As expected, Barnes & Noble and Samsung on Wednesday unveiled the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook at a media event in New York. The device is designed to be a full-fledged Android tablet that also doubles as a solid e-reader but whether it'll be enough to get consumers interested remains to be seen.
The first tablet not manufactured by Barnes & Noble is basically a Galaxy Tab 4 loaded with Nook software. As a refresher, the hardware consists of a 7-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1,280 x 800 and is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core chip, 1.5GB of RAM and 8GB of internal memory (expandable via microSD card slot).
Other specs include a 3-megapixel rear camera, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing shooter, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, GPS and a 4,000mAh lithium ion battery good for up to 10 hours of Internet use or video playback. Cellular connectivity isn't an option so you'll have to rely on Wi-Fi to connect to the web.
The Nook software runs on top of Android 4.4 KitKat which means we aren't just looking at a Nook app preinstalled on an Android tablet.
The device is priced at $179 which is exactly what Samsung asks for their own version of the tablet. And in an effort to attract buyers, Barnes & Noble is offering $200 worth of free content and a $5 starter credit to anyone that buys the new slate.
Do you think Barnes & Noble made a wise decision in partnering with Samsung? Should they have kept building their own hardware or perhaps exited the tablet / e-reader business completely?