Free samples of paid content including book excerpts can be downloaded without a credit card on file. Gift cards can be used for purchases, but cannot be substituted for a valid credit card at this stage of the setup. We must sign up for a (free) BN.com account during the setup in order to use the device, there's no getting around it, and then if we want to download pretty much anything (yes, even the free apps), we have to supply a credit card number as well. NOOK is 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi-ready, but with no 3G/4G data service option as on more expensive devices. Upon the first power-up we are pushed a preloaded instructional video, and the rest of the setup process is straightforward, primarily configuring how the device will access the internet. The basic specs include a de rigueur dual-core 1GHz CPU, one gigabyte of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, although only one gigabyte of this is available for a user's personal content, with twelve gigabytes reserved for B&N purchases/downloads. The Tablet shares the same dimensions with the Color (I don't currently own a NOOK case but apparently the same one will fit either device), although the new Tablet is actually more than ten percent lighter than its predecessor. However, if for example I visit a site like and an Android mobile app is available for it, I can then be directed to the Android Market via the website, where I can download the app as long as I am signed in to do business. The latter makes perfect sense since B&N is first and foremost a retailer, and they would just as soon you made your purchases through their own virtual storefront. Its two distinguishing characteristics are the unique esthetics of the user interface, with a NOOK-exclusive style, as well as the intentional absence of the Android Market. The designers gave the new Tablet more under the hood to better embrace its many potential tasks: The processor, the RAM and the embedded storage capacity have all been significantly stepped up, along with the Android operating system, from version 2.2 on the Color to 2.3 on the Tablet.Īlthough it is not touted as an "Android Tablet," this newest NOOK is indeed Android-based, running Barnes & Noble's own customized version of Google's Android "Gingerbread" OS (the typically food-centric nickname for 2.3). The new NOOK Tablet is poised to replace Barnes & Noble's previous flagship product, the NOOK Color, which is essentially a Wi-Fi-enabled eReader on steroids. Not surprisingly, book purveyor Barnes & Noble has been actively involved in this migration to the digital realm with its growing line of NOOK products, offering bibliophiles the ability to read a multitude of tomes in a slim electronic device, and systematically adding features on top of that basic premise. Not that I'm an obsessive reader-that Twilight Zone with Burgess Meredith and the eyeglasses really freaked me out-but the drastic movement away from the tried-and-true form factor of books and into the modern realm of the eReader has been a fascinating revolution to watch.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |