B&N's new Nook Tablet, a 7" tablet for $249
Today Barnes & Noble updated its Nook Color “reader’s tablet” with a new version (which I’m calling the “Nook Color 2”) with a faster processor and the same $249 price. B&N, in keeping the tradition of using overly-descriptive but not very helpful names that eschew numerals (like the “Nook Simple Touch” for the Nook Classic 2), is calling it the “Nook Tablet.”
It comes with the same 7″ LCD screen as its predecessor (the original Nook Color). LCD screens are backlit (like those on your computer or cellphone), and aren’t as easy on the eyes or energy-efficient as the e-Ink displays used on the Kindle or Nook Classic e-readers. On the other hand, they do allow for color and video, and the “VividView” laminated, IPS, LCD display of the Nook Color (and Nook Tablet) is said to be quite good.
The new name shows that B&N is positioning the Nook Tablet as more of a tablet than a reading device, as more of a multi-function device that can play videos, browse the Internet, display magazines, offer interactive children’s books, and run a small selection of specially-curated apps (like Angry Birds and some of the popular ones, but not the thousands of apps on the Apple App Store or Android Market). Being a general-purpose tablet (as opposed to a single-purpose reading device like the Nook Classic or Kindle) means it’s competing against Amazon’s new Kindle Fire ($199), as well as Apple’s larger (and more expensive) iPad 2 ($499+).
The new Nook Tablet looks very similar to the original Nook Color; the changes are mostly under the hood. It comes with a faster processor and more RAM: a dual-core 1GHz Texas Instruments OMAP 4 CPU with 1GB of RAM. It sports 16GB of internal storage, plus an SD card slot for expansion.
By contrast, the Kindle Fire comes with a similar dual-core 1GHz processor, but only half the memory: 512MB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. Both devices use a 1024 x 600, 7″ LCD touchscreen. Of course, the Kindle Fire’s $199 price undercuts the Nook Tablet by $50. The Nook Tablet weighs 14.1 oz (compare to 14.6 oz for the Kindle Fire and 15.8 for the old Nook Color) and claims a battery life of 11.5 hours of reading or 9 hours of video (compared to a claimed 8 hours of reading and 7.5 hours of video on the Kindle Fire).
To recap, the Nook Tablet’s specs:
- $249
- 7″ VividView IPS LCD touchscreen display with 1024 x 600 resolution
- 1 GHz dual-core processor
- 1 GB of RAM
- 16 GB of internal storage (plus SD card slot)
- 14.1 oz
- battery life: 11.5 hours reading / 9 hours video
Certainly an interesting contender in the 7″ tablet arena. On paper, the specs are a bit better than the Kindle Fire, although Amazon counters with its super-fast Silk browser and by offering to store all your media purchases in the cloud, ameliorating the lesser memory of the Fire. I think Amazon’s $50 price advantage may be the most important difference to many buyers. In any event, both $199 and $249 certainly look good when compared to the iPad 2’s $499 starting price.
2 Responses to “New Nook Tablet from B&N”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
i was gonna get the kindle fire and i was so looking forward to it when my friend informed me that the nook color tablet was better. after that i was really confused, because i like the way kindle fire looks over the cheaper looking outside design of the nook color, even though the nook color is more expensive. i looked at many blogs and did a lot of research of which one is better, and i’m still not sure because the nook color is better but only by a few slight differences. instead of doing any more research i’m going to best buy and looking at both tablets first hand. hope i can make a decision before xmas :b
Your plan of seeing both tablets in person before making a decision is probably a good one — let us know what you think once you see them both first-hand.
I think the hardware differences are close enough that the two important deciding factors are (a) price (the Kindle Fire is $50 less), and (b) whether you prefer buying e-books or other items from Amazon or B&N.
I wrote a post comparing the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet here:
E-Reader/Tablet Hybrids: Kindle Fire vs. B&N Nook Tablet