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Print 19 comment(s) - last by TakinYourPoint.. on Feb 22 at 7:04 PM
Nook Color price is cut to $169

Barnes & Noble has introduced a new Nook Tablet that has 8GB of storage for $199. We briefly mentioned the new tablet yesterday and it is clearly aiming directly at Amazon Kindle Fire. The original Nook Tablet had 16GB of storage.
 
With the unveiling of the new 8GB Nook Tablet, the popular Nook Color gets a price reduction to $169.
 
The new, cheaper, Nook Tablet retains 512MB of RAM and includes a 1GHz dual core processor. Barnes & Noble promises 11 1/2 hours of reading time or nine hours of video viewing. The tablet also has an integrated microSD card slot for additional storage space. Wi-Fi is integrated and the screen is a VividView seven-inch unit with 16 million colors.
 
“For any customer who likes to read digitally, watch movies or TV shows, browse the web, or help their kids read and learn through interactive books and apps, our new $199 NOOK Tablet with 8GB is the best product value on the market,” said William Lynch, Chief Executive Office of Barnes & Noble.
 
“NOOK Tablet is the highest-rated wireless media tablet in the 7-inch class, ultra-portable at under a pound, offers our exclusive VividView™ screen technology, and since its introduction this holiday has received rave reviews from customers about all its great features. We’re pleased to now offer customers the ability to experience NOOK Tablet’s unmatched content experience for only $199.”
 
The tablet will have the same access to content and books as the original Nook Tablet. 

Source: Barnes & Noble


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By Arsynic on 2/21/2012 12:24:36 PM , Rating: 2
How can iBooks render characters beautifully while Nook Tablet has those ugly black boxes? What a joke.




By messele on 2/21/2012 1:17:59 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
The Ipad has more pixels, more processing power, worse battery life, required cell phone data plans, and a much much higher cost.


Battery life is about the same in reality and what about these required cell phone data plans?

Keeping up a fine tradition of Daily Turd readers making stuff up then...


By Samus on 2/21/2012 2:08:39 PM , Rating: 1
If he were going to bash the iPad, he should have just left it at form factor, where the Nook excels. I don't know what pixels and processing power have to do with rendering text...practically all of these tablets are overkill in the horsepower department and they all seem to have decent resolution and PPI.

With the rumors of Apple releasing an 8" iPad, it won't be long before they have a e-reader, anyway.


By bobsmith1492 on 2/21/2012 4:53:07 PM , Rating: 2
Having a cell plan adds lifetime cost to the Pad, that's all.


By InsaneScientist on 2/22/2012 1:21:18 AM , Rating: 2
That's true... but considering that the data plan is optional, even for the 3G version, let alone the WiFi only one that can't even get cellular data (directly, without a hotspot to bridge onto the network), I'm not particularly inclined to give that argument much credence.

I love my nook color, and I don't think I'd trade it for an iPad even at the same price (no removable storage and the form factor put it out of the running), but let's at least be accurate with our criticisms...

Oh, and if my Nook is anything to go by, the iPad has better battery life. They may be about the same when you're using them, but my friend's iPad doesn't lose nearly as much battery when idle with the screen off as my poor nook. :(

With that said, messele, there's an old saying in law that goes "If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts. If you have the law on your side, pound the law. If you have neither on your side, pound the table."
Name calling is the equivalent of pounding on the table. The facts were on your side... pound on the facts. Besides, if you want to win someone over to your point of view, insulting them (and all the rest of the readership while you're at it) usually isn't going to make them inclined to listen to you. ;)


By bobsmith1492 on 2/22/2012 8:09:12 AM , Rating: 2
My bad on the battery life... I was thinking Kindle, not Nook. Behind on my gadgets!


By TakinYourPoints on 2/21/2012 11:01:50 PM , Rating: 2
If someone is really serious about reading books then they'd get a reader with e-paper (Kindle is my preference).

Otherwise yes, with the Nook Color all you're really doing is spending less money for an inferior product.


By lightfoot on 2/22/2012 12:27:28 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
with the Nook Color all you're really doing is spending less money for an inferior product.


Isn't that the way it's supposed to work? You pay more you get more, you pay less you get less. In any case it could easily be argued that the Nook is a better value than the iPad.

For example, if you and your spouse are planning on buying a tablet and have $500 to spend, you could either get one iPad (16GB, WiFi only) or you could get two Nook tablets (16GB each.)

If you wanted to go with only 8GB each, you could get the cheaper Nook or the Kindle Fire and have $100 left over. Your total storage would still be about the same.

So which is a better value? Getting one tablet, or two tablets for a lower price?


By TakinYourPoints on 2/22/2012 7:04:24 PM , Rating: 2
It depends on what you value and where your priorities lie. I'd rather get one good product over two poor ones, but that's just me. That said, if you can only afford the one mediocre product and that's it, then clearly that's what you would get.


By theapparition on 2/22/2012 9:25:57 AM , Rating: 2
You are insane. That's how.

On NO metric does the current iPad render text better than the Nook Color/Tablet. I have both, so I'd know.

The dpi is higher on the Nook, plus its screen is actually usable outdoors. For reading the current iPads are a joke. Yes, you can do a lot more with them, but they aren't at the same level for color reading. The next iPad3 might change that with the higher res screen.


How does it compare?
By lightfoot on 2/21/2012 3:48:24 PM , Rating: 2
For being a device that's priced and designed to compete with the Kindle Fire, I see precious few details in how it actually compares with the Kindle Fire.

Does anyone have a side by side comparison of the two devices? Pros/Cons of each device?

And from an average consumer stand point, I don't really care what it can do if it's rooted. I want to know how they compare right out of the box.




RE: How does it compare?
By lenardo on 2/21/2012 5:21:28 PM , Rating: 3
current non modified - 16gig nook tablet vs kindle fire

kindle fire has- better app store
movie rentals via amazon video player
netflix
hulu
amazon books
can install with no modification barnes and noble app/other ebook reader for reading non amazon books

nook tablet has
hulu
hd netflix
barnes and noble app store(sucks)
b&n book store
ability to add another 32gig in storage/accessability

on the multimedia video side- the nook tablet plays videos a bit better than the kindle fire

overall layouts of ui the kindle fire is better

MODIFIED,

due to the specs, more ram more storage, nook tablet is the better tablet.


RE: How does it compare?
By lightfoot on 2/21/2012 6:42:18 PM , Rating: 2
Thank you. That is a good write up of the two tablets software.

Any opinions on build quality, form factor, quality of the screen (including touchscreen responsiveness) or speakers? You mentioned that the Nook has better hardware, but I assume that is just based on the additional RAM and storage (but the storage difference comes at a cost premium of $50.)


RE: How does it compare?
By lenardo on 2/21/2012 7:51:52 PM , Rating: 2
Form factor they are similar in size however the nook tablet has the outer case that helps protect the screen if dropped. That corner hook helps when grabbing and maintaining orientation.

Internal hardware is the same for screen, processor,gpu, the extra512 Meg RAM and the8 gig storage& micro sd card ability means that the nook tablet is better.

If Barnes& noble were smart they would, "free" the tablet up and allow the android market.

Right nowi entered this from my nook tablet using slide-it keyboard. Rooted, it does most
Of whati want fora tablet, andi have streaming dvd video from my computer via mx video player and es file explorer.


Nice to see competition.
By quiksilvr on 2/21/2012 12:03:45 PM , Rating: 2
I always preferred the Nooks to the Kindles. They just gave you more freedom and to me that's important when buying any device. Being tied down by formats or I/O limitations was never a preferable path and the Nooks are really the 7" tablets to get.




RE: Nice to see competition.
By rstove02 on 2/22/2012 9:15:16 AM , Rating: 2
Sadly the Nook Tablet (not to be confused with Nook Color) is much more locked down than the Kindle. Sad that the Nook Tablet has a modest hardware edge over the Kindle yet they cripple the functionality by not allowing non-B&N applications and UI.

That said, if you are more technical savy and are able to bypass B&Ns restrictions the Nook Tablet overall has a decent advantage.


The "lost" 8 GB
By rstove02 on 2/21/2012 12:41:47 PM , Rating: 2
Out of the 16GB of the Nook Tablet, only 1GB was freely useable by the owner. The remaining 15GB was stupidly reserved for B&N purchased content only. So this loss of 8GB will not be missed (unless you root of course to get out of their "walled garden" experience).




RE: The "lost" 8 GB
By lenardo on 2/21/2012 1:35:33 PM , Rating: 2
i have the 16gig nook tablet rooted

this saturday, I will be doing a full system backup via clockwork mod and then flash cm7 so that it turns into a full android tablet. just letting the cm7 beta testers test for a week or two and then will install the latest and greatest version of cm7 for the nook tablet


"Nowadays you can buy a CPU cheaper than the CPU fan." -- Unnamed AMD executive











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