We didn’t get a Nook yet but Harry McCracken at Technologizer did, which means he’s better than us. Why? Because his last name reminds me of a sea monster.

Anyway, Harry found the Nook to be a 1.0 product at best and a 0.1 product at worst. His bottom line:

Let’s get one thing out of the way right now: The Nook isn’t a Kindle killer–not in this initial form, at least. For all its pleasing touches, intriguing innovations, and clear advantages over the Kindle, it feels like a less-than-perfectly-polished 1.0 product, just like Amazon’s first e-reader did a couple of years ago. The user interface is surprisingly sluggish, there are some usability gaffes, and I encountered a major bug with the device’s most-touted feature. Even the much-hyped lending feature has a major gotcha: You can lend a book once. Period.

So what we’re dealing with is the first Kindle with an extra feature. That extra feature could be considered the second screen or the lending system, but I’d estimate that those features aren’t enough to sell these things to many folks who have already seen the Kindle. Amazon clearly has the lead here and I don’t think the Nook will grab it.

Maybe we’ll get on this week and we’ll be amazed. Until then, we’ll let McKracken get cracking.