The e-reader wars are definitely cooking up! following suit of Kindle and the iPad, Barnes & Noble announced their successor to the Nook. The successor happens to be a color e-book reader and also a touchscreen tablet, presenting, the Nookcolor.
The Nookcolor is a 7-inch full color e-reader boasting a full lamination LG touchscreen with 16 million colors. The device is merely half an inch thick and weighs just shy of a pound. To the ardent reader, the Nookcolor offers eight hours of continuous reading; with Wi-Fi turned off, internal memory stands at 8 GB expandable to 32 GB via microSD, having the capacity to store around 6,000 books. 100 periodicals and around two million nookBooks will also be available. The device also has a 3.5 mm audio headset jack and a micro-USB port. In terms of OS, the Nookcolor happens to be an Android based device although Nookcolor users won't have the Android marketplace facility. Nook is going to offer its own reader-centric apps for the device. Amongst these features, the Nook presents a "read to me" feature, in which a professional narrator reader a select number of books to children. Also on the device will be a series on interactive e-books for the children. The Nook is also capable of playing audio files and .MP4 video. In terms of file compatibility, the Nook supports EPUB, PDF and TXT files, as well as Microsoft Office file formats. What's missing on the Nookcolor, is 3G capability, as the black and white Nook was available in Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi plus 3G models. Barnes & Noble has not ruled out the possibility of a 3G capable Nookcolor.
Barnes & Noble term the Nook as a social reading device, as it will have seamless connectivity to Google, Twitter and Facebook, as well as giving the users the facility to discuss and borrow books from each other.
The Nook will be available to customers, starting on November 19. It would be available at Walmart, Best Buy and Barnes & Noble itself. The Nook is priced at $249
Via FastCompany