages like that.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 2:37 PM on September 6, 2012

The only time my Nook does this is when I forget to turn it off/lock it before putting it away. If you bought it in May it's still under warranty. Ask B&N for a replacement.
posted by Lobster Garden at 2:59 PM on September 6, 2012

Have you changed the font face/size settings of your ebook(s) to something besides the publisher default? I have found with my Nook Color that doing so goofs up my page turns in a way that is difficult to describe here and not exactly the same as what you're seeing but possibly related. What I'm suggesting is that perhaps your Nook is saving your place in such a way that the value it restores back to when you start reading again matches up with, say, the un-customized presentation (but not the customized one). It's been a long day -- hopefully someone else who's seen this behavior can explain it better.

That wouldn't account for the ghost trying to sign you up for magazine subscriptions though.
posted by trunk muffins at 3:54 PM on September 6, 2012

Does your screen ever flicker when you use it, without you touching it? A speck of dust or hair near the edges of the screen can cause phantom presses like this. If that is the case, you can clean the edges with a small pin, dental pick, or electronics tool. Sometimes, if that doesn't work, de-registering and re-registering your device will solve the problem.
posted by drezdn at 4:33 PM on September 6, 2012

Response by poster: skynxnex! I think you're right! It's the cover! The inside looks like this (except for a ST and not a classic) and that pocket flap looks like it could brush against the screen!

I'm going to go for a few days with a rubber band around the cover to keep it from jostling while it's in my bag and see what happens. Then I'll follow up here.
posted by kimberussell at 4:16 AM on September 7, 2012

Response by poster: It was definitely the cover. The rubberband made things worse. Then I switched to my husband's cover and I never lost a page or accidentally bought a book.

So for future reference, don't buy SimpleTouch covers with pockets in the front because the flap will interfere.

I love AskMe.
posted by kimberussell at 8:44 AM on September 30, 2012