Introducing NOOK Tablet - 8GB

[EllenKeiff]

I thought of one other thing - what about the Nook Color people?  Some of them have 5 gig available for storage but others do not because they bought it after they changed it to 1 gig.  Can those people bring them in and have them repartitioned.  And if not, why not?  (I have friends with Nook Colors that are curious.) 

Frankly, I told my friends with the nook colors to bring them to the store and to basically not take no for an answer!

[Hiberny]

I certainly don't expect it to run everything, but 1 GB of RAM with keep it relevant a lot longer than half a gig.  I'm hoping it will be able to run apps for my son in 3 or 4 years.  Enhanced children's books and learning apps shouldn't need quad core power or 2 GB of RAM. I'm buying an enhanced ereader, not a PC replacement.

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Nom-de-Nook wrote:

Um...

If you are talking a couple years from now...you are going to find out that the NT (even with 1gb of RAM) likely won't be adequate for running any of the modern apps (at that time).  It will still be an OK ereader but this year is already being shown as the year of quad core tabs and I would guess upping the RAM will also be in the next year or so as people look to have tabs be more of a PC/Mac replacement.

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[Zion21]

The 8GB should be more than enough for Apps and books, even music. As mentioned before it's supposed to be a mobile device, not a PC replacement. With 1GB of ram the specs are certainly on the iPad level.

[patgolfneb]

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Zion21 wrote:

The 8GB should be more than enough for Apps and books, even music. As mentioned before it's supposed to be a mobile device, not a PC replacement. With 1GB of ram the specs are certainly on the iPad level.

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The history of PC development shows a self fulfilling prophecy of sorts. Firms anticipate increases in CPU power and memory, storage. They direct programmers to write programs with additional features and complexity. Designers begin again designing more powerful CPUs, programmers respond. Over time programs become extremely bloated in a software arms race. Of course this tends to inflate costs. So far battery life is damping this cycle somewhat

[BruceMcF]

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patgolfneb wrote:

The history of PC development shows a self fulfilling prophecy of sorts. Firms anticipate increases in CPU power and memory, storage. They direct programmers to write programs with additional features and complexity. Designers begin again designing more powerful CPUs, programmers respond. Over time programs become extremely bloated in a software arms race. Of course this tends to inflate costs. So far battery life is damping this cycle somewhat

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Thing is, the abandonment of the HP Touchpad and then sales frenzy at $100 showed that there is big volume price point "down there" somewhere. The Kindle Fire sold 3.9m in Q4 according to iSuppli estimates while the Nook Tablet and Color combined sold 1.9m. So the Kindle Fire and HP Touchpad experience suggest there may be sweetspots at $200 and $100.

That suggests that in the next cycle, Amazon may well want to push the features at the $200 price point while using the current Kindle Fire to drop down to explore the market somewhere between $100 and $200. Since on a full cost basis $200 is probably a subsidized price, it makes sense to hold the price as production costs drop over the year ahead so that the subsidy narrows (and, ideally, hits or passes breakeven) and then do an appreciable price cut in line with a new product introduction for Xmas.

But that means an ongoing growing population of devices at this ability level with, if they can hit the next sweet spot down, one or more sales surges looming ahead. The population is already at about 8m, since the two brands of Nook media tablets sold 3.4m over 2011 and ~1m Nook Colors sold in 2010, and it could easily hit 20m by the end of 2012 if its possible to hit the $150 price point in time for XMas.

This is a lot more like way the market worked for the Commodore 64 in the 1980's than the market dynamics of Home / Small Office PC's, at least for the next year or two. You have a big, stable market to aim at and developers refine their software to deliver improved performance on a stable platform.

And unlike the Commodore 64 / Atari ST competition, which had common processors but offered substantially different I/O and kernel support, because the Nook Color is an Android FroYo system under the hood and the Nook Tablets and Kindle Fire are Android Gingerbread systems under the hood, developers can focus on producing 7" Gingerbread apps that can run comfortably on a dual core 1GHz ARM processor, and if possible a lighter weight FroYo version that can run on an 800MHz single core ARM.

[Omnigeek]

Go ahead and plan for future use Hiberny.  My Palm TX is still useful years after Nom-de-Nook would have declared it to be "obsolete".  Sure, the displays on my iPod Touch and Android smartphone look nicer but the Palm still works when I want it to (and it still makes for a great ereader that slips into my smallest pockets).

[Hiberny]

I know everything will be obsolete in three years, but I think today's Nook Tablet will be perfect for my son when I upgrade to the 512 GB Nook Tablet .  He will get my hand-me-downs until I know I can trust him with new.

[Didact]

So, I'm in the market for an e-reader/cheap tablet, and I've settled on the Nook Tablet. Is the general consensus that this model performs well enough for most people's needs with 512MB of RAM? And is the 1GB of space for Nook Store content enough? How many Nook books can it hold?

[Warlock_Writer]

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Didact wrote:

And is the 1GB of space for Nook Store content enough? How many Nook books can it hold?

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The 1 GB is enough for books, but if you want to download apps, especially games, you'll run out quickly. I got a refurb when the battery went bad on my first Nook Color, which had the 1 GB space for Nook content. The refurb had the new partition, and I just recently went over 1 GB, making me glad for the new partition.

[Didact]

Well, if it becomes an issue I guess I can just go to a brick and mortar store to have it repartitioned.

[cmconn]

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Warlock_Writer wrote:

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geertm wrote:

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floridaphil wrote:

512mb RAM = FAIL...  

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Unfortunately for most consumers price seems to be more important than specs. The 512mb RAM of the Kindle Fire has not made the device a  FAIL.

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How much of a difference will the reduced RAM make? I currently have a Nook Color, and the 8GB Tablet looks tempting as a replacement. I personally like the new partitioning. How much RAM does the Nook Color have? I've tried to look for specs but I can't find it. If 512 is going to slow down things (like video), I'm not interested.

Thanks!

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I'm going to pick up the 8GB this week. I think the dual core processor

will make a lot of difference. I watched a couple of movies last week on

my wife's Color and they were not bad.

I'll reply here once I get it and can test it.

[LindaJ_BN]

Wonder if some of you could give me an honest opinion.  I've never had an eReader and after doing a LOT of research and checking all the respected sites like PCMagazine, CNet, etc., (trying to decide between the Kindle Fire, the Nook 16GB Tablet and a regular tablet but with BOTH Amazon and B&N apps), I decided on the Nook Tablet -- which was considerably more affordable than other tablets.  But I definitely wanted more than just a basic reader.

I was all set to buy, and then I saw the fine print about the change coming on March 12, 2012.   Now ... please forgive me ... but not being a computer person AT ALL, does this change do anything to increase the NT's flexibility and make it more tablet-like?  Or will it restrict the device even more?  

I'm starting to think I might be unhappy with a Nook Tablet -- even though it's their top of the line model -- down the road, because eventually I'll want apps that B&N won't allow access to.  It seems to be the biggest drawback when comparing the Nook and the Kindle.

One more thing ... I can probably wait until the end of the year ... and I'm wondering if there's any chance B&N will be coming out with a "new and improved" model that will solve some of these issues?

Thanks to anyone willing to weigh in on this!

[flyingtoastr Scribe]

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LindaJ_BN wrote:

Wonder if some of you could give me an honest opinion.  I've never had an eReader and after doing a LOT of research and checking all the respected sites like PCMagazine, CNet, etc., (trying to decide between the Kindle Fire, the Nook 16GB Tablet and a regular tablet but with BOTH Amazon and B&N apps), I decided on the Nook Tablet -- which was considerably more affordable than other tablets.  But I definitely wanted more than just a basic reader.

I was all set to buy, and then I saw the fine print about the change coming on March 12, 2012.   Now ... please forgive me ... but not being a computer person AT ALL, does this change do anything to increase the NT's flexibility and make it more tablet-like?  Or will it restrict the device even more?  

I'm starting to think I might be unhappy with a Nook Tablet -- even though it's their top of the line model -- down the road, because eventually I'll want apps that B&N won't allow access to.  It seems to be the biggest drawback when comparing the Nook and the Kindle.

One more thing ... I can probably wait until the end of the year ... and I'm wondering if there's any chance B&N will be coming out with a "new and improved" model that will solve some of these issues?

Thanks to anyone willing to weigh in on this!

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To answer your first question, it depends who you ask.

The partition change going into effect in a week changes the type of stuff you can store on the internal memory of the NOOK. Right now a NT16 has 12GB set aside for content that you purchase from BN (books, magizines, apps, etc.) and 1GB set aside for your own files (anything you "sideload" on, such as books from other sources, movies, music,etc.). After the newer units begin to ship with the new partition scheme there will be 5.5GB set aside for BN content and 8GB for your personal files.

For someone like myself, with a bunch of SD cards, the current partition scheme is a non-issue. All my personal files are stored on MicroSD cards, so devoting all the internal memory to BN content is fine - actually even prefered, since it means I don't have to worry about running out of room for apps for a long time. For others having more onboard sotrage for their own files might be preferable. It really depends on your habits and whether or not you mind buying a MicroSD card.

For your second question, BN tends to be on a full-year refresh cycle for its devices, so I wouldn't expect a new tablet until November.

[cmconn]

I would add that it also matters who you are loyal to... B&N or Amazon.

I'm a B&N fan because I like real bookstores. If everybody starts buying

their books online we won't have real bookstores to walk around in. Which

one to buy? The best one I can for the money I have. There will always be

a newer better model if you wait but I don't want to wait 6 months to save

$50 or get more GB.

I'm writing this on a little Lenovo dual core intel box with 2GB of RAM. It's

old but it still kicks ass. there will always be a better computer out there

but how much power do you need?

[TnTexas]

LindJ_BN: I was all set to buy, and then I saw the fine print about the change coming on March 12, 2012.   Now ... please forgive me ... but not being a computer person AT ALL, does this change do anything to increase the NT's flexibility and make it more tablet-like?  Or will it restrict the device even more?  

If by more tablet-like you mean having access to the Amazon or Android Marketplaces, being able to sideload and install apps from sources other than B&N, etc. - the answer is no. But I don't think it's going to restrict anymore in that regards either.

I'm starting to think I might be unhappy with a Nook Tablet -- even though it's their top of the line model -- down the road, because eventually I'll want apps that B&N won't allow access to.  It seems to be the biggest drawback when comparing the Nook and the Kindle.

There is another option that you might not have heard of  - one that worked really well for me when I had the Nook Color. Buy the Tablet and and an N2A card ( http://www.n2acards.com ) and you have the best of both worlds since the N2A card allows the Tablet to function as a regular Android tablet (Android Marketplace, Amazon's appstore, the Nook app, the Kindle app, other reading apps, etc.) without changing anything about the Tablet's stock setup.

So if you decide you want to do something on the stock interface like reading (some prefer that interface to the one of the Nook app), all you have to do is basically turn the Nook off and back on and you're there. Know of an app from the Amazon Marketplace that you'd like to use with the Tablet but can't find it in B&N's store? Make sure you're booted into the new android "side" of the device and buy it. Since the N2A card basically turns your device into two different ones, you'll only be able to use the app on the "android side" - but at least you'll be able to buy it and use it. The only caveat is (if you go with an official N2A branded card anyway) that you'll need to buy the 16GB version of the Tablet and not the 8GB one. At the moment, the card won't work with the 8GB version.

One more thing ... I can probably wait until the end of the year ... and I'm wondering if there's any chance B&N will be coming out with a "new and improved" model that will solve some of these issues?

Not the issues you seem to be talking about. I would like for them to, but I would be stunned if they do - not given the changes they made between the Color and the Tablet and the first update to the Tablet they were fairly quick to rush out the door. 

[TnTexas]

cmconn: I would add that it also matters who you are loyal to... B&N or Amazon.

You know, this doesn't really fit into the equation for me anymore - not since I realized that as a business, B&N (and Amazon or any other business for that matter) isn't overly interested in retaining my loyalty. They want it, of course. But they're basically out to make sure they stay alive. And if they feel like they need to do something in order to make that happen, they're going to do it - no matter what effect the decision may have on me. So I've come to look at the same way. We have a business relationship, not a friendship or equal partnership. If buying from them suits my needs, I'll gladly do so. If it doesn't, I won't. 

[cmconn]

Business is business I agree. I think of Amazon much like I do Walmart.

Sometimes I need something quick so I go there to get it. Sometimes my

daughter needs a book that I can't find anywhere else so I order it from

Amazon.

But I try to vote with my dollars and support B&N (and other real book stores)

because I want them to still be here in the future.I like computers but I don't

want to do everything online. Sometimes I like to get out and look at things 

[BruceMcF]

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TnTexas wrote:

cmconn: I would add that it also matters who you are loyal to... B&N or Amazon.

You know, this doesn't really fit into the equation for me anymore - not since I realized that as a business, B&N (and Amazon or any other business for that matter) isn't overly interested in retaining my loyalty. They want it, of course. But they're basically out to make sure they stay alive....

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If by "not overly concerned" you mean do they put their survival as a business ahead of any loyalty to a customer ... well, (1) if they did put their "loyalty to the customer" first, fat lot of good it does anybody to have a company loyal to you until the day they go bankrupt and (2) they're a corporation, corporations don't have loyalty.

[LindaJ_BN]

Very helpful replies -- thanks!

[TnTexas]

BruceMcF: If by "not overly concerned" you mean do they put their survival as a business ahead of any loyalty to a customer ... well, (1) if they did put their "loyalty to the customer" first, fat lot of good it does anybody to have a company loyal to you until the day they go bankrupt and (2) they're a corporation, corporations don't have loyalty.

Exactly.When I bought my Color back last summer, I did feel a sense of loyalty to B&N - a kind that wasn't necessarily in my best interest. A book deal going on at Amazon? Let me check and see if B&N has it. It does? I'll buy it from there even though it's more expensive. When I realized that the feelings weren't really mutual (quite understandably), I saw the relationship for what it really is - a business relationship, nothing more. It was quite a freeing realization. Book deal going on at Amazon? Do I like the book? I'll go ahead and get it and not feel a bit guilty for doing so just because I have a Color and a Tablet.