New Android-powered Nook is now shipping

By Phil Nickinson  | Jun 01 2011 | 2:26 pm  | 12 Comments

BN Nook

Barnes & Noble's new Nook is smaller, lighter, and has decidedly more geeky inside -- and it's now shipping. For $139, you can get now get the diminutive e-reader that's powered by Android 2.1. How quickly will it be hacked? We're betting a matter of hours, if it's anything like its older, bigger and more colorful cousin, the Nook Color.

But that raises the question: Aside from the cool factor of hacking open this little guy, would you really want to use a 6-inch black-and-white e-reader like a tablet?

Purchase: Nook at Barnes & Noble; More: Nook Color forums

Phil Nickinson

Phil Nickinson Editor in Chief

"Phil is a recovering print journalist, editor of Android Central, subtitles and street signs."

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There are 12 comments

awperk says:

I'd be interesting in rooting this bad boy if it'd let me install the Kindle android app.

Honestly though, I have 1500 ebooks on my kindle and they are primarily .mobi format and I'm not willing to convert them just to have the latest and greatest hardware.

loooney2ns says:

You could always get a nook color and root it. Then you could use the kindle amp. Once this is rooted you could do the same, but the color is more powerful and more useful as a tablet. Or you could convert your files to epub.

Marshy says:

Wow.. That thing is hideous!

VideoEngineerAJS says:

I like the look of it personally, I just don't know about it only being 6 inches and strictly black and white. I understand the eInk factor, but still...

anthonylokrn says:

Looks very nice to me as well; very subtle and simple in design.

darrylmendo says:

You gotta remember this is not meant to be a tablet. It's strictly an e-reader. It doesn't have email, a web browser, or even audio to play mp3's. It is meant to read books. If you are comparing this to the xoom or the samsung tablet or even the nook color then you're comparing apples to oranges. It's not even running froyo because it doesn't need to be able to run flash since it doesn't even have a web browser. I personally just bought one for my girlfriend for her birthday this weekend as soon as I saw this article posted. Thank you phil for the heads up.

strikethree says:

eInk has its limitations but I'm not sure if excluding audio was the right move. To me, not including even a headphone jack seems more like a "form" decision than a decision based on costs saving. I seriously doubt it costs much more to add a headphone jack. Plus, a small little hole on the side of the device would hardly affect people who do not want/need the audio capability.

I do know that there are people who like listening to music while they read. (although I am not one of them) I want to keep all my audio books on the same device as my other books.

To me, excluding audio capability is like excluding flash on a phone's camera: sure, most people might not use it heavily but it doesn't cost much (or adversely affect the structure of the device) and it gives the option to people in case they do want it.

For me, the reported bugs and audio exclusion are the biggest factors for not getting the device. I was very interested in it but it just seems smarter to at least wait for Amazon's response to the new Nook.

Audio capability (I mean headphone jack -- because speaker capability is different) is such a basic functionality these days that it seems silly to exclude because of a desire to stick to a more traditional form. I mean, we are going backwards here. I can understand that email and web browsing would probably suck but how could you mess up headphone sound?

It's just a little disappointing to see a company tell its customers what they should or shouldn't want. (like Apple and excluding Flash; though, this is a much simpler fix)

blueyestm says:

Meh, I wasn't excited about any of the black/white e-readers which is why I never bought one. When the NookColor showed up I pounced. I prefer the color, having a full Android system is a bonus.

Kujako says:

Was going to get one, then I noticed it had no web browser. This renders it more or less useless as you can not connect to the majority of public wifi points without clicking through a web page agreeing to terms of service. So you basically have to go to specific locations to use it, at which point I may as well just go to a book store.

markyoung04 says:

Summer time means reading at the pool and if you have ever used a kindle or other e-ink you know how awesome they are in the sun - that being said if you can root this and get your email, browser, and kindle software on it then it makes it much more attractive. I have an old K2 and it has an experimental browser that sucks.

U give up heavy graphic based apps (movies) but to hit the net to read blogs and news, catch up on email, and read a good book by the pool with the incredible battery life these things have would be some good points...I think

raindog469 says:

No audio means no audiobook support; no web browser means it's no newspaper replacement. The latter can be fixed by rooting, but the former means that the only reason I'd buy this thing would be to see how one of my apps looked on an e-ink display.

AndroidJunkie says:

the e-ink screen is a bit limiting for regular android use, but if they can hack it, it'd be nice for ebooks, basic web, news, email, and some static games (ex. words w/friends). All for $140, and has up to a 2 months charge :)