I love my Nook and use it all the time to read while traveling. I also use my iPad for ebook reading, but it is much heavier than my Nook and eInk text looks wonderful and gives me a book experience. Today, Barnes & Noble announced the Nook Color for $249 with a November 19th release data and I already placed my order for one. The Nook Color is an Android-powered tablet device at a much lower cost than any other Android tablet we have seen, with some obvious limitations.
The Nook Color is not being marketed as an Android tablet with its main focus on ebook, magazine, and newspaper reading. However, it comes with a web browser, games, Office document viewer, support for sharing via Twitter and Facebook, along with support for developers to create apps. Applications mentioned by Barnes & Noble include Pandora, Lonely Planet, Dictionary.com, and more. There is the potential here to add enough apps to satisfy those who might buy an Android tablet, especially if couch surfing was the main desire for a tablet.
Specs include the following:
- 7 inch VividView capacitive touch screen at 1024×600 resolution
- 8GB internal memory
- 802.11 b/g/n WiFi for ebook purchases and browsing
- microSD expansion card slot
- 3.5mm headset jack
- Integrated mono speaker
- Standard microUSB port for charging and book transfer via cable
- Dimensions of 8.1 x 5.0 x 0.48 inches and 15.8 ounces
And like the original Nook, you get much better support for content than you do with the Kindle, including ebooks checked out from your local library or purchased at other online stores like the Sony eBookstore.
Battery life may be a concern with the color display and the specs state you get up to 8 hours with wireless off. That is not very good, considering I go a few days with my current Nook and my iPad goes about 10 hours with wireless on.
