Barnes & Noble just announced the next version of their Nook eBook reader. It’s the NOOKcolor. It has a 7″ 1024 x 600 color display. However, unlike the original Nook, the entire display is touch enabled. It’s also interesting to note that the display is 169 dpi. By comparison the iPad is 132, iPhone 3gs 163, iPhone 4 retina display 326 and 6″ e-ink displays are 167 dpi.
Other hardware features include built in WiFi (no 3G), 8GB on board for six thousand book capacity with expansion on microSD. You’ll be able to read for up to 8hrs per charge as long as you turn off WiFi. It is powered by Android OS and will have a special B&N app store. Why it won’t run regular Android apps and have access to the regular app market remains to be seen.
Reading features… isn’t that the main reason why you’d want the NOOKcolor in the first place? … include special kid features that will allow for interaction and the ability to have the book read to them. The book lending and borrowing features appear to be unchanged. Lend a book to a friend for up to 14 days once and that’s all. You can tweet and update your Facebook page with details of what you’re reading, as well as surf the web via the installed browser.
The NOOKcolor is priced at $249 and will be shipping on or around November 19. With pre-ordering open now. Will you be buying one?
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No I won’t get one. I don’t have a Facebook account and I don’t tweet. Using a LCD screen kills battery life and will probably do the same for reading outdoors.
I’m not going to jump on a preorder or anything like that, but I may consider getting one of these next year not as an e-reader, but as an Android tablet, subject to how many of my favorite Android apps make it into the B&N app store and how useful it seems for stuff other than reading. (I already have a Kindle 3 and a regular nook… I’d much rather read on e-ink than LCD anyway.)
From the developer end of things, it looks like B&N is encouraging existing app developers to make nook-like versions of their apps; until they release their SDK we don’t know how easy or hard this is, but it seems like the main issues will probably be the screen size (which all Android developers will soon have to deal with due to the proliferation of tablets) and the look and feel. If they can amass a substantial collection of compatible apps I think they could make some real waves in the tablet market, given the price…
This eliminates the problem with dealing with a night-light, and it makes showing off photos of the grandkids a lot better. This just might land in my wife’s Christmas stocking this year.
If I were in the market for an eReader (I still have the Kindle2 and just gave my original Nook to my sister), I would definitely get the NOOKcolor. For me the LCD would be perfect… Although I like e-ink displays, my eyes need a backlight. That’s why I read all my books on my smartphone (currently the DroidX) and change invert the background so that it’s black and the letters are white. I wouldn’t need to do that with the NOOKcolor. I think I’ll just wait for the iPad mini though 😉
Not a chance here — reading on an LCD is painful for me. I’ll stick to the e-ink on my K3 (upgraded from a K2). The other issue I have is battery life — “read for up to 8hrs per charge” — seriously?? That’s like less than one tenth the battery life of my K3.
If it turns out to be a viable Android tablet — perhaps in the future but I expect there will be more attractive tablets coming out shortly so probably not.
the fact that Lamps have a tendency to fail unlike e-ink. aged fleet laptops for businesses , for the most part will have the lamp going out and rendering a screen useless thereafter. unless you plan on upgrading before it fails
The LCD on most smaller devices these days no longer use fluorescent lamps for illumination, they use LEDs. The issue of fading and dying backlights is thus pretty much irrelevant now, as the LEDs will probably outlast the user of the device, let alone the device itself…
Had me going Julie with the IPad Mini. But then I remembered that Mr Jobs said that pads with such size screens were DOA. so no iPad mini ever.
@Richars Haven’t you ever noticed that the more adamant Steve is about NOT doing something, the more likely it is that it’s being worked on in an Apple lab at that very moment? The bluster about 7″ screens being too small is all about scaring people off the competition, not because he actually believes it. I’m betting we get an “iPad Mini” by the end of next year…
That would be great about the mini. Back to the Nookcolor, I wonder how it compares to Borders offerings with the $199 Velocity Cruz dresser and it’s $299 tablet brother. The seems to have a better screen, though pixels aren’t everything. But the Nook just seems to carry more confidence in it’s quality and ability.
Getting one. I currently read on a computer. I find the LCD reading experience vastly superior to paper.
And to those who don’t- good for you. But I know what I find comfortable.
You can go to a Barnes & Noble store and try one of the display units. Its a solid device and as a personal reader/tablet you can’t beat the price. The screen size may be a disadvantage if you are reading to several kids but for one it may be OK.