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Nook Glowlight 4 Plus review: A worthy upgrade for Nookworms
Barnes & Noble finally added audiobook listening to the Nook, but we still don't have a perfect e-reader
It's no secret that e-readers changed the game for bookworms forever. We're no longer tied to shelves of physical paper. However, now that we're over a decade removed from the first-ever e-reading tablet, manufacturers are honing these devices with incremental improvements. Small details edge a product ahead of the competition, which is precisely what Barnes & Noble's Nook GlowLight 4 Plus (a longtime tooth-and-nail contender against Amazon's Kindle) brings to the table this year.
This may come as a surprise, but Barnes and Noble still exists. If you've recovered from that shock, here's another: it still makes Nook e-readers. There's even a new one coming out, and it's called the Nook Glowlight 4e. The specs seem fine, but it'll cost you $119. Let's be honest, though. You weren't going to buy one even if it undercut the Kindle.
After all these years, Barnes & Noble is selling yet another 10" Nook Android tablet
Lenovo is making this one and it'll cost $130
LCD tablets aren't exactly the best e-readers out there, but they're definitely a choice out in the marketplace. Companies slap on Android and their reader app and it's easy as pie. So easy that Barnes & Noble has opted to commission Lenovo to produce a successor to its 10" Nook Android tablet from 2018.The press release assures us that the tablet has a 10.1" IPS display that's at least HD resolution, Dolby Atmos speakers, and a 10-hour battery and that it weighs just under a pound (420g). There's an unnamed octa-core processor that runs at up to 2.3GHz powering the Android experience — pre-loaded with the Nook reading app, home to over a million books under $5, by the way. It has 32GB of on-board space to store those titles plus more room with a microSD card. Further details like whether it has USB-C or what version of Android it runs have yet to be announced.
I bought a Barnes & Noble Nook in 2020, and I didn't expect it to be this good
The book retailer is still putting up a strong fight against Amazon's Kindle readers
Amazon has dominated the e-reader industry for so long that most of its competitors have either become niche products or faded out of existence entirely. I'd forgive you for thinking Kindles were the only e-readers sold in the United States, but not only is Barnes & Noble still around, but the company continues to release new Nook readers. And I bought one.
Sesame Street eBooks are free on Amazon, Google Play, and other platforms
Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?
Many companies and organizations are working to make movies, TV shows, books, and other entertainment free (or cheaper, at least) for folks stuck at home during the coronavirus outbreak. Sling TV has free movies and TV shows, 24 Hour Fitness made some of its premium features free for everyone, and now the makers of Sesame Street have made over 100 eBooks free on various platforms.Sesame Workshop announced yesterday that "over 110" free Sesame Street eBooks are now available on all major platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble Nook, Google Play, and Kobo.
Barnes & Noble's 10.1-inch Nook may be a hard sell at $129.99 for what is ultimately just a mediocre white label Android tablet, but the bookseller has just announced a .99 7-inch Nook tablet that might convince more buyers this holiday season.In direct competition with Amazon's 7-inch Fire 7 tablet, the wi-fi-only Nook tablet offers the benefit of featuring the Google Play Store out of the box - which is perhaps its main selling point (though we don't know what version of Android it runs).Apart from that, the device offers 16GB of storage (expandable up to 128GB by microSD card), a 7-inch 1024 x 600 IPS display (171 ppi), and promises a battery life of up to 7 hours use. For connectors, there's a micro USB 2.0 port and 3.5mm headset jack. If you're looking to take pictures, though, get ready to travel back to 2005 with a front-facing VGA camera (roughly 0.3 megapixels), or 2-megapixel rear-facing camera.Barnes & Noble doesn't divulge the processor or RAM (we've reached out for info), but last year the 7-inch Nook featured a 1.3GHz quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM, so it'll likely be the same or slightly stepped up. For what it's worth, that tablet got middling-to-decent reviews from the e-reader media set, but mainly because it was inexpensive enough to be potentially worth the buy despite slow performance and wall charger issue that prompted a recall. In any case, it's available now, in case you want a reasonably similar alternative to the Amazon Fire 7.
Yes, Barnes & Noble is still selling Nook devices. It can be easy to forget since you hear about the Nook so rarely, but the company is rolling out a new one just in time for the holiday season. Unlike past Nook tablets, this one isn't a re-branded Samsung tablet—it's just the Nook Tablet 10.1.
I love reading — my house is filled with books that I obsessively collect. In the grand scheme of eBooks, I think that Amazon Kindle has won the battle, but Barnes & Noble still holds on. Frankly, I cheer for Nook mostly because most of my digital library is there from my Nook Color/Nook Tablet days. All of that aside, the Android app has received an update to v4.7 after close to eight months of silence.
Barnes & Noble has had limited success with their tablet lineup over the years. Although the company's e-ink readers have always been very good, its LCD tablets have had less luck. In 2014, B&N completely gave up making its own tablets (besides the e-readers), instead choosing to sell various Galaxy Tab models with Nook software pre-installed. Now the company has a surprise for Black Friday shoppers - a $49.99 Nook tablet.The specifications are pretty much what you would expect from a $50 tablet. You get a 1024x600 IPS display, 8GB of expandable storage, dual-band WiFi, a microUSB port, and a headphone jack. The front camera is 2MP, and the back is 5MP with auto-focus. Unfortunately, the tablet comes with Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box. The tablet does have the Google Play Store, as well as the Nook reading app and other minor Nook additions.The Nook Tablet 7" seems like a direct competitor to the Amazon Fire Tablet, also priced at $49.99. The tablet will go on sale Black Friday, November 25, and you can pre-order it from the Barnes & Noble website.
For those Barnes & Noble customers who thought the Galaxy Tab S2 NOOK 8" and the Galaxy Tab E NOOK 9.6" were too large or too expensive, there's now a smaller, cheaper Samsung NOOK tablet - the Galaxy Tab A NOOK 7".
Well you can't say they didn't give it a good try. After years of attempting to break into the lucrative tablet market with its own semi-exclusive platform, US bookseller Barnes & Noble plans to halt digital sales on its app and video stores. Diginomica reports that the company will stop sales on March 15th (Tuesday), and that customers who've bought content from either location have until then to download their apps and videos one last time. Connecting Nook Video content to accounts for either Disney Movies Anywhere or CinemaNow will allow customers to retain streaming and download rights on other platforms.
Some hardware refuses to die. More than 4 years after Barnes & Noble introduced the Nook Tablet and 2.5 years after it closed its Nook manufacturing business, the tablet is still alive and kicking. At least in the hands of the CyanogenMod maintainers.
The last tablet Barnes & Noble and Samsung collaborated on was somewhat of a premium product. The Galaxy Tab S2 Nook provided a 2048x1536 resolution on an 8-inch Super AMOLED display, which is plenty sharp for something you're presumably buying to consume books and magazines on.
Ah, the Nook Color. I have fond memories of Barnes & Noble's don't-call-it-a-tablet tablet, if only because that early hardware was a gateway drug to custom ROMs and root modifications. The Nook brand eventually crashed and burned against the twin onslaughts of cheap Android tablets and Amazon's unstoppable Kindle e-readers, but there are still at least a few B&N product managers who want to keep the hardware kicking, as evidenced by "Nook" versions of Samsung tablets. The latest to get the treatment is the new Galaxy Tab S2.
Barnes & Noble lets you access your books on Nook and general Android devices alike, but the latter has come with an interface that hasn't been spruced up in years. Today Barnes & Noble announced that this situation is finally changing. The company is releasing Nook 4.0, bringing over the slick interface that has been around since the company started partnering with Samsung to produce the latest line of Nook tablets.
Barnes & Noble and Samsung appear to be getting along pretty well, for the two companies have now unveiled their second joint tablet: the Galaxy Tab 4 Nook 10.1. Just like the previous Nook tablet, this is a Galaxy Tab 4 10.1 with some added software tweaks that place emphasis on reading and consuming content from Barnes & Noble. The tablet is available for a launch price of $299 (following a $50 instant rebate), which puts it right in line with the price of the non-Nook version of the slate. Come November 1st, it may jump up to $349.
A year ago Barnes & Noble closed the book on its Nook line of tablets, opting to lend the brand out to other manufacturers instead. Now we're seeing the first Android device to capitalize on this idea. Take a guess as to which company decided, sure, I'll make a Nook tablet. That's right, none other than Samsung. When you're already flooding the market with umpteen different tablet variants, what's one more? Dear reader, I present to you the Galaxy Tab 4 Nook.
Barnes & Noble may be bailing out of the tablet race, but that doesn't mean they're giving up on distributing digital content. Today the bookseller that also happens to sell movies, school supplies, electronics, and accessories is similarly expanding its media streaming portfolio. The company is hoping to grow its audience with the release of Nook Video into the Play Store.
Dear Barnes & Noble: bless you, ladies and gentlemen, for making the Nook Color. Without it, the Android modding scene might be less vibrant than it is now. On that note, the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight (a Kindle-style e-ink reader, also running Android) has received another price drop. Now you can pick one up for a cool - not bad for a device that launched at the already-low price of $139.