Must Read: Mint 15: Today's best Linux desktop (Review)

Topic: Hardware

Is Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet worth $50 more than the Kindle Fire?

Summary: On paper the Nook Tablet does indeed seem superior to the Kindle Fire.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

By for Hardware 2.0 |

This morning Barnes and Noble finally unveiled the Nook Tablet. According to B&N this tablet is wqual to or superior to Amazon's Kindle Fire in every way ... except price. Is this new entry into the tablet market worth the extra $50?

Check out the Nook Tablet image gallery!

Amazon's set the price bar that every tablet maker (except Apple) has to limbo under - $199 - and Barnes and Noble immediately tries to test this by releasing a more expensive device. Is it a gamble?

On paper the Nook Tablet does indeed seem superior to the Kindle Fire:

Side-note: Since when is a 1024 x 600 screen considered HD? Sure, it can play HD video, but that's not the same thing.

More battery, more RAM, expandable storage ... all sounds good, right? Well, yes, expect for one small detail. People buying this tablet don't care about how much RAM or storage it has, or what version of Android it runs, or whether it has expandable storage or not, or what the screen viewing angle is like. At this end of the spectrum there's only one metric that really matters - price. Battery life may catch the eye, but I don't think that it's spectacular enough to offset the $50 price difference. So if people are in a comparing mood, then unless they're diving deep into the specification, there's not much to separate the devices and that $50 price difference could be a problem.

So, when it comes down to price, I think B&N could have a problem. Fortunately for B&N, price isn't actually all that important.

I think that the success or failure of the Nook Tablet will come down to these factors:

  • Where people shop matters - The Nook Tablet and Kindle Fire will never be sold side-by-side, so in many ways the price difference is irrelevant.
  • Content is king - The tablet is only part of the equation, it's a hardware lock-in into either the B&N or Amazon ecosystem. Amazon certainly has more content it can push to the device, and that makes the Kindle Fire a more compelling walled-garden. People who have already invested heavily in one ecosystem or another are unlikely to look to the competition (hardware lock-in is a wonderful thing!).
  • Who can make the most tablets for the holidays - These cheap tablets are going to be a big hit during the holidays, and B&N and Amazon both need to make sure that they can make enough tablets to keep up with demand. If one company has a slip-up and the tablets go onto a backorder schedule that pushes them into the new year, people will look to the competition.

[poll id="708"]

Thoughts?

Related:

Topic: Hardware

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

Talkback

26 comments
Log in or register to join the discussion

  • RE: Is Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet worth $50 more than the Kindle Fire?

    I feel the extra storage and the MircoSD are worth the price. Contrary to your statement 'The Nook Tablet and Kindle Fire will never be sold side-by-side...', I can go see both of them side by side at Best Buy. I know several people have picked the Nook over the Kindle just by going in and looking at them both. Now that they both have color, it will be an interesting holiday season.
    Gungnir
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Is Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet worth $50 more than the Kindle Fire?

      @Gungnir Please think twice. B&N will always charge tax on top. But, Amazon does not charge tax. Therefore, the difference is more like $70. The 512MB more DRAM, 8GB more NAND Flash, addition of uSD card slot do not worth US$70!
      PWsY
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Is Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet worth $50 more than the Kindle Fire?

        $70 doesn't begin to compensate for the lack of expandable storage. I live in a heavily computerized area, and yet there are many times when I am out of range of WIFI service I can use, so Fire's cloud is largely no extra storage at all, and Fire's 8GB is pathetic. I'm running 40 GB on my Nook Tablet, all the time, not 8 GB plus an intermittent cloud, and having 1GB of DRAM makes the Nook faster. And in California, where I live, you are breaking the law if you don't pay Amazon sales tax, for each purchase or at tax time, so that $20 difference in sales tax doesn't exist for millions of us, unless we want to risk getting audited.
        glennmeyer
        Reply Vote

  • Additional flash memory for this crampy size tablet is not that necessary

    These who want "real thing" will buy iPad, and these who want it cheap will buy Kindle Fire.
    dderss
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Is Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet worth $50 more than the Kindle Fire?

      @dderss
      Like flash support? hah
      WishyWashyWannabe
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Is Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet worth $50 more than the Kindle Fire?

      @dderss <br><br>The lack of expandable storage is a huge drawback on the Fire. Makes buying one a lot harder to justify.
      alceste007
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Is Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet worth $50 more than the Kindle Fire?

      @dderss
      Still drinking that Apple kool-aid?
      DimBulb
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Is Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet worth $50 more than the Kindle Fire?

      @dderss With those specs and running full Android the Nook Tablet IS the real thing... unless you mean the "real thing" to be the iOS experience. As a competitor to the Kindle fire - [i]which is what this article is about BTW and not about a comparison between the Nook Tablet, Kindle Fire, and Apple iPad[/i] so let's TRY to stay on topic shall we? - The Nook tablet is IMHO the better of the two.
      athynz
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Is Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet worth $50 more than the Kindle Fire?

      Those who want the real thing may be looking for price, speed, resolution (that means ppi), workmanship, storage, and software. In each of those ways, the Nook Tablet is superior to both the Kindle Fire and the Ipad2.
      glennmeyer
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Is Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet worth $50 more than the Kindle Fire?

    More onboard storage + SD card expansion is critical if you intend to load your tablet up with music and movies. Cloud storage is a nice idea in principle, but the wireless infrastucture simply isn't ubiquitous or robust enough at this point in time to rely on the cloud for all your content. A tablet needs at least 10gb of free storage for movies alone to be truly worthy of the name "entertainment device."
    dsf3g
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Is Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet worth $50 more than the Kindle Fire?

    "The Nook Tablet and Kindle Fire will never be sold side-by-side, so in many ways the price difference is irrelevant."

    For items like these, people usually do research online before they buy them and they will be compared side by side, just on a monitor.
    SeedlessMango
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Is Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet worth $50 more than the Kindle Fire?

    Storage is nice, but not worth much if there is nothing to put on it. Content is king. Amazon has it, B&N doesn't.
    Saint Curmudgeon
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Is Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet worth $50 more than the Kindle Fire?

      @Saint Curmudgeon - I disagree. I have a lot of content on my own, including thousands of songs and books, and digital video rips that are stored on my home media center. Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to go into hock to iTunes or Amazon to have decent content, there are loads of alternatives.

      Unless you are a slave to Hollywood marketers and *must* have the latest drivel, then you deserve having your wallet skimmed ...
      terry flores
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Is Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet worth $50 more than the Kindle Fire?

      @Saint Curmudgeon Barnes and Noble is the largest bookseller and now that they have deals in place with Netflix, Hulu, and Pandora the Nook Tablet DOES have content to match the Kindle Fire AND has better specs. The storage also allows one to put their own content on the device - and a lot more of it than one can on the Kindle Fire meaning I could put on digital copies of movies I've purchased via physical media (i.e. the Blu-Ray combo packs) or via iTunes or even Amazon.

      Yes content IS king and it looks like B&N has that covered.
      athynz
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Is Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet worth $50 more than the Kindle Fire?

    The factor that I consider the most is Amazon's cloud services. B&N simply don't measure up with their Ecosystem. Netflix is equal to Amazon prime in content, but it cost $16 dollars more per year. Plus you can Buy or Rent movies in Amazon's video store. You can't do that on the nook. Hulu Plus + is the only good thing I see about the nook. But who knows if Amazon may workout a deal for Hulu in he future? <br><br>And then, you have to consider Amazon's book lending services.. It allows you to barrow (1) book per month that range from $9.99- $14.99 multiply that by 12 months.. And its a Value of $120-179.99.. Now factor in the $16 extra you be saving with Amazon Prime $79 vs Netflix 95.88 per year. Thats $196.87 in Value per year !!! And I didn't even enter the Free 2 day shipping benefits.<br><br>B&N simply can't complete, I"m an accounting graduate, I look at the numbers...
    stanleynky
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Is Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet worth $50 more than the Kindle Fire?

      @stanleynky

      The nook has had lending services for awhile. Also with a Nook, you have easy access to library books. As far as movies go, I still have a Netflix account. The key for my decision to buy a Nook was the SD slot thou. I have hundreds of CDs already burned. I do not want "cloud storage".
      alceste007
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Is Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet worth $50 more than the Kindle Fire?

      @stanleynky Maybe you should look at all the numbers. Nook will have a front facing camera and microphone, expandable storage and longer battery life by a good amount. When people find out they can Skype on it, store a lot more movies and can go longer on a charge, they might have a different opinion. In addition, Nook has a better screen (albeit not larger) and will run more smoothly because it has more ram. Nook might have Bluetooth too.
      K B
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Is Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet worth $50 more than the Kindle Fire?

        @K B where the heck people get their "information" the nook does not have a front facing camera which means no Skype. The screens have the exact same resolution, the whole laminated(no air) screen hasn't been seen side by side with the fire(which has gorilla glass) so it's hard to say if its really noticeably better. It also lacks built-in Bluetooth. You should research things a bit more before just stating them as facts.
        marowitz
        Reply Vote

  • RE: Is Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet worth $50 more than the Kindle Fire?

    The Nook tablet is a clear winner. #1 reason: storage. It's also got double the RAM which should give it a performance edge over the Fire. Amazon's Fire will sell well but so will the Nook tablet.
    ckantack@...
    Reply Vote

  • Strictly as ereaders

    I think they are closely matched with a minor edge to the Nook. But ebook buyers will mostly not concern themselves with the extra storage any more than they care now. The relevant contest here is content beyond books and, IMHO, Amazon has B&N beat.
    oncall
    Reply Vote
CNET Join | Log In | Privacy | Cookies Close