We are not sure about what is going to happen to NOOK, but that discussion can wait. What’s important now is that Barnes & Noble, as they have been doing for the past few months, have again made their NOOK tablets more appealing via an awesome price drop.

Running through Father’s Day, June 16, you will be able to pick up their 8GB NOOK HD for $129 and the tablet’s 16GB version for $149. That’s a discount of $70 on the Android tablet which is coming with a 7-inch 1440×900 display, 1.5Ghz dual-core TI OMAP4470 processor, 1GB RAM, and microSD card slot among other features.

The NOOK HD+ will be available for $149 (16GB) and $179 (32GB); a whopping discount of $120. Just to remind you, the Android slate features a 9-inch 1920×1080 display, a 1.5GHz dual-core TI OMAP4470 processor, 1GB RAM, microSD card slot and more.

And also, the slates now have access to Google Play. So you can check out more than 700,000 Android apps & games.

You can pick up your choice from Barnes & Noble bookstores and on NOOK.com. So are you getting the device? Still confused? Head here if you are interested in comparing pricing.

[Source]

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We have been seeing a lot of good deals from Barnes and Noble recently, and now an even better one. They are currently offering both the Nook HD and the HD+ at discount rates through Mother’s Day on May 12.

You can now get the 8GB Nook HD for $149 and the 16GB version costs $179 (a $50 discount). The 9-inch 16GB HD+ will be yours for $179 (down from $269) and the 32GB model for $209 (drop from $299). The devices are available online at Barnes & Noble bookstores and on Nook.com, and at retailers including Best Buy.

The Nook tablets have suddenly become more appealing with this price drop, and also the slates now support Google Play (so access to more than 700,000 apps and games. That’s a big advantage over the Amazon Kindle Fire devices. At Amazon, the entry-level Kindle Fire has a price tag of $159, the 16GB Fire HD costs $199 and the 32GB 8.9-inch Fire HD tablet is available for $299.

As for other rivals, the Google Nexus 7 starts at $199 and Nexus 10 retails from $399. The Mac maker’s iPad mini starts at $329. Bottom-line, for the hardware, the Nook HD and HD+ are nothing less than a steal at their reduced pricing. What do you think, are you interested?

[Source]

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If waiting for great deals on gadgets is the way you roll and if you are fond of doing a lot of shopping at Walmart, then you will be glad to hear about this new deal. They are offering a $70 e-gift card when you get a Nook HD+ tablet from Barnes & Noble.

Both the 16GB and 32GB models, which cost $269 and $299 respectively, are available. So if you are someone who frequently shops at Walmart, then the offer is giving you a chance to truly pay $199 or $229 for an impressive 8.9-inch tablet with a 1.5GHz dual-core processor (when you factor in the $70 card). Indeed it’s a great deal especially when we think about the 8-inch, lower-resolution iPad Mini starting at $329.

So, are you interested in the deal? It’s a great deal and a great tablet. If you are still not moved, maybe you probably went for the earlier deal. And certainly there is the possibility that all these Nook-related deals are pointing towards the arrival of new devices from Barnes & Noble. We will let you know when something new comes up. In the meantime, you can check out the Walmart product page here if you want to get in on the deal.

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After tons of rumors about an iPad 3, what we really got, as you know, was the new iPad. So then will the iPad 3 still arrive sometime in the future? Is it in the works at the moment in a super secret Apple lab? Well, it appears like a new tablet, a smaller iPad, is indeed being tested by the company and it might get released later this year (maybe as the iPad 3 or iPad mini).

That’s according to Apple pundit John Gruber who was talking on The Talk Show, a podcast with 5by5′s Dan Benjamin. Gruber revealed that Apple is currently thinking about a smaller version of its iPad and has a 7.85-inch 1024×768 resolution iPad in their lab. According to him, the prototype device is “just like the 9.7-inch iPad shrunk down a little bit” and “the apps wouldn’t need to be redesigned or recompiled to work on it”.

Gruber says that he “wouldn’t be surprised if it never ships”, but suggests that Apple might introduce a smaller iPad at the Worldwide Developers Conference, since the arrival of a new iPhone is very unlikely. That device could compete against Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet. But there’s also a possibility that they might simply be testing new designs, and the said device may never see the light of day.

Yet, the thought about another new iPad for this year will make all the iFans excited. But, of course, even if such a device is being perfected for future release, we can’t say for sure what it will be named. iPad 3? iPad Mini? Newer iPad? Or maybe ePad?

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The upgrade includes several additional features that can move NOOK Color much closer to the NOOK Tablet, at least in base functionality.

Beneath the custom e-reader interface, the Nook Color actually had real Android power and function, something that many developers of custom ROMs have known since day one.

It’s good that Barnes & Noble recognizes it as well, even if a little late.

New features include:

•  Netflix app with a free 30-day trial comes preloaded. This has become the Holy Grail of all the recent “e-readers” and now it has found its way into the older tablet as official NOOK Color app.

• New NOOK Comics app and support for reading and purchasing comics.

• New Page Perfect e-reader app for enhancing reading experiences of digital copies of richly published art albums, culinary books, and other books lavishly illustrated and set with artful layouts in their printed versions.

The upgrade is rolling out and installs as an OTA (Over-The-Air) update right now. It’s too early to make any comparisons just yet. The CyanogenMod 7 community for NOOK Color is not very much excited: they have enjoyed the same, or similar functionality on their NOOK Colors since last summer. Then, the upgraded firmware doesn’t include the upgraded kernel: it’s a Froyo-based old 2.6.32.9 kernel still.

NOOK Color is discounted to the $199, the same price shared by the more powerful Kindle Fire. I somehow doubt this new update will bring in more NOOK Color buyers, even with the new additions.

Instead of focusing on the dying, under-powered Nook Color, Barnes & Noble should really spend their efforts working to build up the popularity of its more powerful Nook Tablet.

The post NOOK Color Update Brings In Netflix App And More appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The market has recently become rather crowded with all the latest tablet devices from around the world. Recent devices like the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet have really pushed the Android platform further and made it more popular than ever.

Barnes & Noble has released their Q2 earnings report and it appears like their recently launched Nook tablet has had an amazing start.

The company’s Nook business, which includes both the actual devices and content available for them, is now a $220 million business, an increase of 85 percent.

The Nook tablet, which was launched on November 7 with a price tag of $249, has become their fastest selling device to date according to reports.Barnes and Noble has yet to give out any official reports as to the exact number of tablets sold, though.

The fairly low-cost price tag has certainly contributed to the success of the Nook. The company’s strategy to lower the price of their Nook Color and Nook Simple Touch e-readers to $199 and $99, respectively, has also helped.

Sales on the company’s B&N.com website increased by 17 percent (from $177 million to $206 million) from the same quarter last year.

Although the Nook is doing well on the market, the company faced a net loss of $6.6 million (a slight improvement over the $12.6 million net loss in the previous year) in Q2 and the total sales decreased from $1.90 billion to $1.89 billion.

Despite its struggles with its non-Nook businesses, the company has high hopes for Q3. According to William Lynch, CEO of Barnes & Noble, “We expect to sell millions of devices during our third quarter, adding to the millions of current NOOK customers”.

Although the Nook tablet is an impressive piece of hardware, it is still too early to see whether or not it will be a major saving grace for the company or not. Additionally, Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire means some pretty stiff competition for Nook as well.

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Last month, the ad-supported Amazon Kindle was revealed at a paltry $114. Even if you do away with the ads, an entry-level Kindle is still only $139. Well, now you can land yourself a Nook from Barnes and Noble for the same $139, except this one gets a touchscreen.

No, it’s not really the same as the more expensive (and Android-powered) Nook Color, but the lower-cost Nook e-reader still gives you a touchscreen interface on its 6-inch display. It’s also 35% lighter than its predecessor. If you want to go cheaper, the original Nook is now $119, though B&N has stopped making them.

The Nook is second only to the Kindle when it comes to the dedicated e-book reader market and this cheaper touchscreen option should help with that growth. Not everyone wants to spend $499+ on an iPad, you know. In any case, the new touchscreen Nook is available now through the B&N site and will show up in retail stores (including Best Buy) next month.

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The Barnes & Noble eBookstore works in much the same way as the Kindle Store from Amazon. Independent authors can go ahead and publish their book through these marketplaces, making a little money when each copy is sold. However, it seems that a good number of people are going ahead and making money from out-of-copyright works, selling them at a price that is naturally higher than zero.

AkilahR brought this up in the B&N forums, finding that someone was selling the fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm, for example. These books can be freely downloaded at Gutenburg.org. I can’t remember for certain, but I think I remember seeing a similar phenomenon going on in the larger Amazon Kindle marketplace too.

While AkilahR says that he already knows “where to get free out of copyright books,” I don’t think that’s true of the general population. These “scammers” are capitalizing on an opportunity and, as far as I can tell, it’s completely legal to do so. What do you think?

[B&N]

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Hardware
It’s a 7-inch touchscreen tablet, with 1024×600 resolution 16 million color display. This doesn’t sound entirely impressive, especially since the PPI is just 169. If you compare that to the iPad’s 132 PPI it does sound great, but the iPad is 9.7-inches and not really that fantastic for rendering text to be read for long periods of time. For comparisons sake, the iPhone 4’s “retina display” is 326 ppi. Perhaps next year we’ll see an iPad with retina display.  An accelerometer allows auto-rotation from tablet to portrait mode.

Wi-Fi is its connection point. No 3G at all this time around. With 8GB memory on board and a microSD for adding 32GB more storage. It measures 8.1 x 5 x 0.48-inches and weighs 15.8 ounces. What we would expect for a tablet its size.

Battery life claims to be 8 hours with Wi-Fi turned off. This is a color LCD, so we’re not going to see any impressive performance we’ve come to expect with e-ink readers.

Software
We’re thinking this is a heavily customized Android tablet skinned the Nook way. What leads us to this is that Gizmodo reported on how apps from Android devices will be an “easy port” for the NookColor. It won’t have access to the Android Market, but by the sounds of things B&N may be making their own market. As apps will become available down the road, but only from a handful of companies.

The Nookcolor will feature a LendMe app exclusive to this device. It allows you to “lend and borrow” favorite books from friends.

Magazines and Newspapers appear to be simple static renders, or customized html sites. We’re not seeing the interactive content we have all be dreaming of since that very first Wired magazine flash video surfaced.

Social Networking
Of course this could not be left behind. You’ll have the ability to share comments about whatever you are reading with your FaceBook and Twitter friends. You can even post a quote from a novel or magazine.

Pricing & Availability
It’s going to ship on or around November 19, 2010 with pre-orders on now. B&N set the price at just $250, we’re not sure what’s running inside the ColorNook, so the low price-point may be a result of mediocre internals.

SOURCE: Barnes & Noble via Giz

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What do you do when you’re still stuck playing second fiddle to the Kindle and the iPad is stealing your thunder? You release an updated version with more features, functions, and juicy specifications, of course! That seems to be the strategy behind the upcoming Nook Color, the official successor to the first Barnes & Noble Nook.

Details are remarkably sketchy at this point, but the rumor mill is pointing toward a new Nook that would feature a color touchscreen display, Android-based operating system, and a $249 starting price point. It would be called the Nook Color, appropriately enough, and it’s possible we’ll see it at the Nook event tomorrow afternoon.

For now, we get a glimpse of what appears to be an official product shot from an accessory page. This picture is for the Nook Color Screen Film Kit, which is basically a screen protector. We’re not as interested in the film, of course, but the Nook itself is starting to look like a tall iPad, don’t you think? They’ve done away with the dual-tech thing on the first Nook in favor of an all touchscreen interface.

I am wondering a bit about the hook in the bottom-left corner though. That could be just a design thing as part of the protective case, but what if it’s actually a part of the device itself?

SOURCE: CNET

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