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Feb

Barnes & Noble Offering To Re-Partition Storage Space For 16GB NOOK Tablet Users Beginning In March

Posted by Liam Spradlin in News, Nook Tablet

Users of Barnes & Noble's 16GB Nook Tablet may be aware of the device's rather strict memory partitioning, which currently reserves 12 of the available 13GB of memory exclusively for Nook Store content. This means users have a paltry 1GB of storage space for their own personal content, unless they opt for a microSD card.

With the announcement of the Nook Tablet's 8GB variant (which allows users 4 of the available 5GB of storage space), it looks like B&N has decided to reach out to customers of the 16GB model, allowing them to have their devices repartitioned more fairly. The book giant has added a note to their Nook Tablet page indicating as much, and telling users (in itty bitty print) when they can have their devices reconfigured:

If you want to re-configure the internal memory of your NOOK Tablet-16GB for additional personal storage, you need to visit your local Barnes & Noble on or after 3/12/12 for help in doing so.

Feb

Barnes & Noble Coughs Up 8GB Nook Tablet To Compete With Kindle Fire, Available Now For $199

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Nook Tablet

Barnes & Noble this morning took the wraps off of a new, 8GB version of the Nook Tablet set to compete dollar-for-dollar with the Kindle Fire. The 8GB Nook Tablet is packing slightly less impressive hardware than its 16GB brother, as B&N cut both the storage and RAM (512MB in this version) in half for this little guy, which puts it on par with Amazon's supercharged e-reader. The Nook Tablet still has one clear advantage, however: a microSD card slot.

The 8GB Tablet is available today for a modest $199, aligning it directly with the price point of the Kindle Fire.

Feb

Deal Alert: NOOK Tablet On Sale For $200 Shipped Via eBay Daily Deals ($50 Off)

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Barnes & Noble, Deals, Nook Tablet

Though it has garnered a lot less attention than Amazon's Kindle Fire, Barnes and Noble's latest NOOK - the NOOK Tablet - it was released to solid reviews. The $50 price premium over the Fire - while warranted because of the doubled internal storage, doubled RAM, and SD card slot - also helped the Kindle Fire sell more units. Now, though, the Tablet is on sale for $199 with free shipping at eBay Daily Deals - meaning it matches the price of the less powerful Kindle Fire. Certainly a bargain, especially considering that the NT is a powerful budget tablet with a small but dedicated developer community backing it up.

Jan

Barnes & Noble Poised To Announce A Fifth Nook Device This Spring

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Barnes & Noble, Nook

Leave it to the New York Times to stuff a zinger like this in a three-page piece on the future of the publishing industry; it looks like Barnes & Noble is set to announce a new Nook device come this Spring. This will be B&N's fifth Nook device, following the Nook Tablet.

From the New York Times:

Barnes & Noble is trying to strike at Amazon with another device. At its labs in Silicon Valley last week, engineers were putting final touches on their fifth e-reading device, a product that executives said would be released sometime this spring. (A Barnes & Noble spokeswoman declined to elaborate.)

The million dollar question is what, exactly, Barnes & Noble is cooking up.

Jan

Barnes & Noble Thinking About Selling NOOK Business – "It's The Right Time To Investigate Our Options" Says CEO

Posted by Liam Spradlin in News, Nook

Barnes & Noble announced today that it is considering selling its NOOK business, citing significant shortfalls in sales and cutting its full-year forecast.

B&N also cited NOOK sales which fell below expectations, and investments in advertising and expansion as reasons for a predicted shortfall in fiscal 2012 sales of between $200 million and $320 million less than average estimates of $7.32 billion.

The major bookseller indicated that it plans to market the NOOK for "years to come," but that it "over-anticipated the growth in consumer demand for single-purpose black-and-white reading devices this holiday," as the company's simplest e-reader lagged far behind in sales compared to other members of the NOOK family.

Dec

Amazon, Barnes & Noble Pushing Updates To Their Respective Tablets That Break Root Access

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Kindle Fire, News, Nook Tablet

Amazon started pushing an update to the Kindle Fire yesterday, and two words that no Android geek wants to hear were muttered shortly after: breaks root. Unlike the previous update to the Fire, this update can't be re-rooted using SuperOneClick.

It's not all bad in Fire-world, though; for the un-rooted, this update brings a number of fixes and performance enhancements to the sub-$200 device:

You can now remove books, apps or other content from the carousel of recently used items on the home screen.
Scrolling is smoother.
There’s an option to require a password to turn on WiFi (which could help prevent kids from purchasing apps without a parents' permission).

Dec

[Deal Alert] Barnes & Noble Offering Refurbished NOOK Color For Just $129 On eBay

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Deals, NOOKcolor (Encore)

If you're looking to get a NOOK Color this holiday season, and have an appreciation for hot discounts (who doesn't?), today's your lucky day. Barnes & Noble is now selling manufacturer refurbished units on eBay for just $129.99 with free shipping.

For those not familiar, the NOOK Color features a 7" VividView IPS display, an 800MHz processor, 512MB of RAM, and of course, access to over 2.5 million titles in "the world's largest bookstore."

While the NOOK Color may have recently been overshadowed by B&N's NOOK Tablet, it's still being supported, and is a great solution for the money. To take advantage of the deal, just head over to B&N's eBay listing here.

Nov

Nook Tablet Rooted, Looks To Continue Where Its Predecessor Left Off

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Barnes & Noble, News, Nook Tablet

A new device being rooted may raise few eyebrows nowadays, but for those of you looking for a nice cheap little tablet, the Nook Tablet has taken the first step to becoming yet another hobbyist's favorite. Given the enormous popularity of the Nook Color before it, this bodes well for the future of the Nook Tablet. However, with the release of the $200 Amazon Kindle Fire, no longer is the $250 Nook Tablet alone in American cheap-tablet market, so this development may well help to convince would-be buyers. Over at XDA-Developers, poster Indirect has tested the proven zergRush method on their own Nook Tablet, as well as created a batch file for Windows users to help automate the process.

Nov

Barnes & Noble Claims Microsoft Illegally Expanding Its Patents To Crush Android

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Barnes & Noble, Legal, News

Things are getting a bit more interesting in the ongoing fight between Microsoft and Barnes & Noble. You'll remember that earlier this year, Microsoft began suing B&N for refusing to fork over Android-related fees from the Nook Color. Barnes & Noble has responded, alleging in its motion that Microsoft "is using its licensing practices to improperly broaden the scope of its patents in an attempt to dominate mobile operating systems such as Android that threaten Microsoft's monopoly in personal computer ("PC") operating systems." It may sound odd at first that Microsoft would be at Android's throat over PC operating systems, but indeed, it was recently discovered that Microsoft attempted to compel Google to provide its Android strategy, including information about Android's current abilities as a PC platform.

Nov

Barnes & Noble NOOK Tablet Vs. Amazon Kindle Fire: FIGHT!

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Kindle Fire, News, Nook Tablet

When the Amazon Kindle Fire was announced, we were all pretty excited about its tablet-meets-e-reader form factor, low price, and powerful hardware. Barnes & Noble has fired back this morning with an equally impressive device (and in some aspects even more so), albeit with a slightly higher price tag. As always, both devices offer features that make them unique from each other -- but, at the end of the day, which one is the better choice?

Let's throw both devices in the ring and see how they fare with one another, shall we? First up, specs: