Barnes & Noble is taking on Amazon’s Kindle Fire with a new, lower-priced Nook Tablet that costs $199. Price point aside, the Nook Tablet 8 GB shares many similarities with the Kindle Fire. Both are Android-powered 8GB, Wi-Fi only devices with 7-inch, 1024 x 600 multi-touch displays. The Nook Tablet 8GB model packs a dual-core, […]
Barnes & Noble is taking on Amazon’s Kindle Fire with a new, lower-priced Nook Tablet that costs $199. Price point aside, the Nook Tablet 8 GB shares many similarities with the Kindle Fire. Both are Android-powered 8GB, Wi-Fi only devices with 7-inch, 1024 x 600 multi-touch displays.
The Nook Tablet 8GB model packs a dual-core, 1GHz OMAP4 processor from Texas Instruments like the one found in the 16 GB version, but it ships with half the RAM — 512MB versus a full gigabyte. Internal storage can be upgraded by popping in a microSD Card of up to 32 GB in size for a total of 40 GB.
Barnes & Noble continues to sell the 16 GB version for $249, but it shaved $30 off the Nook Color, which now sells for $169 from $199.
Although ostensibly marketed as e-readers and media consumption devices, both the Nook Tablet and Kindle Fire are low-spec Android tablets, for all intents and purposes. And the prospect of an inexpensive, starter Android tablet has attracted the attention of modders.
These gadget enthusiasts, seeking an escape from custom UIs and branded ecosystems, have taken to “rooting” their Nooks and Kindles. What they create, by and large, are devices that handle the bulk of tablet-centric activities without paying twice as much for premium hardware.
This concept of a starter tablet is connecting with average consumers, even if left un-modded. Though the Nook and Kindle Fire lack consumer-friendly features like the cameras on the iPad 2 and the blistering video and games performance of the latest multi-core Android slates, it hasn’t stopped shoppers from snapping them up.
According to analysts’ estimates, Amazon sold up to 6 million Kindle Fires in Q4 2011. The Kindle Fire launched in November 2001. Barnes & Noble is tight-lipped when it comes to concrete Nook Tablet sales, but the company’s just-released third quarter earnings point to healthy sales.
The Nook business unit, which includes sales of hardware, accessories and digital content, saw sales rise 38 percent during the third quarter to reach $542 million. Nook hardware sales saw a 64 percent increase over the same period a year ago.
Pedro Hernandez is a contributor to the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE
Ethics and Artificial Intelligence: Driving Greater Equality
FEATURE | By James Maguire,
December 16, 2020
AI vs. Machine Learning vs. Deep Learning
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
December 11, 2020
Huawei’s AI Update: Things Are Moving Faster Than We Think
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
December 04, 2020
Keeping Machine Learning Algorithms Honest in the ‘Ethics-First’ Era
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 18, 2020
Key Trends in Chatbots and RPA
FEATURE | By Guest Author,
November 10, 2020
FEATURE | By Samuel Greengard,
November 05, 2020
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 02, 2020
How Intel’s Work With Autonomous Cars Could Redefine General Purpose AI
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 29, 2020
Dell Technologies World: Weaving Together Human And Machine Interaction For AI And Robotics
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 23, 2020
The Super Moderator, or How IBM Project Debater Could Save Social Media
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
October 16, 2020
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
October 07, 2020
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
October 05, 2020
CIOs Discuss the Promise of AI and Data Science
FEATURE | By Guest Author,
September 25, 2020
Microsoft Is Building An AI Product That Could Predict The Future
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 25, 2020
Top 10 Machine Learning Companies 2021
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
September 22, 2020
NVIDIA and ARM: Massively Changing The AI Landscape
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
September 18, 2020
Continuous Intelligence: Expert Discussion [Video and Podcast]
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 14, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Governance and Ethics [Video]
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 13, 2020
IBM Watson At The US Open: Showcasing The Power Of A Mature Enterprise-Class AI
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 11, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Perception vs. Reality
FEATURE | By James Maguire,
September 09, 2020
Pedro Hernandez is a contributor to Datamation, eWEEK, and the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals. Previously, he served as a managing editor for the Internet.com network of IT-related websites and as the Green IT curator for GigaOM Pro.
Datamation is the leading industry resource for B2B data professionals and technology buyers. Datamation's focus is on providing insight into the latest trends and innovation in AI, data security, big data, and more, along with in-depth product recommendations and comparisons. More than 1.7M users gain insight and guidance from Datamation every year.
Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2025 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved
Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.
