Yesterday what appears to be an updated Nook Touch turned up on the FCC website. Details are very sparse at this point, but at least it’s good to finally see some conformation that there is indeed a new Nook ereader in the works after all.
Barnes and Noble has hinted as much in recent months, but they’ve yet to announce anything official or even set a date for an unveiling event, and with November rapidly approaching time is running out fast. They have less than a month to start shipping new Nooks if they plan on taking full advantage of the busy holiday shopping season.
B&N requested that all the product images and user manual be embargoed for 90 days from the filing date, which is September 18th, so all we’ve got to go off of is one basic image of the new Nook’s backside.
One puzzling thing about the picture is the small protrusions that stick out on all four sides of the device, and the fact that one is smaller than the rest. I wonder what those are used for?
The few details revealed in the FCC documents include the model number, BNRV500, the battery size, 1,530mAh, and internal storage capacity of 4GB. Of course if it went through the FCC that means it has Wi-Fi too. But that’s pretty much it for details; I guess we’ll have to wait for B&N to make an official announcement to learn more.
I would guess that it certainly has an HD E Ink screen, but it will be interesting to see if it uses a Pearl display or the new Carta screens that are currently only found on the new Kindle Paperwhite.
Keep in mind that just because it was cleared by the FCC doesn’t guarantee it will be released. Remember Sony’s PRS-T3 found its way through the FCC a few months back, but then Sony decided to go ahead and not release it in the United States after all. Let’s hope that B&N doesn’t have a change of heart too.
In other Nook news, Barnes and Noble is running a sale on the Nook HD this week until the 26th. They have the price marked down from $129 to $109. But you can save a lot more if you go with a manufactured refurbished Nook HD for $69 from 1SaleADay via eBay. Don’t forget that the Nook Touch and Nook Glow are also on sale for $59 and $79 respectively.
The other notable thing is that the back seems to be flat, without the sunken portion of the current Nooks.
What do you mean? The rounded rectangle around the centered ‘n’ logo looks like the depressed portion to me. It looks like the just made it smaller which I think will be even better to hold.
This is (hopefully) good news for we Nook owners.
I will be interesting to see if these (potential) new Nooks can be ‘rooted’ as easily at the existing ones.
Oh I was talking to the Nook person at the store the other day and even she was hoping they would be updating soon. It would be interesting to see what they come up with.
Maybe it will include a cover, and the tabs along the edges secure the device inside the cover…?
It’s great to see continued innovation in the area of ereaders. I wonder how long it will be before all readers are selling for less than $30. Reminds me of what happened to calculators way back when. What do you think of Txtr’s Beagle reader?
The Beagle was nothing more than a poorly thought-out marketing ploy that flopped miserably. It wasn’t even really an ereader, more like a wireless display, and a poor one at that. The core display technology would have to change drastically to hit a price point below $30, or companies would have to sell them way below cost, but with the Kindle-dominate market and lack of competition that won’t happen any time soon. We aren’t far off though with some in the $50-70 range.
Yes — I’ve also wished that we’d see an e-reader under the $50 mark. One of the problems is that there is really only one vendor for e-ink screens. The big four, Amazon, B&N, Sony, and Kobo all get their screens from the same company. One of the things that happened is that everyone went higher resolution. Kobo and Sony with the Pearl HD screens and the Kindle Paperwhite with the Carta screen. This meant that prices either went up or at worst stayed the same.
Also — IMHO the addition of a front-light display as a standard for e-readers in the U.S. only served to (in general) change the focus of e-readers to the over $100 range. I would have rather liked to see more innovation with the sub $100 readers.
I’m glad B&N, Kobo, and Amazon all produce less expensive readers without lights. For my use case the light is a feature I don’t use and don’t need.
Really would like to see more innovation on the low end of the e-reader market.
I think we will ultimately see sub $50 readers. Heck, the fact that the basic Kindle and Nook can be had for under $80 is remarkable to me when one considers that not that long ago, Kindle 1 and the Sony PRS-505 were both well over $100 despite the fact that the newer devices are much better devices (well from ergonomics, the quality of the PRS-505 is something I miss quite a bit).
I hope so. Its just that in the past 1.5 years there has been no downward movement in price by any of the e-book vendors.
Yeah the prices are actually going up instead of down, a trend that will likely continue with the growing lack of competition.
Nathan — Agreed. Competition is key. That’s why I think we all really hope B&N stays in the e-reader market. And that Sony gets back into the North America market next year.
We need competition. Competition means innovation.
Well, I’m excited to see what they’ve come up with.
Btw: The Nook HD at $109 is an amazing price!! Can almost buy four Nook HDs for the price of the new iPad mini.
New B&N Nook info from CNET!
http://reviews.cnet.com/e-book-readers/barnes-noble-nook-glowlight/4505-3508_7-35831166.html