Nook Tablet Lack of Enthusiasm?

[AnimaTechnica]

One interesting bit of anecdote is that here in silicon valley there are a lot of brand new kindle fires offered at $25 -$35 discount on craigslist. I have yet to spot a nook tablet. Nook Colors are going as low as $120 slightly used. So im picking me up another NC at that price.

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[Abb0nz]

I see that B&N have stepped up the advertising with some well known personalities like Jane Lynch. Good stuff.

 

[filmo]

I was at Barns Noble today first look at Nook Tablet. Nice and noticeably faster than Nook color. Lady there to compare with Fire. I told her Nook software has been used for 1 year in color and is much better in Nook Tablet than slow buggy Fire software.

Big problem is do not see Nook Tablet in other stores that carry Fire but do see Nook Color that is good does not seem good enough to go against the Fire.

 

[J515OP]

I was at Barns Noble today first look at Nook Tablet. Nice and noticeably faster than Nook color. Lady there to compare with Fire. I told her Nook software has been used for 1 year in color and is much better in Nook Tablet than slow buggy Fire software.

Big problem is do not see Nook Tablet in other stores that carry Fire but do see Nook Color that is good does not seem good enough to go against the Fire.

Best Buy and I believe Office Max carry both. The funny part is they put them about as far apart as possible so that you can't do a side by side comparison. I'd put a stock Nook Color up against the Fire. The only thing that works well in my brief play time with Fire is the cover flow which is actually too fast to control. I was really amazed that for a book company (yes Amazon is a book company) and reader/tablet the fire missed the mark so badly when it comes to the reader. Even the original Nook Color software did a better job than the initial Fire reader software. Add in a year of tweaks to the Nook software and I think the Nook Color out does the Fire as an reader/tablet.

Despite the hype, getting the Fire out in the real world is proving to be a loser for Amazon as far as user satisfaction. Below is an article comparing it to the Edsel which is considered one of the greatest brand flops. Slightly more than 1/3 of the reviewers on Amazon's own review section rate the Fire with mixed reviews of 3 stars or less. By contrast the Nook Color was a runaway success in terms of expectations and sales thanks largely to its open boot loader but an exceeding success none the less.

Amazon slumps on Kindle Fire worries - MSN Money

 

[sjbenes]

Yep, here's another one...
Amazon: Kindle Fire update coming | Digital Media - CNET News

I can't decide if Amazon got caught with it's pants down (as far as the nook color is concerned), or bet too heavily on the Kindle eInk version. If they new the NC was coming, and I can't believe they didn't, then surly they must not have felt any pressure to try to keep up. Obviously, they had no idea that the NC was going to be the huge hit it became (who did?). But now, they're a whole year out of the game and it seems that from a lot of the reviews I've read (the real ones, the objective ones, not the 5/5 star ones from Amazon's loyal fan base), they may have rushed it out the door in an effort to stay in the game. And while they were getting their initial offering put together, B&N had a year to take a breath and refine it, tweek it, and work on things like the eReader, the screen, and their game plan. Now all they have to do keep their edge and not blow it!

I don't see anything wrong with two different companies vying for the top spot. I actually don't want to see one or the other go down. The competitiveness only drives the creativity. In the end, that's a really good thing for all of us who want better, cheaper, and more option crammed tablets.

 

[JArmandB]

I too am a happy NT owner. I personally have been lurking over in the XDA forums watching everything that is going on.

 

[ExtremeRyno]

I'm not going to get one mainly because I'm happy with my NC and my next upgrade will be to something with Tegra3 (or maybe whatever comes after that). The main reason I see for many people not getting the NT is that it hasn't got all the rooting buzz the NC had. It seems like just days after the NC came out there was already an easy and permanent way to root and use GApps that was simple enough for almost everyone. There were videos all over YouTube, all the tech sites were touting the NC's tablet abilities, and there was a lot of talk in the forums of other ereaders (the Pandigital Novel forum over at SlateDroid, was where I first heard of it)..

I was at a reading conference with my school system in Jan. of 2011 and met a number of older, non-techie people with rooted NCs. I've met NOBODY with the NT....And I think the lack of enthusiastic in the hacking arena is the issue behind lack of enthusiasm for the tablet itself. If I was seeing a lot of hype on the net about the merits of rooting, I might be persuaded to get one for myself....But there's absolutely nothing out there at this time.

 

[dansamy]

The NC didn't have a locked bootloader. It was very easy to permanently root it and to build custom ROMs for it. Now, the NT is locked up tight with a locked bootloader and efuse. That kills your dev community or slows them down incredibly. Look at how vibrant the community is for the original Droid phone. Compare that with how long it took to get ROMs for the Droid X. It wasn't until the dev communities got leaked keys that we really began to see custom ROM builds for locked bootloader phones like the Droid X, Droid 2, etc.

 

[scottfish]

I think the Nook Tablet is a nice piece of hardware. Barnes and Noble partnered up with great designers and manufacturers. In my eyes, here is why there is a lack of enthusiasm.

1) For the target market that buys it for being a Nook, the Nook Color is way more than sufficient and less expensive. Nook Tablet is overkill.
2) For the folks (like us) that will root and try to bring it up to its potential, it lacks little things like cameras that similarly priced (budget and sale priced) tablets do have. Given the option, an Android tablet that runs Nook software vs. a Nook that remains slightly cripple, the former seems obvious.

 

[AnimaTechnica]

+1 on this captured my sentiments exactly

i just picked up a slightly used nook color off craigslist for $120 - just load CM7, the nook app and google currents on it and i am a happy camper
at $250, the NT missed its target - they either need more features or lower the price

I think the Nook Tablet is a nice piece of hardware. Barnes and Noble partnered up with great designers and manufacturers. In my eyes, here is why there is a lack of enthusiasm.

1) For the target market that buys it for being a Nook, the Nook Color is way more than sufficient and less expensive. Nook Tablet is overkill.
2) For the folks (like us) that will root and try to bring it up to its potential, it lacks little things like cameras that similarly priced (budget and sale priced) tablets do have. Given the option, an Android tablet that runs Nook software vs. a Nook that remains slightly cripple, the former seems obvious.

 

[Sue7M3]

I bought my Mom a Nook Tablet for Christmas but I am sticking with my Nook Color. It does everything I want it to do. Since BN decided to lock down the NT's bootloader, custom ROMs, dual booting, Nook 2 Android cards, etc are all useless with it. I don't think you can run the Market on it either and even running a launcher on it seems like a hassle. Sure you can sideload apps but then you need another app to get them to display on the app shelf. The NC may be a tad slower, but it's hassle free. I think that's why this section is so quiet. It's not really a full Android tablet at all. I think BN blew it big time by locking the bootloader.

 

[sjbenes]

I think BN blew it big time by locking the bootloader.

Well, I think they had to do that in order to get the Netflix streaming HD. Some could argue that that's not an important issue, but you have to remember who their direct competition is. Amazon has a huge benefit with Prime, and since B&N doesn't yet have anything close to that, they have to partner with people who do.

Yes for anyone who wants to dual boot the NT (like me), it will probably never happen and that's disappointing but, this and the Fire are essentially entertainment tablets that were developed to allow their parent companies to continue to sell books. I for one would like to root it, but that won't be happening until the warranty is up at the earliest.

So I guess it's a little quiet here because for now at least, people are just buying it and using it as it was intended...

 

[idontknow]

I was at Best Buy yesterday and I was there the day after they put both tablets on display. Well back then I noticed that the nook tablet, which was displayed next to the Kindle Fire,didn't have a name or any information showing as all the other tablets did but back then I thought it was because they just took it out of the box to display it. Yesterday though, the poor NT was still on display with not even the name. I asked to a Best Buy guy the reason and he told me that they just took out the sign to correct something on it,.big lie .I wonder why they do that, next time I'm going to speak to a manager and I want to go to the other Best Buy I know of, in Miami...now I'm curious,why they bother to have the NT if they don't really want to sell it.
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[sjbenes]

Yesterday though, the poor NT was still on display with not even the name.

Hmmmm...that stinks! I saw it at my local Best Buy in IL and I do remember seeing a tag for it, although, it was nowhere near the Fire. I guess it must be up to the store where they put them, but it would have been nice to do a side by side comparison. I also saw it at the local Office Max, but again it was nowhere near the Fire.

 

[AnimaTechnica]

I was at Best Buy yesterday and I was there the day after they put both tablets on display. Well back then I noticed that the nook tablet, which was displayed next to the Kindle Fire,didn't have a name or any information showing as all the other tablets did but back then I thought it was because they just took it out of the box to display it. Yesterday though, the poor NT was still on display with not even the name. I asked to a Best Buy guy the reason and he told me that they just took out the sign to correct something on it,.big lie .I wonder why they do that, next time I'm going to speak to a manager and I want to go to the other Best Buy I know of, in Miami...now I'm curious,why they bother to have the NT if they don't really want to sell it.
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I was at best buy here in cali and they had both the fire and nt side by side. the fire was connected to the internet while the NT wasn't. guessing the retail sales people might have commisions tied to selling the fire...part of amazons marketing perhaps

Frankly though when you look at the home screens the interface fills up the fire while there is a lot of white space on the nook. Overheard first time observers think theres more capability on the fire because of this.

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