Barnes & Noble Nook Color Mini-Review
Yea, I know what you are thinking….old news right? The Nook Color was released ages (or is that eons) ago in tech years so why would I even bother to review it now? Well, rest assured I have my reasons….and they not as nefarious as you might think! You see, recently Barnes and Noble made some major (aka, HUGE) updates to the Nook Color, taking it from simple e-reader right on up to tablet status. What does that mean in non-babble talk….well, think Angry Birds for starters.
When I first saw the Nook Color I was very impressed with the hardware itself, good looks, felt solid in my hands and a fantastic screen. All of this for only $249??? After about two minutes of very irrational thought I quickly plunked down the cash and ran home with my new toy expecting to be up well into the evening in a state of gadget nirvana. Boy was I wrong.
Two hours after getting this thing un-boxed I was already packing it up to go back. Why? Even through the hardware was great the software was anything but. Let’s be clear, it sucked. Big time. Not only was the interface painfully slow but most of the applications would sometimes become non-responsive to screen taps exactly when you needed it most. My frustration level quickly hit my limit and back to Barnes & Noble the Nook went.
Flash forward to today and all I can say is WOW, has this 7 inch tablet been changed, and by only a simple software update! You see, it turns out that the Nook Color’s real problem boiled down to what version of the Android OS it was running (which was 2.1 when I first tried it). The latest update from Barnes & Noble has that problem licked by updating the Android OS to version 2.2 (code named “Froyo”). If you already own a Nook Color and you have not already downloaded and installed the update you should do so at your earliest convenience since this update is well worth it!
With the 2.2 update not only was the performance issues addressed, but they also added the ability to install 3rd party applications. Unfortunately it’s not the full Android Market but you do get your fix of the usual popular applications such as Angry Birds and Pulse News (one of my favs). So the Nook Color now has Apps, check.
In addition to the already mentioned items the Nook received Barnes & Noble’s very weak attempt to create a “social” networking app which was so incredibly pointless I won’t even bother discussing it further here. Not like you can’t just hit the build-in App Store for your social app of choice anyway…
So what’s the bottom line, is the *new* updated Nook Color worth my (and your) hard earned $250? Short answer is yes, but barely. If you already own an iPad, sorry I just wasted your time since there is no way in hell you are going to like the Nook Color. It’s no iPad and it does not pretend to even be at that level. If you don’t already own a Jesus tablet and you are dead set on not spending over $300 then the Nook Color is the one to buy. If you’re a die hard Android fan then your gonna want to take a closer look at some of the newer “Honeycomb” tablets from vendors such as Motorola or Acer since they are far more iPad-like and provide full access to the Android Market.