The NEW B&N Nook IS a Tablet.... NOW Im interested =) VS. Kindle Fire

[mrseace711]

Wooo Hooo! I was NOT at all impressed or interested in the Kindle Fire sorry Im bias I have my Nook and I LOVE it. So today B&N announced the new tablet!? NOT just a suped up e-reader! What do you think?


http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33198_7-57319241-286/nook-tablet-hands-on-with-barnes-nobles-fire-eater/?tag=mncol;txt

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Too small to be useful as anything other than a reader, even with color. I'll take the iPad at $500 and enjoy a real pc alternative. I stream hulu plus and netflix on my ipad already and it's small... on a Nook tablet or a Kindle fire it would be much too small.

Wooo Hooo! I was NOT at all impressed or interested in the Kindle Fire sorry Im bias I have my Nook and I LOVE it. So today B&N announced the new tablet!? NOT just a suped up e-reader! What do you think?


http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33198_7-57319241-286/nook-tablet-hands-on-with-barnes-nobles-fire-eater/?tag=mncol;txt

 

[bearloch]

so the tablet doesnt have wi-fi? that would mean No internet with my wireless house?? like my laptop is?? ( not real smart on thee things?

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

so the tablet doesnt have wi-fi? that would mean No internet with my wireless house?? like my laptop is?? ( not real smart on thee things?

Specs are mentioned in the linked article. Wi-fi, yes, 3G, no.

 

[bearloch]

ok so what does 3g do?? i could use it then with my wireless router?

 

[kalbert77]

Love my Nook color! I've had it a couple of months and really like being able to download free books from BN.com, get others at decent prices, check out books from our library for the Nook. I can also go online and check email, facebook, twitter, surf the net, etc... It is a little more like how you access some of that via an iPhone, but it is Android. I have apps on it to play games, too. Does the majority of what I'd need. It doesn't have a camera or skype, but I have a desktop computer for that. Would enjoy some Disney apps for it.

 

[ccdoster]

People have hacked the Nook Color since it is Android based and use it as a Tablet. I'm too chicken to mod mine. I guess B&N just re-programmed the color to do what the "hackers" are already doing.

 

[RitaE]

Right now I'm sticking with the Kindle Fire for the two oldest kids - we're just pretty invested in the Amazon ecosystem with their Prime movie streaming, free cloud storage for music and our existing library. My youngest has the original nook color and we do run Android off an SD card on it. We stream our Amazon music and read Kindle books on it. For the price, it works really well but I get a little weary of always having to keep up with the tech-head rooting processes. B&N is supposed to be coming up with a firmware update pretty soon and I imagine that will break it again - the way all the previous firmware upgrades have.

But yeah, in my mind I don't consider the Kindle Fire/Nook Color to be real tablets. I think of them more as portable entertainment devices kind of like the iTouch. We have 2 iPADS here that we use for tablet functions ... the kids do homework on their iPADS etc. I don't think these 7" devices will ever get to that point.

 

[alh921]

Too small to be useful as anything other than a reader, even with color. I'll take the iPad at $500 and enjoy a real pc alternative. I stream hulu plus and netflix on my ipad already and it's small... on a Nook tablet or a Kindle fire it would be much too small.

I have to disagree. I do appreciate that Apple fans love their Apple products, but that doesn't mean the alternatives don't hold up. It's really not too small. It's plenty big for games and streaming. It's also a little more lightweight and feels nice in the hand. It makes a noticeable difference if you are laying in bed while reading or browsing the internet.

People have hacked the Nook Color since it is Android based and use it as a Tablet. I'm too chicken to mod mine. I guess B&N just re-programmed the color to do what the "hackers" are already doing.

You can boot the rom off of an SD card -- essentially giving you a dual boot setup that doesn't touch the factory software. There is a setup out there that uses CM7 to do this. That way, you can play with the unlocked Android OS when the SD card is in, and if you ever want to go back to the native/untouched B&N Android OS you just pull out the SD card. The only downside is that the roms do run better when installed right onto the unit's internal drive.

 

[goofyredraider]

I just bought a Nook Color about a month and a half ago. My daughter has asked for a NC for Christmas, so I bought one at Walmart on Saturday. It went back this evening, and I pre-ordered the Nook Tablet for myself, and she will get my like new NC for Christmas. Bonus that I got it $25 off with the free BN membership I earned with the original Nook Color purchase.

 

[finz2left]

Don't kindle Amazon Prime members now get one free book rental per month? I'm thinking that would be a bonus worth having...but I'm stumped. It will be for my avid reading 13 year old!

 

[RitaE]

Don't kindle Amazon Prime members now get one free book rental per month? I'm thinking that would be a bonus worth having...but I'm stumped. It will be for my avid reading 13 year old!

Yes - it isn't any book you want though. Right now there is a list of about 5000 books that are available.

 

[clanmcculloch]

I'm still trying to figure out just how much the new Nook Tablet differs from the existing Nook Color. Overstock has refurbished Nook Colors down to $149. So, is the faster speed and greater storage and slightly upgraded screen worth an extra $100? What else is different? I'm still not even seeing how the Kindle Fire is any different than the Nook Color (other than the whole one's Amazon with all that Amazon offers and the other is B&N with all that B&N offers).

 

[RitaE]

It has a better processor and more memory than the older model nook color. It has double the storage and RAM as the Kindle Fire. It also has an SD card slot (older nook color does too, Kindle Fire doesn't). It has some sort of screen that is supposed to reduce glare.

It is (until it is rooted) locked into the Barnes and Noble app store which is very weak. It will stream video from Netflix and Hulu (Hulu/Hulu Plus) if you have accounts there. You can also sideload video and music. There is supposed to be some kind of "Nook Cloud" coming that you will be able to store your own video and music too.

I'm fairly confident that the people over at the Android forums will quickly find a way to put the Amazon content onto the nook - so far it has taken them about 2 weeks to crack each new release. I've been utilizing my Amazon Cloud and Amazon content on the older model nook color for well over a year now.

Amazon has in competition the Amazon App store and Amazon Music and Amazon Prime and all the benefits of that (movies, music etc). It's been announced that Amazon will allow side loaded apps from other sources. Amazon also provides free Cloud storage for all Amazon purchased music, movies etc and allows you to upload your own. From what I understand the older nook colors will be getting a firmware update to provide these new features.

Really - they are both very good options. Don't feel like if you choose one or the other it might be a catastrophically bad choice. It's really I think for many people going to come down to whether you prefer doing business with Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

 

[mom2febgirls]

Can the current Nook Color stream Netflix? How about watch youtube videos?

 

[mrseace711]

I want an iPad! Forget these e-reader/tablets I have the B&W Nook love that thing it goes EVERYWHERE with me Im always finding time to read when my phone battery dies after playing Angry Birds, like on my 15 min breaks, doctor office waits, waiting for the kids to get out of school ect ect. I took a deeper look into The "NEW" Nook, and Im a B&N fan period but Im not convinced I need another e-reader thats fancier than the one I own. But a super sized iPod TOUCH!? Ohhh yes. Now just to save for that thing

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

Can the current Nook Color stream Netflix? How about watch youtube videos?

I am trying to figure this all out as well....it appears that it does not, yet! However, it looks like they are going to add many of these features to the Color soon.

If you go to B&N, they have a side by side comparison of the 3 models and then a comparison b/t one of the Nooks and the Kindle (Fire, I believe) - the latter isn't as useful as it is biased and one- sided.

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

Dh and I cancelled our Fire preorders today until we decide what it is we really want. Well, we want IPADs but at $500 a pop, it isn't realistic for us.
One thing we like about the Nook tablet over the color and the fire is that it has a much longer battery life. The color only has 8 hours of reading life. Much less if you are going to be playing games, watching movies ect. I also like that they will run Flash since Apple refuses. A lot of my favorite facebook games are flash.
Anyway, since both are coming out in the next 2 weeks we are going to wait and see what the reviews are like around the 20th. Once we know they are no major issues with either than we'll be able to narrow our choice.

 

[luvthemouse71]

I find Amazons customer service much more friendly and accessible than B&Ns. That helped make my decision.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

ok so what does 3g do?? i could use it then with my wireless router?

You use 3G to connect to the internet through the phone lines. Your wireless router provides a wi-fi connection. 3G does not use your router.