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Will The Nook Color Compete as an Android Tablet?

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Gizmodo has a report that says the newly announced Nook Color eBook Reader that is Android 2.1 at its core might actually have what it takes to be a Tablet/Slate. The key here is what you use a Tablet/Slate for. But then that’s the key for all of these iPad wannabes and the iPad itself.

Apparently there is an App Store on the way. It will be curated and developers can start submitting in early 2011. Where not looking at every App that can run on Android, (some like Pandora are already included on the device). That said, the Nook SDK, which is a layer on top of Android will allow Apps to be ported over.

The confusing part is that Barnes & Noble isn’t aiming to position Nook Color as a multi-purpose device, but instead to “extend the reading experience.” But the rep, Claudia Romanini, says that something like a Netflix App isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

So, back to “how do you use one of these devices.” If all you do is read, watch a few movies, check your email, (you know the list), than at $250, the Nook Color has some potential (stress potential) to fill those needs. What’s that phrase?

Wait and see.

15 Comments

15 Comments

  1. kinlogot

    10/29/2010 at 1:47 pm

    The Nook Color will not run apps straight out of the Android Market, but that does not mean it cannot run them. In fact, they have done a lot of tests on apps from standard Android smartphones and they pretty much run on Nook Color, which has Android 2.1 under the hood. (The Nook native interface and apps are just standard Android application layers.) Barnes & Noble special Nook SDK runs on top of the standard Android one and gives developers access to exclusive extensions and APIs for the Nook and its interface. So porting Android apps is not difficult. B&N says it is more like optimising them for Nook than porting them.
    Nook Color screen is supposed to be better (less reflective) for reading than iPad.
    It allows to play video, listen to the music, view Office documents and PDF’s.

    • Victor

      10/29/2010 at 3:13 pm

      Yes, but with an 8 hour (only reading with the wi-fi turned off) battery life as the best case scenario, all the browsers and apps in the world aren’t going to mean a thing aside from constantly charging the thing.

      • Mark Wallberg

        10/29/2010 at 3:45 pm

        Constantly charging with an 8 hour battery life?

        Wow, how our expectations have been changed by the existence of e-ink technology. I do love my ebook reader’s week long battery life, but the device is not a replacement for an active display that lets me flip quickly, glancingly through a dozen pages in a few seconds.

        If plugging it in is too much for you, get one of those inductive charger adapters for it. It will charge automatically as you sleep, as easily as throwing it on your nightstand when you are done reading.

      • Mark Wallberg

        10/29/2010 at 3:45 pm

        Constantly charging with an 8 hour battery life?

        Wow, how our expectations have been changed by the existence of e-ink technology. I do love my ebook reader’s week long battery life, but the device is not a replacement for an active display that lets me flip quickly, glancingly through a dozen pages in a few seconds.

        If plugging it in is too much for you, get one of those inductive charger adapters for it. It will charge automatically as you sleep, as easily as throwing it on your nightstand when you are done reading.

      • Mark Wallberg

        10/29/2010 at 3:45 pm

        Constantly charging with an 8 hour battery life?

        Wow, how our expectations have been changed by the existence of e-ink technology. I do love my ebook reader’s week long battery life, but the device is not a replacement for an active display that lets me flip quickly, glancingly through a dozen pages in a few seconds.

        If plugging it in is too much for you, get one of those inductive charger adapters for it. It will charge automatically as you sleep, as easily as throwing it on your nightstand when you are done reading.

  2. Jim

    10/29/2010 at 4:06 pm

    This device sounds more like a tablet than an ereader. If it’s good at running apps, movies, and the internet and only cost $249 it will be serious competition for other more expensive tablets.

  3. Synergi

    10/29/2010 at 5:28 pm

    I wonder if I’m the only one that feel like B&n are sell outs for bringing out a LCD reader. Feels like they rushed this out the door to beat Amazon. Hopefully amazon is smarter and waits for new tech like the marisol displays.

  4. Roberto

    10/30/2010 at 8:33 pm

    LCD + Reading= sore eyes. This is not a device for serious reading. As low cost alternative to the I-pad? Time will tell.

  5. Ebush

    11/02/2010 at 1:20 am

    Its very strange how B & N seems to be hiding the Android feature. That is the best part.

  6. Neddly

    11/30/2010 at 4:09 am

    Barnes and Noble is not positioning the Nook Color to compete with Android tablets and I don’t think it does. That doesn’t mean that if a person wants an Android tablet to do a few simple things like browse the Web and run Pandora that they won’t buy the Nook Color over another Android Tablet. So it will compete to an extent – especially if a large bulky expensive device is not required.

    I have both the Nook Classic and the Nook Color and have been doing some side by side scientific comparison of the reading experience. What I have found is that I don’t get tired reading the Nook Color and I think I might even prefer it over the Nook Classic. Some things are way WAY easier on the Nook Color such as looking up a word. On the Nook Classic you laboriously position a curser in front of the word by pressing on arrow pointers and then click on look up. With the Nook Color you press your finger on the word in question and up pops a menu so you can do several things with it one thing is look it up. My Nook Color is now the device I use when at home or in range of other Wi-Fi to surf the Web. If I want to play videos I use my lap top. I currently have no desire for a Android tablet but I have a Droid smart phone and if I need to run one of the tens of thousands of Android apps I use the Droid for that.

  7. Casper

    12/18/2010 at 9:56 am

    They also have recently shown me that you can reverse the color of the background and font for nighttime reading, apparently it’s a built in effect called “nighttime reading”. It’s actually a pretty cool little tablet e-reader for college students like me that don’t want to lug around heavy books everywhere, nor a giant pad that I can’t fit in my purse.

  8. Bingo larry

    02/27/2011 at 7:08 pm

    Hey can you atleast get angry birds on it

  9. Noone

    04/12/2011 at 5:58 am

    What’s not to like about a very responsive Android tablet that costs less than half of the Samsung Tab or the Xoom? Not to mention it won’t rope it into paying extra costs for subscription fees. Seriously, if you’ve got WiFi at home there are enough places that offer free Wifi, it’s just a no brainer.
    The only major factor going against the NC is it’s battery life.

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