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Barnes & Noble Officially Unveils The 7-Inch Nook Tablet

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Re: Barnes & Noble Officially Unveils The 7-Inch Nook Tablet

#11

Post by r00fus »

TomOfTTB wrote: post #2

Spec wise it beats the Kindle Fire in just about every category (More RAM, more Storage Potential, Better Battery Life). The question is will B&N stick with it and keep pushing. Two things make me think they will. 1. They recently made a deal with Appcelerator to favor apps built using those tools and to provide more support for those developers (for those who don't know Appcelerator allows you to write iPhone and An…

Copying Apple's Genius Bar idea is a great competitive move vs. Amazon (what, Mr. Bezos, is that no-footprint advantage of yours... chafing?)

Some folks are of the opinion that Amazon will wipe the floor with B&N, but I think B&N aren't going to give up easily.

Re: Barnes & Noble Officially Unveils The 7-Inch Nook Tablet

#12

Post by yardie »

th0ma5 wrote: post #9
drewda wrote: post #3

The Nooks run Android underneath, right? Any idea of what version of Android will be running on this new Nook? Too much to hope for 4.0, I imagine.

I'm sure a 4.0 will be around eventually for it. I've had a lot of fun with Cyanogenmod on an NC. The only con possibly being that they didn't hook up the BT antenna in the thing or something, but you can get an earpiece bound to it from like 6 inches away (now that's some near-field communication!)

I'll add the bigger problem with CM7 is the battery. My factory Nook Color could go a week or two between charges. Picking it up and just reading a book or browsing was never a concern. Now that I'm on CM7 there is a 50% chance the battery will be totally flat when I go to pick it up.

Re: Barnes & Noble Officially Unveils The 7-Inch Nook Tablet

#13

Post by w33ble »

TomOfTTB wrote: post #2

Spec wise it beats the Kindle Fire in just about every category (More RAM, more Storage Potential, Better Battery Life). The question is will B&N stick with it and keep pushing. Two things make me think they will. 1. They recently made a deal with Appcelerator to favor apps built using those tools and to provide more support for those developers (for those who don't know Appcelerator allows you to write iPhone and An…

I'm really anxious to see some comparison videos of the two. Just because the Nook Tablet looks better on paper doesn't mean it will be in practice. Amazon spent a lot of time on their interface and it actually looked pretty enjoyable to use. It looks like B&N have a tweaked interface at least, but I really want to see them used side by side.

In any event, the timing on this announcement is pretty good. I was already sold on the Kindle Fire but I didn't do the pre-order thing. Now B&N has put me in "wait to see the reviews" mode at least.

Re: Barnes & Noble Officially Unveils The 7-Inch Nook Tablet

#14

Post by shrikant »

thematt wrote: post #7

I think the Nook is B&N's last attempt at salvaging their company, but ultimately I don't think they can win. Amazon can destroy them in pricing and make up for it with the follow-on purchases that people will make of books, media, etc. B&N simply cannot afford (financially) to take a loss on the hardware. If they wanted to -- Amazon could start giving away Kindle's for free (or dirt cheap) to Prime subscribers and i…

Also, I don't know what split is like, but it is ridiculously easy to buy a Kindle in the UK (and I'm going to extrapolate that to Europe). Or if that doesn't float your boat, then just pick up a Sony or Kobo eReader - all you need to do is walk into the any major electronics retailer.

Given that this market exists, and is being actively courted by every player in this field, B&N will NEED to sort out global distribution somehow, otherwise they will get crushed. Unless of course they believe a good run in the American market alone will give them enough momentum to launch in Europe whenever they see fit... and that's probably not going to happen.

Re: Barnes & Noble Officially Unveils The 7-Inch Nook Tablet

#15

Post by TomOfTTB »

w33ble wrote: post #13
TomOfTTB wrote: post #2

Spec wise it beats the Kindle Fire in just about every category (More RAM, more Storage Potential, Better Battery Life). The question is will B&N stick with it and keep pushing. Two things make me think they will. 1. They recently made a deal with Appcelerator to favor apps built using those tools and to provide more support for those developers (for those who don't know Appcelerator allows you to write iPhone and An…

I'm really anxious to see some comparison videos of the two. Just because the Nook Tablet looks better on paper doesn't mean it will be in practice. Amazon spent a lot of time on their interface and it actually looked pretty enjoyable to use. It looks like B&N have a tweaked interface at least, but I really want to see them used side by side. In any event, the timing on this announcement is pretty good. I was already…

Hardly the same thing but you can get a little out of Engadget's hands-on videos...

Kindle Fire: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/28/amazon-kindle-fire-impres...

Nook Tablet: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/07/barnes-and-nobles-nook-ta...

Re: Barnes & Noble Officially Unveils The 7-Inch Nook Tablet

#16

Post by InclinedPlane »

ConstantineXVI wrote: post #4
drewda wrote: post #3

The Nooks run Android underneath, right? Any idea of what version of Android will be running on this new Nook? Too much to hope for 4.0, I imagine.

IIRC the Color runs 2.2; so I'd expect at least that. Odds are it'll be 2.3; they've had the time to work with it. Even Google's "core partners" (Moto, HTC) are claiming 2012 for ICS updates for their handsets, and they're probably getting advance access vs. B&N.

"They've had the time to work with it" doesn't register. Amazon has been a software company from its inception and has had a substantial team of talented devs working on the kindle and kindle fire projects. B&N has never been a software company, it's a functionality they've bolted on to their company lately, and we have yet to see how good that team actually is.

Re: Barnes & Noble Officially Unveils The 7-Inch Nook Tablet

#17

Post by InclinedPlane »

JohnTHaller wrote: post #6
drewda wrote: post #3

The Nooks run Android underneath, right? Any idea of what version of Android will be running on this new Nook? Too much to hope for 4.0, I imagine.

Realistically, it doesn't matter, since even if it did run 4.0, all of the shiny new interface of 4.0 will be nowhere to be seen. Android is the base, but nearly the whole GUI is custom. And I believe the Nook Tablet is based on 2.3. The Kindle Fire is based on 2.2.

Kindle Fire is based on 2.3 (it's in the wikipedia entry even).

Re: Barnes & Noble Officially Unveils The 7-Inch Nook Tablet

#18

Post by westbywest »

drewda wrote: post #3

The Nooks run Android underneath, right? Any idea of what version of Android will be running on this new Nook? Too much to hope for 4.0, I imagine.

... which also prompts the question whether the new Nook can be booted to run full Android, like its predecessor.

Re: Barnes & Noble Officially Unveils The 7-Inch Nook Tablet

#19

Post by joebadmo »

r00fus wrote: post #11
TomOfTTB wrote: post #2

Spec wise it beats the Kindle Fire in just about every category (More RAM, more Storage Potential, Better Battery Life). The question is will B&N stick with it and keep pushing. Two things make me think they will. 1. They recently made a deal with Appcelerator to favor apps built using those tools and to provide more support for those developers (for those who don't know Appcelerator allows you to write iPhone and An…

Copying Apple's Genius Bar idea is a great competitive move vs. Amazon (what, Mr. Bezos, is that no-footprint advantage of yours... chafing?) Some folks are of the opinion that Amazon will wipe the floor with B&N, but I think B&N aren't going to give up easily.

I've had two friends get overnighted new kindles to replaces ones that they broke.

Amazon's customer service is, quite frankly, better than almost any brick and mortar store's customer service. And I don't even have to leave my home.

It's an interesting play on B&N's part, and I don't really see how it can play out well for them. They've more or less acknowledged that the future of almost all of their wares is digital. Can the expense of running brick and mortar stores for customer service possibly be worth the added cost to the customer? Seems doubtful.

Re: Barnes & Noble Officially Unveils The 7-Inch Nook Tablet

#20

Post by mahyarm »

joebadmo wrote: post #19
r00fus wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Copying Apple's Genius Bar idea is a great competitive move vs. Amazon (what, Mr. Bezos, is that no-footprint advantage of yours... chafing?) Some folks are of the opinion that Amazon will wipe the floor with B&N, but I think B&N aren't going to give up easily.

I've had two friends get overnighted new kindles to replaces ones that they broke. Amazon's customer service is, quite frankly, better than almost any brick and mortar store's customer service. And I don't even have to leave my home. It's an interesting play on B&N's part, and I don't really see how it can play out well for them. They've more or less acknowledged that the future of almost all of their wares is digita…

Amazon's only return unopened items unless faulty policy is something that is customer unfriendly compared to a typical big box store. And as far as I know, you have to go to a shipping office to ship the return back. Can you just print a label and wait for the post man to come pick it up for no cost?
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