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The screen is a 1024x600 ips display, similar to the iPad, but trumps it in terms of pixel density. The screen also has an anti-glare screen coating that should improve readability (both indoors and out), but don't expect it to match e-ink devices. In the brief demo we received the screen looked gorgeous, even under less than ideal lighting conditions. The NOOKcolor has 8 gigabytes of storage included (enough for around 6,000 books) and a microSD card slot for expanding storage. Unfortunately, wireless is limited to Wi-Fi; Barnes & Noble decided to skip 3G connectivity for now, presumably to keep costs down. The lack of 3G also keeps battery life at a respectable, but hardly stunning, eight hours.
In addition to reading digital tomes purchased from the NOOKstore, the NOOKcolor will read office documents, display photos and play music and video files. (It even comes preloaded with Pandora for streaming music while reading.) Barnes & Noble is also launching a developer kit for building additional applications for the platform. Expected extras, like the ability to look up information on Wikipedia or the built-in dictionary are included, as is the ability to take notes and browse the Web. The NOOKcolor also takes great pains to be "social," allowing you to recommend books or share quotes via Facebook, Twitter or Google Buzz.
To highlight the power of the color screen, Barnes & Noble is also launching NOOKkids, loaded with full-color picture books aimed at the younger demographic. The kids titles even include a feature called "Read to Me," which is essentially an included audio book read by a professional (as opposed to a robotic, computer-generated voice).
Media weren't allowed to get any hands-on time. Instead, we were only allowed to handle surprisingly heavy dummy units, and demos were performed by official reps to keep our greasy blogger paws off the device. The software seemed stable, though it stuttered occasionally (the company has a few more weeks to iron out the kinks). The form factor felt comfortable in the hand, though the heft has us worried that long reading sessions may become uncomfortable,
The NOOKcolor is available for pre-sale starting tomorrow and will ship on November 19. The NOOKcolor will be available in Best Buy, Walmart and BAM (Books-a-Million), in addition to the thousands of Barnes & Noble locations across the country and, of course, online.
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