Today Barnes & Noble and Samsung introduced their new co-branded Galaxy Tab 4 Nook tablet. It’s basically a copy of the 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 that I reviewed a few months ago, but with custom Nook software tweaks.
The retail price is the same as the Galaxy Tab 4: the list price is $199 but they are selling them for $179 from B&N.com. It’s available in white and black, and they are shipping right now.
B&N is giving customers an incentive to buy their new tablet by giving away $200 of free Nook content, plus a $5 starter credit.
The fine print indicates the following content is free:
- $5 promotional credit
- 3 Nook applications: Doodle Farm, Astraware Crosswords Deluxe, and Hidden Object Home Makeover
- 3 Nook Books: I am Number Four by Pitticus Lore, Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and The Wanderer by Robyn Carr
- 3 Nook Videos: one (1) episode each of Orphan Black, Hannibal and Veep
- 3 first-time NOOK Magazine 14 day trial subscriptions from the following selected titles, including the current and past 12 issues: Cooking Light, Cosmopolitan, Food Network Magazine, HGTV Magazine, Men’s Health, People, Real Simple, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, US Weekly, WIRED and Women?s Health.
That last offer is pretty lame for magazine trials, especially when you can get hundreds of free magazines from the local library without ever having to return them.
B&N doesn’t get very specific with the specs of the Galaxy Tab 4 Nook, but everything appears to be exactly the same as the regular Galaxy Tab 4. The IR blaster is even shown in the pictures, even though B&N does not mention the feature at all anywhere on the description pages. Below are the specs for the Galaxy Tab 4 since B&N is lacking in that department; presumably everything is the same for the Nook version.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Specs
- 7 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel display (212 ppi)
- 1.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm processor
- Android 4.4 KitKat operating system
- 1.5GB RAM
- 8GB internal storage
- MicroSD card slot for cards up to 32GB
- 3MP rear camera and 1.3MP front-facing camera
- Dual-Band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n
- Built-in IR blaster, which allows you to use the tablet as a universal remote control
- Use two applications at once
- Multi-user mode, including kids mode
- Bluetooth 4.0
- GPS
- Micro USB port
- Speaker, headphone jack, mic
- 4,000 mAh battery.
- Battery life: up to 10 hours
- Dimensions: 7.4" x 4.25" x 0.35"
- Weight: 9.74 ounces
Update: Here’s some hands-on reports and video reviews showing the new Galaxy Tab 4 Nook in action.
From the pictures, it looks beautiful, very sleek. I look forward to handling it and watching one of your video reviews. Hopefully, this will be a good move for Barnes and Noble. I really like the store and would like to see it do well. I realize they have severed the e half and the brick and mortar half, but I still want the business to prosper.
There won’t be any reviews from me for this Nook, I’m afraid. Since I already reviewed the 7-inch Galaxy Tab 4 I don’t see any reason to buy the Nook version just to try B&N’s tweaked software. I’d like to test it out at a store but there aren’t any nearby. The Galaxy Tab is a really nice and sleek tablet, it’s solid hardware and the Samsung display looks fantastic despite the lower resolution, so the Nook version should be a good tablet too. I’m interested to see what B&N did with the software because Samsung’s interface was one of the things I really liked about the Galaxy Tab 4. Once someone does a YouTube video showing the Nook software in action I’ll post it.
Would have been nice if they had put the Nook logo on the tablet in addition to the Samsung logo.
Its a really good deal — with the content.
I played with it today at Barnes & Noble. It froze up about three times. Not good.
I saw review of the Samsung Nook tablet on YouTube on pocket now’s channel,same Galaxy 4tab it just has Nook stuff on top.
No e-ink? I’d prefer a color e-ink tablet. Much classier than an LCD screen.