Isaiah's Tech

Barnes & Noble's CEO, William Lynch, was the first one on stage at today's event and he bragged about how fast their company grew in the digital content space. have just introduced the Nook Tablet which will be battling Amazon's Kindle Fire. The tablet will be available on November 16 for $249 but they believe that they can compete with the Fire. The Nook Tablet packs a 7-inch VividView IPS display with a 1,024 x 600 resolution, a dual-core TI OMAP4 1GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a microSD card slot, WiFi b/g/n support, Netflix / Hulu Plusintegration, cloud storage, and an amazing battery that'll reportedly last 9 hours playing video.

Why will you want to spend the extra $50 on this tablet over the Kindle Fire? Barnes & Noble mentioned a bunch of different points: a better display with better viewing angles, 16GB which is more than the 6GB that the Fire has, more RAM (1GB vs 512MB), a lighter design, and better content rendering. For help on the Nook Tablet you can also go to one of their various (over 700) stores whereas Amazon doesn't have that kind of support. Yeah, they definitely took a swing at Amazon here.

If you're not willing to spend the money then the company has decided to reduce the price of their Nook Color and the touch-enabled Nook which will be referred to as the Nook Simple Touch. They'll be available on the 16th as well for $199 and $99, respectively. They've been working on the Nook Color's software and they're going to be pushing out the biggest update for it in the near future.

[The Verge]

Amazon has just announced what has been rumoured for a long time - and a bit more! Yes it's the Kindle Fire which is running a completely customized Android 2.x UI. This tablet features a 7-inch display and looks a whole lot like the BlackBerry Playbook. This tablet is lacking a bunch of features but that's because all Amazon wants you to do on this is read and buy books as much as possible. The tablet does feature a dual-core CPU along with WiFi but lacks 3G, cameras, and even a microphone. The device will be available for $199 and you can pre-order it right now with shipping set for November.

That's not all though. Amazon also decided to unveil the Kindle Touch eReader along with another $79 Kindle - this one ships today! The Touch eReader has a 3G model which will cost $149, while the WiFi-only model is $99; they're both set to launch on November 21st!

[BGR]

Tech Crunch's own MG Siegler has reported that he has played with the upcoming Android-based Kindle even though he wasn't able to take any photos of it. If you believe him, he says a bunch of things about the upcoming tablet turned e-book reader. He says it looks a whole lot like the BlackBerry Playbook, that it'll simply be called the Amazon Kindle, and the company has transformed the Android (2.2) OS completely into their own simple UI. The tablet is said to be a 7-inch model which could hit the market in October / November for $250 which is half the price of the entry-level iPad 2 and cheaper than almost every other tablet out there right now.

Of course, the tablet is sporting a backlit display so the battery life is up in the air and it'll effect your eyes a lot more than an e-ink display would. The CPU is unknown right now but it could be a single-core CPU to keep the cost down and because you'll mostly be reading on it anyway. He also mentioned that the 10-inch model is expected in Q1 2012 but only if this 7-inch model is a success. They're betting it all on this one.

Update: Tech Crunch has shopped a photo of what the next Kindle will look like and it's above.

[Tech Crunch]

You may have wondered why the first Barnes & Noble Nook dropped in price and it's because they unveiled their new one today! The new Nook from the company features a 6-inch touchscreen display, WiFi-only, an 800MHz TI OMAP3 CPU, Android 2.1, and a 2-month battery life. This is being touted as a "Simple Touch Reader" and it's going to be below the current Nook and the Nook Color in their line-up. Pre-order will be available shortly and it's going to be shipping around the June 10th date.

[TNW]

AT&T has announced something that maybe a few of you would be interested in. They have just announced that they'll be releasing the Amazon Kindle 3G e-book reader starting on March 6th. If you love reading on an electronic device then you should pick one up. This one will priced at $189 contract-free so it's not a bad deal.

[Tech Crunch]

Sharp has already announced that their own Galapagos Android tablets would be hitting the US we just don't know exactly when it will be. Of course, knowing that information we were just anticipating that it would hit the FCC and the 5.5 and 10.8-inch models have done just that. Both of these tablets are running on Freescale CPUs and also feature SDRAM from Samsung. In the test photos, these tablets were running on a Linux-based OS and you can clearly tell that it's not running Android (below). However, they'd both be pretty good at surfing the web and maybe reading a few books. I can't see this taking up a huge market to be honest. Check them out here (5.5-inch model) and here (10.8-inch model) at the FCC.

[Wireless Goodness]

It looks like Sharp has finally decided to price and date their Galapagos tablets that we heard about back in September. The 5.5-inch model (1,024 x 600 resolution) and the 10.8-inch model (1,366 x 800 resolution) will be hitting Japan on December 10th for ¥39,800 ($474 USD) and ¥54,800 ($653 USD), respectively, which is a bit much to pay for. The displays - on paper - for both devices seem quite good though so if you're interested in quite an expensive Android tablet then you might want to give this one a few looks.

If you live in Korea and you're looking for an Android tablet then KT has one for you. This is being called the Identity TAB and it sports a 7-inch multitouch display, 8GB of internal storage, a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, a TV-DMB tuner, a 3MP camera, WiFi support, and an SD card slot. Although it sports a coloured LCD display, it's being called an e-book reader as well since it can double as one. You can get it right now for 300,000 won contract-free or for free on a 2-year contract where you'll have to pay 27,000 won monthly.

[Akihabara News]

Sharp announced something that looks pretty good this morning and it's the slate you see above. It's being touted as an e-book reader - not a tablet - and they're looking "to rival the iPad." As you can see it looks like it'll be sporting a coloured LCD display and has potential for 3D support, which might drive the price up a bit. Sharp is being known lately for their Parallax 3D displays so you'll see 3D images without the need for glasses. This tablet / e-book reader is said to be hitting Japan this Fall and could actually hit the US before the end of the year.

[Engadget]

If you're interested in the Velocity Micro Cruz Reader and Cruz Tablet then you can now pre-order them now on Borders for $199.99 and $299.99, respectively. Unfortunately, all that's mentioned is that they'll be available on September 30th and October 15th, respectively, and that they have 7-inch (capacitive multitouch) touchscreen displays. Inside you'll find an 800MHz CPU and an unknown amount of RAM so maybe you'll want to test one out somewhere before you go ahead and buy one.

[Crunch Gear]

Okay, so back at Computex we heard that Asus' Eee Tablet would be hitting the market in September for under $299 (somewhere between $199 and $299) and now there's another rumour about the price - coming from Digitimes. The Eee Tablet which is an e-book reader with a monochrome (black and white) LCD display will reportedly be coming in October and will cost "under $599". This would definitely be overpriced for something like this and it would be a huge let down if Asus decides to launch this with anywhere near (or over) a $500 price tag.

[Crunch Gear, Slash Gear]

Amazon announced their new Kindle earlier today and it looks like they're already up for pre-order. The WiFi model is up here for $139, while the WiFi + 3G model is here for $189. Of course, if you were paying attention earlier today you know that this 6-inch e-book reader from Amazon will be available starting on August 27th.

[Engadget]

Augen is a company that has just released their 7-inch Android tablet over the weekend. It's up on Kmart here for just $149.99 so it might be a good deal if you're just looking to get your foot into the door. For the price, you'll get 2GB of internal storage, 256MB of RAM, WiFi support, and Android 2.1. Thankfully, this tablet also has access to the Android Market which is pretty good. Augen has mentioned that Kmart will have them in their stores later this week but for now you'll have to order one on their website.

Augen has also released the $89 TheBook e-book reader which is also sporting a 7-inch LCD display, but it's not running Android.

[Engadget]

This morning Sharp announced two of their prototype devices, they're e-book readers. The smaller one sports a 5.5-inch display and the larger one looks more like a tablet, seeing how it's sporting a 10.8-inch display. Both of these prototypes are sporting LCD displays and should stay that way when it hits shelves. The devices will use the XMDF format which is big in Japan, but it could also be making its way into the US as well. There's a rumour going around that Verizon will be Sharp's carrier of choice in the US. Stay tuned though because Sharp has mentioned that they do have two more prototypes coming later this year - hopefully they're tablets.

[Slash Gear]

Back in April we heard about the Velocity Micro Cruz which turned out to be a 7-inch Android tablet. Well, it's been shown off once more and this time there's a video (below). The one you see here in the picture and the video is confusingly named the Cruz Reader, which Engadget points out is actually more of a "full-fledged tablet" since it has access to games, apps, and web-browsing - basically things a tablet should do. This will be retailing for $199 and should be available soon. You can also expect their Cruz Tablet running Android sometime in August and that will actually cost you $299. The Cruz Tablet will feature 4GB of internal storage, an SD card slot (8GB in the box), and Flash support. Velocity Micro will also be releasing a $149 StoryPad which is said to feature a spill-resistant case with some basic functionalities.



[Engadget]

A new Acer e-book reader, the upcoming LumiRead 600 has just hit the FCC. This 6-inch device will be sporting a monochrome e-ink display, WiFi b/g support, a Freescale iMX357 532MHz CPU, and a 1,460mAh battery. We still don't know when this device will be available and the price is, of course, TBA as well. Check out the FCC filing here.

[Engadget]

On the 1st of this month you were able to order your graphite Kindle DX. Well, if you ordered the $379 e-book reader then you might want to know that you should be expecting yours really soon because Amazon is now shipping them. Time to get reading.

[Engadget]