The NOOKcolor Review
When Barnes & Noble released its first e-book reader, the NOOK, it’s clear that they are going after Amazon Kindle. The NOOKcolor release changed this vision since Barnes & Noble obviously wants to explore new market for this device. Presently, Barnes & Noble shares around 20 percent of the e-reader market.
NOOKcolor got rid of the E-Ink screen for an LG touchscreen with anti-glare coating to be better for reading than iPad slates.
The NOOKcolor can be considered as an expensive e-reader and a cheap tablet computer. It’s definitely beyond just an e-book reader because it offers almost everything that a tablet like iPad and Galaxy Tab can do. As much as I wanted to compare NOOKcolor with Amazon Kindle, I think it’s like comparing apples and oranges because the NOOKcolor is now entirely different animal altogether.
Some people think that releasing the NOOKcolor is a major step forward while some think it’s a bad move. But one thing is for sure, Barnes & Noble is expanding its market into children’s book and full color magazines. Although most readers out there will still prefer the no-glare E-Ink screens, the NOOKcolor seems to be made to appeal more to kids and teens who would trade color touchscreen for readability and battery life.
The NOOKcolor will not run Droid apps straight from the Android Market but Barnes & Noble is planning to launch its own Android apps store in the first quarter of 2011. Along with this, Barnes & Noble also launched its own Nook Developer to fully support the platform so there is a lot going on right now. The NOOKcolor still supports ePub that remains a great advantage for readers out there.
Check out the NOOKcolor specs...
NOOKcolor specs
Features
| NOOKcolor
|
---|---|
Display
| 7 inch diagonal Color Touchscreen with more than 16million colors on IPS display; 1024x600 resolution at 169 ppi.
|
Dimension
| 8.1” x 5.0” x 0.48”
|
Weight
| 15.8 ounces
|
Storage
| 8GB built-in (up to 6000 ebooks), expandable to 32GB microSD
|
Audio & Video
| Plays MP3 and AAC audio file format up to 100 hours. Plays MP4 video format. Built-in mono speaker and 3.5mm stereo headphone jack.
|
Battery Life
| 8 hours reading time with wireless OFF
|
File Format Supported
| * EPUB (including Non or Adobe DRM) * PDF * Other documents: XLS, DOC, PPT, PPS, TXT, DOCM, XLSM, PPTM, PPSX, PPSM, DOCX, XLX, PPTX * Graphics: JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP * Audio: MP3, AAC * Video: MP4
|
Wi-Fi
| Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n. (Free Wi-Fi in all Barnes & Noble stores)
|
Operating System
| Android 2.1
|
3G
| No
|
Price
| $249
|
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