Barnes & Noble Nook HD & HD+ | from US$199.00 | www.barnesandnoble.com
not to be outdone by Amazon, the other mega online store, Barnes & Noble has also taken a dip into the world of tablets with two new offerings (their first, actually): the Nook HD and Nook HD+ Slate. aren’t we, consumers, lucky? we are spoilt for choice when it comes tablets. kicking of the duo is the Nook HD, a 7-inch HD-capable tablet that has it sight aim squarely at, you know who. equipped with a 1.3 GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM, up to 16GB of internal storage (expandable via micro SD card up to 32GB), a “newly invented” 7-inch touchscreen display boosting a 1,440 x 900 resolution that packs 243 PPI, 720p playback capability, built-in WiFi with free WiFi access in all Barnes & Noble stores, HDMI out, 3.5mm audio jack, dual stereo speakers, up to 10.5 hours of reading or 9 hours of video playback, free access to NOOK cloud for even more storage, plus email app with support for Microsoft Exchange Active Sync, as well as current popular email services such as Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail. the Nook HD is available for pre-order now with a price tag of $199 and $229 for the 8GB and 16GB model, respectively.
perched on the top of the food chain is the larger Nook HD+ slate sporting a 9-inch display with 1,920 x 1,280 resolution (it packs 256 PPI, a little under the 3rd generation Apple iPad) and is equipped with a speedier 1.5GHz dual-core OMAP 4470 processor, supported by 1GB of RAM. apart from the larger display and faster processor, the HD+ Slate shares pretty much the same features as the HD model which includes HDMI out, 3.5mm audio jack, micro SD card slot et cetera, though it does have a few other differentiating features such as support high-quality surround sound for better sound quality, full HD 1080p playback and higher capacity of up to 32GB. the Nook HD+ Slate is available for pre-order with a starting sticker of $269. strangely, we did not spot the 32GB model on the pre-order site. perhaps, it will surface at a later date? click through for a few more look.
