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Nook HD - A High-Definition Tablet With The Heart Of A Reader (Part 1)

5/21/2013 6:28:17 PM

Barnes & Noble are aware of their position in the race of tablets. It is sure that this company has insisted on that market since the day Nook Color became a full-fledged tablet, but it seems that Nook is rarely mentioned as much as Kindle or Nexus 7 whenever there is a discussion on low-price tablets. The company also seems never talking about their devices without mentioning its competitors especially Amazon. In fact, at the introduction event of Nook HD and HD+, representatives always found their way to bring Kindle Fire HD out as much as possible.

Looking those two devices together, there is no doubt that Nook defeats Fire in many categories, and the bookseller took a step forward in highlighting Nook HD in a battlefield in which there are full of formidable competitors. First of all, this device takes more concentration on reading experience than its competitors, the fact that has been reflected through the hardware as well as UI decisions. The company also conducts a more dynamic solution in marketing this device toward families. So, the question is whether these feature adequate to win any market share against many other prominent devices. Let’s see how Nook HD is.

Barnes & Noble’s Nook HD

Barnes & Noble’s Nook HD

Hardware

Nook Color/Tablet scored great deal of points for its unique features in the industrial design segment, polarizing users in that process. The long body covered by plastic does it job excellently when standing beside other premium tablets that have ruled the market in the past several years. That is many thanks to the carabiner that would not be monotonous when hooking with your reliable backpack. Those who vote for that old design would also be pleased with HD+’s enhancements. On the other hand, HD will not seem to be out of place when attending in the Simple Touch family meeting, with the chunky body, curved edges and concave back, created by Robert Brunner, the former designer of Apple who brought life to the famous B&N’s reader series.

Quality rather than beauty is what Barnes & Noble is sticking to this time. We did not mean that Nook HD is a bad-look device, but just like Simple Touch, there is a feeling that this company has sacrificed a part of beauty to give priority to a human-friendly tablet building, a kind of noble pursuit in industrial design of tablets. Like other current B&N’s products, Nook HD has bezel to spare – a plastic affair playing the role of a shield that prevents fingerprints, noise and ensures that greasy digits do not dirty the brand new HD screen in the middle of the device. Beside this, you will find a wider black display bezel at the top and bottom of the device.

Nook HD: front and back

Nook HD: front and back

There is no camera in the back or front of the Nook. That is such a sacrifice that B&N has decided to do as an attempt to lower the cost – one of some categories that this company is willing to be defeated by Kindle Fire HD. While many customers who intend to spend their money in a new tablet are unlikely to be lack of a front camera, in late 2012, a built-in camera seems to be a pretty basic feature. It is special for a high-definition and easy-to-hold product that should mean to be a small and pretty Skype device. On the bottom black bezel, there is a physical home button in special “n” shape just for Nook. It is really easily recognizable on the device, located there as the consistency in design and as what B&N told us, it is for you to navigate easily which way is up.

On the bottom black bezel, there is a physical home button in special “n” shape just for Nook.

On the bottom black bezel, there is a physical home button in special “n” shape just for Nook.

A small line separates the plastic bezel in the back with another one which is a little brighter on the side of the tablet. This bit contains other Nook’s buttons. You will find two volume buttons on the right and the power button on the left (it takes about 1 second or so for the screen to switch on after pressing this power button). It is not as visual as putting the power button on the top, but let’s be straightforward; the dream of a relatively uniform position for buttons was broken many years ago. On the top, there is an earphone jack and a small microphone slot allowing you to use the company’s fabulous Read and Record feature designed for children’s books, along with other tasks.

On the bottom, there is an exclusive charging jack. When being asked for the reason for that rout instead of the micro USB which is visible almost everywhere (the choice on the reader’s brothers of tablets), the company claimed that it was for increasing the speed of charging. According to many micro-USB cables that we have – it will be a good solution and it is good enough for Kindle Fire HD and Nexus 7 isn’t it? However, Barnes & Noble quickly reconfirmed that unlike Fire, Nook’s price has included the necessary cable (which is exclusive), along with a wall adapter. Lying on the right of the charging port, there is a small yellow light which turns into green when the charging process is completed. On the left of this port, there is a microSD port allowing you to extend 8GB or 16GB of the device to 64GB, which is always a welcome feature on Nook’s device, especially in tablet case, where unlike reader, you surely want to save HD multi-media files. It is also a benefit for those who recognized Nook as a good device to root.

The back side of the device brings the same soft and smooth feeling, which is truly interesting when holding in hand, and provides a bit of traction for a sweaty hand when using the device. Just like Simple Touch’s device, the back is a little concave, providing a slot for you to lay your finger in when reading. However, it is not outstanding here and does not really serve that purpose well enough. In its middle, there is large lower case “n” as usual to remind you if you forgot to have purchased a tablet when it’s faced down.

Nook HD’ speaker

Nook HD’ speaker

Along the back side, there is a two-speaker system flanking the small Nook logo and all necessary FCC information. We prefer the spread-out distribution of the Fire HD rather than this, because this design makes accidentally muffle the sound while holding the tablet during watching movies. In fact, the sound on Nook is not really loud. In most of the case, we supposed to rely on the earphone jack on the top for our multimedia purposes.

In general, Barnes & Noble does a good job here in terms of industrial design, creating an easy-to-hold tablet, thanks in part to the thin width (7.7x5x0.43 inches compared to 7.6x5.4x0.4 inches of Fire) and light weight (11.1 ounces vs. 13.9 ounces of Fire). The 7 inch 1440x900 IPS screen is truly outstanding, providing fabulous view angle and high-definition replay type which might be very hard to imagine on a $200 tablet not long time ago. Nook also reached 1271ms stably in the SunSpider test. The front plastic bezel sets a good room for your thumb and like Simple Touch, providing an eye-catching design that stands out from a great number of similar tablets that dominate the market.

 

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