The guys over at AndroidCentral have been given some inside promo materials concerning the successor to the Nook Color, called the Nook Tablet. Obviously with a name like that, we can see that B&N is not releasing just a plain old eReader, but a full-fledged tablet.
But with Amazon releasing their Kindle Fire in about 12 days, is Barnes and Noble’s next effort a worthy competitor? Let’s break it down…
As you can see in the above photo, the new Nook looks pretty much the same as the Color version, all the way down to the opened hook corner. But the new Nook Tablet is actually thinner than it predecessor coming in at 0.48-inch, compared to the Nook Color’s 0.50-inch. When it comes to weight, the Nook tablet shaved off an ounces or so, the tablet is down to respectable 14.1 ounces, compared to the old model’s 15.8. It’s even lighter than the Kindle Fire’s 14.6 ounces.
The screen on the new Nook Tablet is the same as the previous model, a 7″ VividView IPS display for great view angles, it also has a resolution of 1024 x 600 and 169ppi.
The Nook Tablet’s real strengths are inside, its a beast for a little 7-inch tablet.
- Dual core TI OMAP processor at 1.2GHz.
- It’s a tad thinner, at 0.48 inches (down from 0.5 inches).
- Weight is down a bit, too, at 14.1 ounces (from 15.8 ounces), or 400 grams versus 448 grams.
- It’s now got 16GB of internal storage, plus it can take up to a 32GB microSD card.
- Battery life is listed as “to be determined,” but it looks like BN’s expecting 8 hours with Wifi off, or 4 hours of video playback
- Speaking of Wifi, it’ll support 802.11 b/g/n, just like the Nook Color.
With the 1.2GHz OMAP4 Processor, I think it’s safe to assume this baby is going to speed and will be able to handle pretty much anything thrown at it. The processor is also faster than the Kindle Fire’s 1GHz OMAP4, so B&N scores another point. But when you combine the fact that it will support apps like Pandora, Hulu and especially Netflix, than you have another win. While the Kindle has Amazon Prime, it is something customers must sign up for and which some may not do because millions of people already have Netflix, so this would a nice way for people to ease into a Nook Tablet lifestyle. The Nook Tablet will also feature a full email client and web browser and unlike the Amazon Fire, the your content isn’t filtered through their servers.
The only thing we don’t know at this point is what version of Android the Nook Tablet will be running, while we’d assume it would be 2.3 Gingerbread, we’ll have to wait for confirmation. We’ll also have to see if this Nook will get Android upgrades like Ice Cream Sandwich simply because it is called a tablet, not a eReader.
With Barnes and Noble kicking off the press conference on Monday, we’ll have to wait and see “official” numbers but according to the leaked info, the new Nook Tablet will retail for $249, with the Nook Color is dropping to $199. Even the New Nook Touch will get a price drop to $99.
Come Monday, well get some better pictures and maybe a little more!
Source: AndroidCentral