Barnes & Noble's Nook HD Tablets Face iPad, Kindle Fire HD 134
Nerval's Lobster writes "It's proven a busy month for mobile-device releases. First Nokia whipped back the curtain from the Lumia 820 and 920, its first Windows Phone 8 devices. The very next day, Amazon unveiled its new line of Kindle devices, including the Kindle Fire HD. Not to be outdone, Apple executives took to a stage in San Francisco the next week to show off the iPhone 5, complete with a larger screen and faster processor. But September's not over yet, and the releases keep coming: Barnes & Noble has launched a pair of HD tablets, the Nook HD and Nook HD+, designed to maintain the bookseller's toehold in the tablet space. The question is whether the Nook, even with upgraded hardware and new services, can successfully punch above its weight against the iPad and Kindle Fire, which are widely perceived as the dominant devices in the tablet market."
Nook HD specs (Android 4.0, Dual 1.3Ghz Cortex-A9, 1G RAM), and HD+ specs (1.5GHz Coretex-A9 and a larger screen). Nate the greatest writes with a job posting that may indicate B&N is defecting to Windows 8, or at least hedging their bets.
not hedging bets (Score:1)
You may recall [businessinsider.com] that Barnes and Noble and Microsoft are in a joint venture to do e-bookie things.
Re:not hedging bets (Score:4, Informative)
You may also recall they forced B&N to take the money at gun point [cnet.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Companies do this often. HW is not B&N core competency. It will never be a premium brand, which means they will be competing in commodity space with thin commodity margins and cutthroat competition. They should concentrate on books, real and electronic, and do better and innovate there.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
And of course, word-of-mouth matters too. If lots of people you know own and love an Amazon eBook reader and you don't yet own an eBook reader, you yourself are more likely to buy one from Amazon. I think it's s
Sticking with it (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
I've tried it the other way around - turning a Nook tablet into an Android tablet - but it's an annoying process. Further, B&N likes to un-root your device by forcing you to update. There are ways around this, but you have to be pretty devoted to keep a Nook Tablet rooted. The Nexus 7 is cheaper and does more.
Also - why in the heck does processor speed and RAM matter on a device whose primary function is to
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I wonder how long it will be before you can root the new nook HD+...and put cyanogenmod on it? Does it have an microSD slot on it? I've become annoyed that all the newer tablets coming out seem to be lacking this....hell, I'm looking at maybe getting a slightly
Re: (Score:2)
They do have an SD card reader.
I really like the look of the new devices. They certainly stand out in a sea of black rectangles (I'm including the iPad here). I'm tempted by it (9" is cheaper than the big Fire), but I already have the Kindle Paperwight on preorder. Not sure how much ecosystem juggling I want to do.
Re: (Score:3)
I think that this is a really big deal -- bluetooth, the expansion slot, and
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You can get these for about $230....32GB, and microSD.
A friend showed me his..rooted, etc...and what I liked about it was..that you can set THAT to be a wireless hotspot for other devices.
I know it is a bit older, but so far, I've not found a tablet that has ALL that functionality in one package....rooted and with cyanogen on it....seems right now to me to be the best of all worlds.
I've bee
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Umm, they are the same price (the $199 version), and the Nook has expandable memory and the Nexus does not.
Re: (Score:2)
Umm, they are the same price (the $199 version), and the Nook has expandable memory and the Nexus does not.
Quite right! My mistake, I misread the price. Thanks for catching that.
Re: (Score:2)
Because if all people wanted to do on them was read a book, they would have gone with a e-reader that's cheaper and has a screen that's easier to read but not as colorful. I bet in most cases that the primary function of the tablet e-readers isn't to read books, but more traditional table functionality (surfing, games, video, etc).
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The Amazon ecosystem seems pretty good (Score:1)
my tendency is to favor the Nexus devices, and avoid any of the bookseller ecosystems.
If you have a family the Amazon ecosystem is pretty compelling. Really impressive parental controls and thoughtful ways of sharing a device in a family, plus Prime and access to lots of media for free.
For books especially the Kindle is hard to beat in terms of places you can read kindle books, and they have a really nice standalone Kindle eInk reader now.
You even get a more carefully moderated app store from Amazon, which
Re: (Score:2)
Here's the breakdown:
Nexus 7 can access Amazon ecosystem content (except Prime Instant Videos), B&N ecosystem content, and Google ecosystem content
Kindles can only access Amazon ecosystem content
Nooks can only access B&N ecosystem content
It's a no-brainer...
Sideload ecosystem (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
One compelling aspect of the Nook is that it has multi-user support. Do the others have that? (Honest question.)
Re: (Score:1)
One compelling aspect of the Nook is that it has multi-user support. Do the others have that?
The new Kindle Fire has an interesting take on that, it has backups to the Amazon cloud, and then you can switch users on device to use different stores for the apps that you have (as I understand it). You should watch the intro video.
this is a big deal for me (Score:2)
We have one tablet for a family of four. I really wish they'd support something like "slide to your user icon to unlock as this user", where each user would have their own preferences for visible apps, brightness, etc.
I know they want use to get one tablet per person, but that's not going to happen. (By choice, not lack of ability.)
Netflix does the same thing--really hard to share an account between young kids and adults.
Not as clear as you make it (Score:1)
Nexus 7 can access Amazon ecosystem content (except Prime Instant Videos), B&N ecosystem content, and Google ecosystem content
If the Nexus 7 can do all that, why not the Fire - or indeed any of them?
You can side-load stuff on the Fire too...
Once you realize you can run anything on any of the devices, but you can only get stuff like Prime instant videos on the Fire, it leans more that way to me (but then I also have Prime membership).
The only thing is though the Prime video selection is kind of sparse, s
Re: (Score:2)
"If the Nexus 7 can do all that, why not the Fire - or indeed any of them?"
Because they are not compliant with the Android CTS, and can't reliably run all Android applications. They cannot also access the Play Store (and any content available on it.)
I wasn't talking about sideloading - There are Amazon apps, available from the Play Store, that can access any Amazon content. (The only thing that needs sideloading is the app for Amazon's own app store - note that not all of the apps on Amazon's app store av
Re: (Score:1)
Ok, I see your point - but it seems like a user would be better off being able to access all Amazon content (including videos, sparse as they are) than they would Play store content. I know I'd rather buy from Amazon than from Google, making Amazons device more attractive.
Is there any media you can buy on Play and not through Amazon? It seems like Amazon would have the same range of media for purchase.
Re: (Score:2)
Can you "buy" anything from the Play store? I know I can get music as MP3 from Amazon, but haven't tried music from Play. Anything else is DRM'd and not easily transportable, is it? I don't pay for books or movies from Amazon for that reason.
Re: (Score:2)
Every Android app available on the store, free or otherwise?
Amazon's App Store has a more limited selection. In addition, a large number of these apps are not Kindle Fire compatible - Fire-compatible apps are a limited subset of the Amazon App Store.
It's already well established that B&N's application selection is EXTREMELY limited, with even less compatibility, and frequently significant price increases.
Re: (Score:2)
That's why my approach is to reject any hardware that is intended to restrict your access to content from other sources (or stuff you might already own). Now if it was free and they were hoping to make money on me buying new content, maybe I'd be tempted. But if the price is close to the same as an open device, no reason to encourage them to keep making these devices.
I'm OK ( if not happy ) with Amazon selling DRM'd Kindle books that can be accessed via Kindle apps on wide range of platforms. But I might w
Re: (Score:2)
I want my first tablet with a screen larger than 7 inches. I had already decided against Amazon. I guess Barnes & Noble is out too, unless they change positions on root access to their o
Re: (Score:2)
Rooting is usually not too difficult, however root is only a tiny part of the equation. People get WAY too happy when someone manages to get root on a device with a locked bootloader. If the kernel/system image/ramdisk/frameworks break Android compatibility, the locked bootloader will stop you from fixing that.
All Nook LCD-based products since the Nook Tablet have had locked bootloaders. So do new Kindle Fires (original Fire was unlocked).
Say No to Tivoization.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I still intend to purchase most of the content from Barnes & Noble and Google's Play store instead of Amazon, because I fear Amazon is on a path to becoming the undisputed 800 pound gorilla of the electronic content industry. But maybe my impression is incorrect.
Re: (Score:2)
If the Nexus 7 can do all that, why not the Fire - or indeed any of them? You can side-load stuff on the Fire too...
who not? if you want an APK that's on google play but not amazon's market,
1. install APK on device 1 that has google play
2. install android SDK
3. connect device 1 to a computer
4. use ADB to pull the APK off of device 1
5. connect device 2 to computer
6. use ADB or USB to push the APK to device to
7. use a file browser on device 2 to locate the APK and install it
not to mention, the app installed on device 2 is not going to get updated. you have to manually track updates and re-apply that process each time.
w/ th
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Good choice, considering that neither the Amazon nor the BN tablets have GPS.
The Nexus 7 does, though!
Re: (Score:3)
I share your prejudice for Nexus and similar devices. But I have to point out that you can't completely avoid bookseller ecosystems. The best you can do is buy a device that lets you participate in multiple ecosystems. Nexus 7 and Kobo Arc both fit the bill; Kindle and Nook do not.
Also not all bookseller ecosystems are equal. Such an ecosystem is determined by the combination of file format and DRM. (Non-DRM support is nice to have, but 99% of the books that are available for sale are DRMed.) Amazon uses AZ
Fixed that for you (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Perhaps everyone is just launching in time for Christmas wish lists.
Or maybe they were hoping that the iPhone 5 would disappoint and leave a waste of cash burning a hole in many people's pockets for them to grab.
Could also just be coincidence.
stick with what made you good... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I can pick up a book. I can't pick up nine hundred of them and put them in my pocket. That's really the key advantage of e-ink readers.
Content available in ebook form (Score:2)
ePub and similar formats may be most popular for that, but electronic books more generally, well, tech publishers were all over that even before fiction publishers got into it.
But, I mean, if this was a tech-focussed forum, I'd expect everyone to know that already.
Re: (Score:2)
but for the classic experience you have to pick up a book!
FTFY.
Re: (Score:2)
For me, eInk has the following advantages (plus more):
1. The words are always at an even angle with your eyes. I'm a bit OCD about keeping my books in pristine condition, so I tend not to open them much more than I have to to see the words, and this means that the type closer to the spine is harder for me to read.
2. eReaders weigh less than a paperback, and are thinner than the paperbacks I read (and don't get me started on hardcover).
3. eReaders now have built-in lights which work well.
4. Carry hundreds o
Re: (Score:2)
Nope. It's my one bit of OCD. I may be overstating it a bit, but not by much. I sometimes buy books used specifically so it won't bother me.
Re: (Score:3)
Papyrus is great for reading, but for the ultimate experience you have to carry a clay tablet.
Books -are- great, but they're not the be-all and end-all of carrying words and pictures around. I was just on vacation and took 4 library books and 8 to 10 of my own purchased books with me, basically for no 'physical' cost because my phone, tablet and laptop were coming along anyway. No chance I could forget any of
B&N Store is a ghost town (Score:2, Interesting)
B&N Store is empty. If Nook HD suffer the same store and restrictions, nothing can be done. Sure, rooting the devices helps, but for Joe Blow, when angry birds is $5.99 from B&N store or $0.99 from Amazon or Google Play (or even an ad supported free version is available), why would you select B&N?
Re: (Score:2)
B&N Store is empty. If Nook HD suffer the same store and restrictions, nothing can be done. Sure, rooting the devices helps, but for Joe Blow, when angry birds is $5.99 from B&N store or $0.99 from Amazon or Google Play (or even an ad supported free version is available), why would you select B&N?
Why buy expensive domestic pet food when you can get it cheaper from China^W Wal-Mart and watch Kitty and Fido keel over from liver failure?
I like low prices, too, but 6 bucks isn't going to kill me. The stuff they peddle that I REALLY don't like the price of, I simply don't buy. Like eBooks at hardbound prices.
Re: (Score:2)
Because the Angry Birds at B&N isn't the same software. Right? It's much better than the CHina^W Wal-Mart version of Angry Birds on Google Play that is going to give your pet liver failure when you play it. Right?
Re: (Score:2)
Fail analogy, since the "paid" version of Angry Birds are the same as the overpriced Nook version.
In fact they're likely to be better since they're not a hacked version for a device not compliant with the Android CTS.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I go to B&N every now and then, and it's always pretty damn crowded when I'm there. I don't think there are less people in there than there were 10 years ago.
Great bang for the buck (Score:3, Interesting)
The law of money hats (Score:2)
Microsoft just plowed a lot of money into BN. The law of money hats virtually guarantees us a Windows 8 Nook.
Re: (Score:2)
Microsoft just plowed a lot of money into BN. The law of money hats virtually guarantees us a Windows 8 Nook.
I fear you are right. But not yet, fortunately.
There's more to it than just money (Score:3)
The money was the carrot, the huge smothering patent lawsuits were the stick. B&N wasn't given a choice in the matter, they either accepted Microsoft's money and agreed to do Windows 8 stuff with them, or Microsoft promised to keep suing them 10 patents at a time until they were out of business.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Sometimes using only the stick on a really stubborn horse just leaves you with a dead horse.
B&N had made a point of fighting these lawsuits rather vigorously. More vigorously than any other Android manufacturer. And they had refused to sign NDAs and were dragging all of Microsoft's dirty laundry out into the public. Microsoft would still have won eventually, but the costs (financial and otherwise) would have been enormous.
Offering a large lump of cash to "partner" with Microsoft probably managed to conv
No Windows Nook, Sorry (Score:5, Informative)
The links are messed up, but the actual job posting is here [taleo.net]. Job description (italics mine):
To me this is about Nook software on Windows, especially Windows-based mobile devices. And jeez, why would B&N want to junk theirt existing Android-based platform and start over from scratch?
Especially since its days are probably numbered. It's hard to see why anybody would buy a specialized eReader tablet when you can get a general purpose Android or Windows 8 RT tablet for about the same price and just load eReader software on it — like the software this person is being hired to develop.
The ePaper tablets might survive, provided enough people are willing to put up with their limitations in order to get something relatively cheap with very long battery life. But the specialized color tablets are mostly toast, though I guess Amazon might have the marketing muscle to keep the Kindle alive.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Just the thing for long flights. I almost got sent to Shanghai by my employer once — 13 hours in the air! An epaper reader would have been the first thing I bought in preparation.
Re: (Score:2)
It's hard to see why anybody would buy a specialized eReader tablet when you can get a general purpose Android or Windows 8 RT tablet for about the same price
Its harder to read on a general purpose device. To be honest I don't see tablets having the staying power, I need a keyboard to do work of any sort, I'd rather get a netbook. I guess for commuters they have value.
Re: (Score:2)
Why would a device be harder to read on if the screen is the same? Or are you referring to epaper reader? I already said those have their niche, but most people are buying LCD tablets.
If you want a decent keyboard, do not get a netbook. Those have keyboards to economize on space above all else. Netbooks were invented for the kind of casual use now dominated by tablets — which is why they're dieing off [pcworld.com]. If you need a portable device with a decent keyboard, get a laptop. Or if you want a really portable
Re: (Score:2)
What? eReader tablet = epaper/eink. I have a netbook, a neat little Samsung, and the keys are perfectly usable, widely spaced, its great. I take it with me on day trips, vacations, anywhere I won't have to do heavy lifting in terms of coding. For office stuff it zips along, six hours battery life, and honestly is an all in one communicatons hub. If I need a tablet (ie for cramped commuting) I'll just use my phone.
Re: (Score:2)
What? eReader tablet = epaper/eink
Ok, whatever works for you. A little dumb to bring that attitude to a discussion on color tablets and assume that everybody else you're talking to shares it.
Re: (Score:2)
Personally I find the keyboards on my 13 macbook and my 10 inch HP mini to be about the same comfort wise. Mostly because the keyboard on the HP mini goes very very close to the edge of the machine meaning the keyboard size difference isn't actally that great even though the overall machine is quite a lot smaller.
Both of them are masively better than trying to type on the onscreen keyboard of a tablet.
Re: (Score:2)
Certainly no sane person would try to do serious input with an on-screen keyboard. But as I just pointed out, you can use a regular keyboard with a tablet. I personally find that much better for writing (which I do for a living) than your typical laptop keyboard.
Forked (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
I don't know why BN doesn't use a straight up Android OS. I have several nooks and I like them but it's frustrating that they limit the apps that will run on them by not having android support. App stores see it as android but then won't install the app.
I wish they would support that as an option - at least to the point of making it more easily rootable. However, DRM apparently is a part of it, as is B&N's stated purpose that the Nook is intended primarily as a reader/media player. So I guess if you want a real table, you have to buy a "real" tablet.
Shame, though. The Nook devices have been pretty solid, one and all.
Re: (Score:1)
They want to sell books, not provide you with a cheap all purpose device to "abuse". And as with every ebook reader, you knew this in advance, but still bought "several" of them. Eighter accept it or install a custom Android, but stop complaining.
Re: (Score:2)
amazon video app (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
"not to try to hi-jack this thread or anything but I'd really like to see a standalone amazon video app for Android and Apple phones/tablets"
There is already one for the iPad.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amazon-instant-video/id545519333?mt=8 [apple.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Well, as recently as a couple of months ago, Amazon didn't have an iPad video app, and since this is the first I've heard of it, it seems they didn't try to advertise much that they do now. Still, happy that they do!
For anyone else who might want to actually *get* the app, its name is "Amazon Instant Video".
Re: (Score:2)
The iPad app is fairly new, and if I recall correctly, there were rumors of work on an Android version.
Amazon Instant Video is the ONLY thing that the Kindles give you access to which you can't get on a normal Android device.
Weird pricing? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Side-by-side comparison (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
No GPS? (Score:3)
No thanks. The GPS in the Nexus 7 makes it a much more useful device, for people on the go such as me.
Especially if you have the tendency to get lost while bicycling around town.... as I do :/
Great specs on the Nook HD+ (Score:3)
A 9" tablet with a 1920x1280 screen and SD card storage for $269? That's definitely worth considering... if they can get CyanogenMod running on it.
I have both the Nexus 7 and the Nook Tablet (Score:2)
I bought the Nook the week they came out, after researching the hardware available at the time, and after seeing the screen at the store. It had, at the time, a really nice screen, and I still like the screen. However, I didn't realize that only the B&N app store was going to be available. As someone said, above, the B&N app store is a ghost town... though I must admit they do have, literally, hundreds of apps. The browser interface, to be charitable, sucks. The book app periodically freezes necessi
there are android backup apps (Score:2)
but I guess you didn't use any of them.
*yawn* (Score:2)
No really, 'yet another low end tablet' in an already saturated market. Yes i understand they need to push their device to maintain access to their 'ecosystem', but its boring and everyone is doing it now.
Now if they came out with some color e-ink, that would be cool. Otherwise its just more of the same, incremental upgrades like everyone else is doing.
Re:Kobo (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
These specs are comparable to those for Nexus 7. All other things being equal, I'd rather have a general purpose tablet that I can load ereader software on than a tablet that's primarily designed for one particular use. Also, buying from a major corp is less risky than buying from a struggling eBook retailer.
One thing that really bothers me: neither tablet has a memory card slot. My tin foil hat is buzzing.
Re: (Score:2)
USB on the GO.
SD card slots are going away because SD cards are slow. No one wants you to say their tablet is slow because it has to wait for writes to some SD card.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, you might be right about the speed issue. But I don't see USB on the GO replacing memory cards. I'm not walking around with a thumb drive dangling from my tablet. People might misunderstand!
Re: (Score:2)
One thing that really bothers me: neither tablet has a memory card slot.
I'm guessing you're talking about the Nexus 7 and the Kobo Arc, because the new Nooks, just as the old Nooks, have a microSD slot.
Re: (Score:2)
Uh, did you notice that I was replying to a post about the Kobo (see the subject) and comparing it with the Nexus?
Re: (Score:1)
The NOOK tablet had a microSD slot, I believe the NOOK Color did as well.
Tons of other tablets have expandable storage (xoom for one), noticeably lacking are the iPad and the Kindle Fire.
Re: (Score:1)
As long as it ships with 4.x, it is not tough to move up. 4.0 was a nearly complete re-write of major parts of the OS from 2.3/3.0. CyanogenMod took nearly a year to get 4.0 done, and now has nearly complete versions of 4.1 going.