21
Mar
matlock doesnt like nook

Microsoft Suing Barnes & Noble For Not Paying Android-Related Patent Fees For Nook Color

Posted by in News, NOOKcolor (Encore)

Microsoft announced today that they are filing legal action against Barnes & Noble, Foxconn and Inventec for their collaborative role in manufacturing the Nook Color. Why would Microsoft be suing for anything even remotely related to the Nook Color? As you probably know, the Nook runs a version of Android and Microsoft owns several patents which it claims Android violates. Microsoft says that anyone making an Android device needs to pay them, or else they are going to do as they have done today - and sue them.

"The Android platform infringes a number of Microsoft’s patents, and companies manufacturing and shipping Android devices must respect our intellectual property rights.

30
Dec
NC_rooted_angrybirds

Heads Up: Barnes & Noble NOOKcolor Update Rolling Out, May Reset Rooted Devices

Posted by in Barnes & Noble, Development, News, NOOKcolor (Encore)

Device updates that break root are fairly common - in fact, I'd go so far as to say that the majority of updates do so. What's a bit less common, though, is an update that resets your device because you're rooted. The device in question here is the NOOKcolor, and unfortunately it looks like that's exactly what's happening.

Before I dive into the details, I think it's important to note that I doubt that even as much as manufacturers and carriers dislike when people root their device, it's pretty far over the line for them to remotely wipe the devices of people who have done so.

26
Oct
image

Barnes & Noble Announces NOOKcolor: 7" IPS Goodness In A $250 Package

Posted by in Barnes & Noble, Devices By Manufacturer, News, Nook, NOOKcolor (Encore)

Building on the strength of the growing e-Reader market, bookstore giant Barnes & Noble has just formally unveiled its latest device: the NOOKcolor. Rumoured for some time now, but never offering much in the way of solid details, the covers are now off this full-color touchscreen device.

Hard internal specs are still few and far between, but in the case of an e-Reader one thing matters most: the screen. Thankfully B&N has seen fit to equip the NOOKcolor with a high resolution 1024x600 7" IPS display. This "In-Plane Switching" technology, often found in professional computer monitors, trumps the S-LCD of Samsung's Galaxy Tab in terms of color fidelity and viewing angles, and has proven to be a success on the iPad.

12
Apr
B&N Nook at Best Buy

B&N Nook Now Available From Best Buy Stores and BestBuy.com

Posted by in Barnes & Noble, News, Nook

Barnes & Nobles Nook - one of the better eReaders out there and a direct competitor to Amazon's Kindle lineup, is now available for order on Bestbuy.com and 1,070 brick and mortar Best Buy stores.

Previously, you could only order the Nook from Barnes & Nobles stores and website.

The price still sits at $259 but those Nook seekers who are Best Buy Rewards members or don't have B&N stores locally will find this announcement helpful.

Note that Store Pickup is not available if you order online yet, so head over to your local store if you want to play around with the Nook and hold it in your hands before making the final decision.

09
Apr
image

eReader Mega Roundup: Spring Design Alex VS Barnes & Noble Nook VS Amazon Kindle 2 VS Kindle DX - Detailed Comparison

Posted by in Alex, Barnes & Noble, Nook, Other Reviews, Reviews, Spring Design
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Last year was definitely the year of the Kindle - we've seen a whole new generation of eBook readers come out, finally making this gadget category popular. To help you navigate the eBook reader waters, we spent the last few days compiling a table comparing some of the biggest eReader devices:

  • Spring Design Alex
  • Barnes & Noble Nook
  • Amazon Kindle 2
  • Amazon Kindle DX

If a category has a winner, it is highlighted in bold (in some cases there could be more than one winner).

Kindle DX features that are the same in Kindle 2 are marked with "<-".

Without further ado, let the best eReader win:

Alex eReader

Barnes & Noble Nook

Amazon Kindle 2

Amazon Kindle DX
Order of release 4 3 1 2
Release dates April 14, 2010 November 30, 2009 February 9, 2009 June 10, 2009
Internal memory 2GB 2GB 2GB 4GB
Expandable memory Yes - MicroSD Yes - MicroSD No - SD slot was removed <-
Average # of books that can fit in internal memory 1500 1500 1500 3500
CPU speed 624 MHz Unknown but in the range of 533-800 MHz 523 MHz <-
Screen(s) Dual, 6" E-Ink, 3.5" color LCD Dual, 6" E-Ink, 3.5" color LCD Single, 6" E-Ink Single, 9.7" E-Ink
Screen resolution 6": 600 x 800 px
3.5": 480 x 320 px		 6": 600 x 800 px
3.5": 480 x 144 px		 600 x 800 px 1200 x 824 px
E-Ink display Yes - 16 level grayscale Yes - Vizplex, 16-level grayscale Yes - 16-level grayscale <-
WiFi Yes - b/g Yes - b/g (+free WiFi at B&N stores) No <-
Global wireless (3G, 4G, etc) No but 3G, EVDO/CDMA, GSM support coming in a model that should be out later this year Yes - 3G Yes - 3G with fallback to EDGE/GPRS <-
Web browser Yes - on the color screen and the E-Ink screen Stock Nook - no
Rooted Nook - yes		 Basic browser but a firmware update brought a more capable browser <-
Content sharing/lending No Yes, up to 14 days, between nook, iPhone, iPod Touch, PC, and Mac devices No <-
FM radio No No No <-
PDF support Yes Yes Yes <-
Formats supported EPUB, PDF, TXT, HTML, JPEG, GIF, BMP, MP3, MP4, Flash, 3GP EPUB, PDB (eReader), PDF, JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, MP3 Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion <- + Audible format 4, RTF
Speaker Yes - stereo Yes - mono Yes - stereo <-
Text-to-speech No (confirmed to us by Spring Design) No Yes <-
Auto rotation No (confirmed to us by Spring Design) Unknown No Yes
Connector type MicroUSB MicroUSB MicroUSB <-
Battery capacity 3.7V 1530mAh (confirmed to us by Spring Design) Unknown 1530mAh <-
Battery life 14 days with wireless off,
6 hours with LCD screen on		 10 days with wireless off 7 days with wireless on,
14 days with wireless off		 <-
User replaceable battery Yes Yes No <-
Book selection Borders via Kobo, Google Books,
any protected ePub book from any bookseller		 Barnes & Noble - 1,000,000+ paid and 500,000+ free books, newspapers and magazines Amazon - 450,000+ post-1923 and 1,800,000+ pre-1923 books at the time of this review <-
Synchronized last page read between devices No but promised later No but promised in early 2010 Yes <-
Operating system Android 1.5 (2.0+ coming summer 2010) Android 1.5 Linux <-
OTA (Over-The-Air) software updates Yes (confirmed to us by Spring Design) Yes Yes <-
Size 8.9" x 4.7" x 0.4" 7.7" x 4.9" x 0.5" 8.0" x 5.3" x 0.36" 10.4" x 7.2" x 0.38"
Weight 11 oz 12.1 oz 10.2 oz 18.9 oz
Price $399 $259 $259.00 $489.00
Buy it Buy It Buy It Buy It Buy It
 

Alex eReader

Barnes & Noble Nook

Amazon Kindle 2

Amazon Kindle DX

 

So, who is the winner?

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