Barnes & Noble Unveils Nook HD and Nook HD+

[paaThaka]

Originally Posted by afv011

There's a comparison with competing tablets

And the most interesting feature for a reader is left out:

ALL of them have a very glossy, reflective, self-illuminated LCD/IPS screen.

None of them have matte eInk type screens.

Sucky for battery life, sucky for outdoors, sucky for reflections, sucky for vision ergonomy, sucky for tired eyes, sucky for long continuous reading.

Not readers, but tablets for people who surf.

The market is still waiting for a high resolution eREADER (not a general purpose tablet that will shave your beard and massage your legs) that has a proper screen for reading at long hours.

[kevinp]

Originally Posted by Nahgem

I do not need to upgrade... I do not need to upgrade...

Me too! I keep reminding myself that my Nook Tablet is only seven months old...

[kevinp]

Originally Posted by paaThaka

The market is still waiting for a high resolution eREADER (not a general purpose tablet that will shave your beard and massage your legs) that has a proper screen for reading at long hours.

I would be quite happy with a tablet that could massage my legs ...and other parts

[jocampo]

ecosystems are like wives (or husbands ) ...

If you are going to stick to one for "the rest of your life" , pick the best one! So you won't regret later.

Well, a little extreme to compare, but you guys get the idea.

For that reason, I would stick to Amazon and Kindle. But I must admit B&N had made huge progress since Nook Tablet inception. They are making a more refine reader or tablet with each release. And for a company without the same resources like Amazon, that's a great accomplishment.

I still prefer B&N UI though, but the thing is that B&N ecosystem is still too small, at least for me, even in books selection.

Now, B&N needs to "exploit" those bricks and mortar locations at their max; train their employees, show the tablets to customer, doing demos, that's Amazon's weakness as Amazon is a virtual retailer, specially now that they lost Target and Walmart as physical showrooms.

[Lemurion]

I dunno - if I can't sideload that's a deal breaker - and I really prefer the Nook Android app to the one that shipped with my Nook Color.

[Purple Lady]

One thing I don't like is lack of micro usb, but their site says they have one. I guess it's probably a typo and should say mico sd in this picture from their site.

[Fbone]

What uses or applications does Bluetooth provide?

[robertc88]

Originally Posted by jocampo

ecosystems are like wives (or husbands ) ...

If you are going to stick to one for "the rest of your life" , pick the best one! So you won't regret later.

Well, a little extreme to compare, but you guys get the idea.

For that reason, I would stick to Amazon and Kindle. But I must admit B&N had made huge progress since Nook Tablet inception. They are making a more refine reader or tablet with each release. And for a company without the same resources like Amazon, that's a great accomplishment.

I still prefer B&N UI though, but the thing is that B&N ecosystem is still too small, at least for me, even in books selection.

Now, B&N needs to "exploit" those bricks and mortar locations at their max; train their employees, show the tablets to customer, doing demos, that's Amazon's weakness as Amazon is a virtual retailer, specially now that they lost Target and Walmart as physical showrooms.

There should be more time for employees to get onboard as demo devices should arrive soon, so I was told today. Before it wasn't until release week and if I remember correctly, there wasn't even any formal announcement until then about the new devices to begin with.

Structured training hadn't happened as I inquired, at least not at the local store I most frequent probably cause there was no time. If it shouldn't have been that way regardless, then it is an issue for those specific stores.

It is good there was an early announcement as the Nexus 7 and the 7" KFHD are available giving the B&N offerings at least an option for potential buyers to ponder.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by Fbone

What uses or applications does Bluetooth provide?

There are Bluetooth speakers, headphones, computer mice, and keyboards.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by paaThaka

And the most interesting feature for a reader is left out:

ALL of them have a very glossy, reflective, self-illuminated LCD/IPS screen.

None of them have matte eInk type screens.

Sucky for battery life, sucky for outdoors, sucky for reflections, sucky for vision ergonomy, sucky for tired eyes, sucky for long continuous reading.

Not readers, but tablets for people who surf.

The market is still waiting for a high resolution eREADER (not a general purpose tablet that will shave your beard and massage your legs) that has a proper screen for reading at long hours.

For plain text books, maybe, but there is more out there. Magazines, newspapers, kids books, interactive books, ... all these require LCDs. If you're not interested in any of these, then an eInk device is better for you, but not everybody is in the same boat.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

One thing I don't like is lack of micro usb, but their site says they have one. I guess it's probably a typo and should say mico sd in this picture from their site.

Attachment 92924

That's correct, it has a proprietary connector, and it also has a micro SD slot.

[Tony1988]

Originally Posted by paaThaka

And the most interesting feature for a reader is left out:

ALL of them have a very glossy, reflective, self-illuminated LCD/IPS screen.

None of them have matte eInk type screens.

Sucky for battery life, sucky for outdoors, sucky for reflections, sucky for vision ergonomy, sucky for tired eyes, sucky for long continuous reading.

Not readers, but tablets for people who surf.

The market is still waiting for a high resolution eREADER (not a general purpose tablet that will shave your beard and massage your legs) that has a proper screen for reading at long hours.

They are not ereaders so they did not leave anything out. This thread is about the new NOOK TABLETS not ereaders. There are plenty of high resolution ereaders out there. They now have lights and are great on battery life. What do you want in an e-ink reader that reads black and white books? Since you dont have a reader maybe you are uninformed right now.

[dkperez]

So, if I want to stay with a 7" tablet, I can get a Nexus or a Nook HD+ for the same price. The Nook comes with a micro SD slot, but it's locked. So, if I buy the Nook, I HAVE to root it 'cause I FAR prefer the other e-readers I'm using on my Nook Color (now a rooted Nook tablet), to the Nook reader...

I wouldn't mind rooting it, but I TRULY dislike going over to get the stuff for rooting. I understand that nerds LOVE to be abstruse and make it difficult to find, figure out which one is the right one, and figure out how to use the software. But, these guys have elevated it to an art form, creating an environment that's incredibly difficult to navigate, decipher, and understand for a "mere" user.

Back when I rooted the Nook Color, I questioned the need to make the site so impenetrable, and was told "It's not meant for "normal" people. It's SUPPOSED to be hard to understand and hard to use. If you're not willing to spend the number of hours required to figure out which software, what version, understand all the three-letter-acronyms, wade through the jumps and hoops to get the instructions, and figure out how to do everything, you SHOULDN'T be here."

Which makes the Nexus look really attractive by comparison.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by dkperez

So, if I want to stay with a 7" tablet, I can get a Nexus or a Nook HD+ for the same price. The Nook comes with a micro SD slot, but it's locked. So, if I buy the Nook, I HAVE to root it 'cause I FAR prefer the other e-readers I'm using on my Nook Color (now a rooted Nook tablet), to the Nook reader...

I wouldn't mind rooting it, but I TRULY dislike going over to get the stuff for rooting. I understand that nerds LOVE to be abstruse and make it difficult to find, figure out which one is the right one, and figure out how to use the software. But, these guys have elevated it to an art form, creating an environment that's incredibly difficult to navigate, decipher, and understand for a "mere" user.

Back when I rooted the Nook Color, I questioned the need to make the site so impenetrable, and was told "It's not meant for "normal" people. It's SUPPOSED to be hard to understand and hard to use. If you're not willing to spend the number of hours required to figure out which software, what version, understand all the three-letter-acronyms, wade through the jumps and hoops to get the instructions, and figure out how to do everything, you SHOULDN'T be here."

Which makes the Nexus look really attractive by comparison.

I guess you're talking about XDA. I disagree that it is hard and that it is made on purpose. The first roots are always not for the faint-hearted because they use exploits that may be difficult to implement by the non-initiated, but a bit later on people package it up in a way that even the most techno-illiterate person could root the device. It's come to the point where you download a file, create a disk image on an SD card (for which you have step-by-step instructions) with that file, and simply boot the device with the SD card inserted. I don't see where the complication lies.

That said, I agree that for people who want the pure Android experience and a tablet with no constraints, the nooks or kindles are not the right choice; if you plan on rooting, you might as well simply go with a Nexus that is by definition unlocked and ready to play with.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by afv011

I guess you're talking about XDA. I disagree that it is hard and that it is made on purpose. The first roots are always not for the faint-hearted because they use exploits that may be difficult to implement by the non-initiated, but a bit later on people package it up in a way that even the most techno-illiterate person could root the device. It's come to the point where you download a file, create a disk image on an SD card (for which you have step-by-step instructions) with that file, and simply boot the device with the SD card inserted. I don't see where the complication lies.

That said, I agree that for people who want the pure Android experience and a tablet with no constraints, the nooks or kindles are not the right choice; if you plan on rooting, you might as well simply go with a Nexus that is by definition unlocked and ready to play with.

Well, the people on XDA are all working for free for the good of all users. We have no right to criticize them when they sometimes get a little impatient with new users and a little superficial when providing instructions. Over time, such instructions are being supplemented by other users and even videos, then the process becomes quite easy.

Once the Nook has been rooted and you can install custom ROMs on it it does seem to be a better deal than the Nexus 7. After all, the Nook has an expansion slot.