Barnes & Noble Announces Nook Color Tablet/e-Reader
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CREDIT: B&N |
Barnes & Noble has delivered the rumored color screen e-book reader, except that it's nearly a fully fledged Android tablet.
The Nook Color trades out the traditional e-ink display of e-book readers for a 7-inch color LCD display. Adding in the Android mobile operating system makes the Nook Color sound not much different than the Samsung Galaxy Tab .
Still, there are some significant differences.
First of all, the Nook Color is still primarily an e-book reader. Barnes & Noble promised that it would one day run the thousands of Android apps available for other devices, but for now it doesn't. That's really the thing that keeps it from being a true tablet.
But the other major difference is a good thing: price. The Nook Color is $250, which is significantly cheaper than any other tablet from major manufacturers. In the event that it becomes compatible with Android apps, it would be quite a deal.
In the meantime, Barnes & Noble has plenty of content lined up for the Nook Color. In addition to the vast library of e-books, Barnes & Noble plans to offer Pandora music streaming, Facebook support , access to 100 color newspapers and magazines (a first according to the company), regular music playback and content from Conde Nast and Hearst publishers.
Specs include 1024 x 600 pixel resolution in the display with a built-in glare reduction, 8GB of storage with a microSD card slot for more storage, Wi-Fi (but no 3G for now) and 8 hours of battery life (with Wi-Fi off).
While the company waits for app developers to port apps over to a 7-inch format that will work on the Nook Color, Barnes & Noble is already recruiting developers to make apps specifically for the Nook Color.
Two other services are also launching with the Nook Color: Nook Friends and Nook Kids. Nook Friends allows readers to share their thoughts on whatever they are reading through social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Nook Friends is a library of children's books. The Nook Color reads them to young users with the help of professional narrators.
The Nook Color will be available "on or around" November 19, according to company representatives, and will be sold at Barnes & Noble stores, Walmart, Best Buy and Books-a-Million.
