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B&N Releases Nook Tablet To Rival Amazon Fire

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the more-options dept.

jfruhlinger writes "It looks like there's competition in the low-cost media tablet space — and that Barnes & Noble is determined not to go the way of Borders. Barnes & Noble today announced the Nook Tablet, an Android-based tablet with better specs than the Kindle Fire (though it's also $50 pricier). The Nook Tablet will allow Hulu and Netflix streaming and sideloading of content, but won't have access to the general-purpose Android App Store."

4 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. Incidentally by bonch · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It should be noted that Apple is publicly happy about the Amazon Fire and its rivals because it further contributes to Android fragmentation.

    1. Re:Incidentally by roc97007 · · Score: 1, Interesting

      That's kinda what "commodity" means, unless your position is that Apple is more popular because they charge higher prices (which, now that I think of it, may have some merit), I don't see a downside. Yes, in a razor thin marketplace, there will be a few casualties. I personally don't work for any of those companies, and unlike the standard Apple fanboi, I don't have any interest in loving a product for its logo. (I reserve the right, based on experience, to hate a product for it's logo SAMSUNG. Sorry, did I say that out loud?)

      PCs at the bottom may have gotten crappier, but there always was, still is, and always will be higher end, well built, high performance PCs if you want. And low end trash if you want. And that's a good thing. (And as the person who has to fix it, I tell the customer when they've bought a low end commodity product when they need to just replace it because it's not worth bothering with. I'm aware that's not terribly "green".)

      And so, the completely bottom end shrink wrapped Android no-name devices (not just phones) are already pretty crappy. But you don't have to buy them. This (to come full circle) is why I have a list of features an Android device must have before I will consider it. And incidentally, the iPad fails on at least three of those.

      What the product does is more important than who makes it. This is something none of the people who stood in line for the 4s will ever understand. (And they blocked the drive-thru at Starbucks so I couldn't get my coffee that morning. I try not to hate Apple, but it's my COFFEE.)

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  2. Re:So worse than the current nook? by Andy+Dodd · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Um, comparing a third-party firmware for the original Nook with the stock features of this new one isn't valid.

    The better question is - Assuming that they don't lock the bootloader this time around, what will this new device be like with CM9?

    If I didn't already have a Tab 10.1, I'd go for this... If the flexibility of this device is even close to that of its predecessor, it's going to be a beast with CM9. (It may get CM7 in the interim, but that's probably only going to be short-term.)

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    retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
  3. Re:Color e-ink display? by fafaforza · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Which color eInk display are you talking about, exactly? As far as I'm aware, there aren't any commercially available right now.