Nook Tablet first impressions: sweet !

Yesterday i got to play around with the new Barnes and Noble Nook Tablet. Below is a slideshow of the pics i snapped on my iPhone (the slideshow is made on my flixlab iphone app )

The Nook Tablet is an update of the Nook Color, which was B&N's entry into the android tablet market.

The Color did well, so B&N doubled down with an update aptly called the Nook Tablet. 

++ I may do a more detailed unboxing of the Tablet / a comparison to the Nook Color later on. 

But in terms of first impressions, i came away impressed. The price point is the first thing you notice, it is only $249. This puts its as a square competitor to Amazon's Kindle Fire (and both are going to be a real challenger to iPad 2 this christmas, since the iPad comes in about $300 more for the lowest model).

Some highlights:

1. The Tablets screen was real sharp. I streamed lord of the rings via netflix in HD, and it was crystal clear and sharp as a tack.
2. The interface was friendly and easy to explore. There was a very detailed "how-to" / getting started guide that you can launch from the home screen.
3. The android interface was redone with B&N's take on it, to really really focus on media consumption : Books and Movies. Both books and movies got spots on the home screen tray, and the main home screen real estate was dedicated to the most recent media. 
4. Inside the Books themselves, there was a number of slic features like: bookmarking, highlighting, and sharing your highlights. This is definitely the future of ebooks : social sharing and connections around content directly inside ebooks. Could evolve into a game changer .
5. The nook had a newstand, and it seemed like it had a better title selection that the iOS news stand. 

Some cons:

1. No cameras. But then again the Nook Tablet never claims to be an all purpose tablet like the iPad. So it stays true to its mission of being 110% focussed on media consumption: books, movies, and apps.
2. If you want to get your android app into the Nook, you have to redo some parts of your app to play by Nook's specific rules for apps. So its a little bit of a Porting investment. 
3. No 3G option. So you need wifi.

Overall i was impressed. It really is a great device for a great price. Check out the slideshow above.