Barnes and Noble has just announced a new Nook e-book reader with a full color touchscreen. The reader is called NOOKcolor, thereby adhering to gadget-naming guidelines that dictate gratuitous letter capitalization, smashing two words together without spacing or, preferably, both. It’ll ship November 19th for $249.
The reader measures 8.1 by 5 by 0.48 inches, weighs just under a pound, and sports a 7-inch 1024×600 IPS touchscreen with a pixel density of 169 PPI. In plain English, it should be plenty easy on the eyes.
By forgoing a black and white electronic ink screen like the one found in its other Nook readers, Barnes and Noble had to price the Wi-Fi-only NOOKcolor at $249. Battery life is rated at eight hours with the wireless connection turned off, versus ten days with the $149 e-ink Nook.
Despite the battery life, the new color Nook takes on some more tablet-like features; Pandora music service, games, photos, videos, e-mail, and a built-in web browser. Programmers will also be able to develop apps, so there’s the possibility of even more robust features down the line.
All in all, we’re looking at a $250 Android tablet with a high-quality screen and 8-hour battery life. It’s definitely not as “open” as a full-blown Android tablet, but it may cover most people’s bases pretty well for the price.
Amazon? Color Kindle, please?
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