B&N announces the NOOK Tablet

November 7, 2011 bufocalvin Comments off

B&N announces the NOOK Tablet

I’m watching

of Barnes & Noble’s announcement this morning.

I often watch Gizmodo…but interestingly, I don’t think a ton of people are liveblogging this. Says something about the cultural prominence of B&N right now, perhaps.

I’m bouncing between Verge, the B&N site for the NOOK, and B&N press releases. It’s possible the press releases page will be updated before the announcement is over…same thing with the NOOK splash page on their website.

B&N CEO William Lynch is making the announcement. It’s official, the NOOK Tablet.

I’ll update this post as I learn more, but I’m going to get this out now.

Update: 1GHZ dual core processor, 1GB RAM.

There’s a slide for free Cloud storage.

IPS, backlit display…probably similar to the Kindle Fire. Update: they compare them side by side (how did they get a Fire?) claiming theirs is better.

Breakthrough battery life…nine hours of watching video.

Supports 1080p video.

Netflix and Hulu preloaded.

Update: Pandora, NOOK Comics.

You can record your voice along with a book for your kids to hear…somebody has figured out a use for a microphone.

NOOK comics seem heavy on Marvel, the Fire has an exclusive deal on DC. B&N wins the cool factor on that one, although I was always a DC reader as a kid…I didn’t want my superheroes to have acne.

16GB onboard memory, Twice the Fire…plus an SD slot for an up to 32GB card.

Price announced: $249

They used a Jane Lynch video (again, hip factor).

It will be on shelves “next week”, including Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, and more.

NOOKColor is going to $199…so far, this is matching the leak, I think. This NOOK is also getting songs, more apps.

NOOK Simple Touch has a text-rendering software: it does look crisp, and they use that word to show it. NOOK Simple Touch goes to $99. Same as the ad-supported Kindle Touch or ad-supported Kindle Keyboard (wi-fi only).