It looks like Barnes & Noble plans to get back into the tablet space. The company stopped selling its own NOOK-branded tablets a few years ago, instead partnering with Samsung to release NOOK editions of some of the company’s tablets.
But now a new device called the NOOK Tablet 7″ BNTV450 has passed through the FCC, suggesting that B&N plans to sell a tablet under its own brand name once again.
The new tablet seems to be a cheap Android model with support for the Google Play Store and other apps, but which also features B&N’s NOOK software for purchasing and reading eBooks, periodicals, audiobooks, and other content.
While we’ll probably have to wait for an official announcement before we know the price, screen resolution, or some other key specs, here’s what we know about the NOOK Tablet 7″ from the FCC documents:
- MediaTek MT8163 quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor with Mali-T720 MP2 graphics
- 3000, 11.1 Wh mAh battery
- 802.11a/b/g/n dual-band WiFi
- Bluetooth 4.0
- Front and rear cameras
- Mono speaker and 3.5mm headset jack
- Micro USB prot
- microSD card slot
The tablet may have the NOOK logo on it, but it’s manufactured by a Chinese company called Shenzhen Jingwah Information Technology Co., Ltd.
Tablet Monkeys speculates that the new NOOK tablet may be B&N’s answer to Amazon’s $50 Fire tablet, and I tend to agree that this is a strong possibility given the spec sheet. Samsung doesn’t currently sell a tablet in that price range, which could be the reason B&N decided to work with another device maker to revive the NOOK tablet brand.
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I wonder if the display resolution will be low like the Amazon tablets, or higher like the last generation of Nooks? In their day, the Nook HD and HD+ had nicer screens than anything remotely in the same price range.
If it’s under $100, it’s going to be low res.
Rumored to be 800p, as you’d expect if they are designing it for a ~$50 selling price. There’s nothing to indicate they are cutting ties with Samsung, they are just looking to head further down the price ladder than Samsung’s current range allows them to go.
B&N added the Play Store to their previous Nooks in a software update. Not surprised that it’s included with newest Nook.
I still have a nook hd+. I love that retina screen with 3:2 screen ratio. I wish more manufacturers would adopt it. Microsoft has. I have a surface 3 too.
Samsung is coming out with a 3:2 high resolution convertible chromebook soon. It’s a little expensive though.
https://liliputing.com/2016/10…
This is quite the thrill. Hope Santa brings me one. 😉
I wonder if they’re planning on keeping the premium models in the lineup.
If they can deliver a moderate quality product at a low price point (like the $50 Fire), I think this will be a good move for B&N. I just hope it’s not a cheap piece of junk. I was thinking about buying a Fire tablet. I’ve read a bunch of reviews. Seems to be a good tablet for the price. I’d rather have a Nook at around that quality and price. I’m more invested in B&N’s ecosystem and I don’t want to have to go through the trouble of sideloading the Play Store on a Fire.
It seems highly likely … Samsung cannot provide them with a tablet they can sell in price competition with the $50 Amazon tablet, but with Samsung they get a much broader range of higher end tablets than they could ever afford to develop themselves. So this makes a lot of sense as a move to plug a hole in their product range. Ever since they screwed the pooch by leaving Google Play out of the Nook HD on release, only adding it after it was too late, the Nook division has been faced with working out how to survive as a smaller player in a bigger market. Their two main targets are regular customers of B&N brick and mortar stores, and ebook readers people who don’t want to live inside the Amazon ecosystem. But if they cannot match the bottom end in price, they will still lose people who would… Read more »
Big improvement over the Fire tablet: Google Play store. Amazon’s app store is complete trash and is the main reason I’m returning my Fire tablet. Hopefully this new Nook runs Android 5.0 and up but either way just having a better app store makes a big difference in that price range.
It kinda depends on the usage… I prefer Amazon’s app store for my kids’ games. Their “Actually Free” apps are great – we never have to worry about them either accidentally clicking and buying something, or getting upset because they can’t access some pay-to-play feature.
Even for my own “primary” tablet, I’d give a pretty close look at a Fire if they had something comparable to an Asus ZenPad S8 in terms of screen size/resolution.
That sounds like a great feature, but the Play Store actually has a wider selection of games, so for an actual tablet gamer there’s really no competition. FYI I’m personally not big on gaming. Things like productivity apps (office, cloud storage, etc.) and web browsing are what I mainly wanted to use the Fire Tablet for, and I was majorly disappointed by the lack of Google Drive, Docs, and Chrome. The Amazon alternative to those apps also suck terribly, if they happen to carry an alternative at all.