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Barnes & Noble appears to be working on a new eBook Reader with nearly twice the battery capacity of the NOOK Glowlight 4 and 4e.
An unannounced eReader from Nook Digital LLC showed up at the FCC this week, with the model umber BNRV1300-A.
While the FCC documents don’t tell us anything about the screen size, display technology, processor, storage, or price, here’s what we do know.
The new eReader will support Bluetooth 5 and WiFi 4 and it features a 2,500 mAh, 3.85V, 9.63 Wh battery.
By way of comparison, the NOOK 4 and 4e have a 1,500 mAh, 3.V, 5.25 Wh batteries.
One possibility is that the new model will last nearly twice as long on a charge as the NOOK Glowlight 4. But eReaders with E Ink displays already have battery life that’s measured in weeks or months rather than days. So it’s also possible that the bigger battery is an indication that the the next NOOK could have a bigger screen or some other power-hungry features like a faster processor or support for pen input.
Maybe B&N is looking to launch its first big-screen E Ink writing tablet to compete with the Amazon Kindle Scribe, Kobo Elipsa 2E, reMarkable 2, and other E Ink + pen devices. Or maybe I’m reading too much into the fact that this device has a bigger battery. It could also, for example, be an updated Nook GlowLight Plus eReader with 7.8 inch screen, but no one support.
Thanks Dave Zatz!