26
Oct
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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.

22
Jul
nook logo

Barnes & Noble has already shown great interest in the Android platform by choosing it to run on their own e-reader, and this relationship continues to grow. B&N has just released Nook For Android, a full-featured app that includes access to their e-book store.

With plenty of e-reader applications on the Market already (including Nook’s main rival, Kindle) this may seem like overkill. However, the LendMe feature, which allows users to lend their e-books to friends for short periods of time, may be enough for some to make the switch. Check out all the features below.

  • More than 1 Million eBooks -- Just a Touch Away
  • All your favorite titles, including hot new releases and bestsellers
  • FREE samples of eBooks anytime, plus thousands of FREE titles
  • Access to your eBook library on your computer plus hundreds of mobile devices including iPad, iPhone, and NOOK
  • Share eBooks with friends for FREE with LendMe™
  • Recommended titles from your favorite authors
  • Add bookmarks as you read

Currently, the only feature missing is the ability to read newspaper and magazines, though this is likely to be included in a future update.

21
Jun
B&N Nook

Barnes & Noble has announced a new, Wi-Fi only, version of the Nook today, offering a lower introductory price point next to the more expensive 3G model.

Available to buy from today, the new Wi-Fi model is available for just $149, over $100 cheaper than the original price of the 3G model. For that price, you’re still getting what’s essentially the same Nook as before, just without the 3G internet connection. In an attempt to rub salt into Amazon’s wounds, Barnes & Noble has also reduced the price of the 3G model to just $199.

wifi nook

Barnes & Noble's new price for NOOK 3G marks the market's first under-$200 dedicated full-featured eBook reader that offers both free 3G wireless and Wi-Fi connectivity.

12
Apr
B&N Nook at Best Buy

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
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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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