If a seven-inch tablet just isn’t big enough for reading, then maybe Samsung’s newest ten-incher will do the trick.
The Galaxy Tab 4 Nook 10.1, announced dnesday, is the second tablet born of the new partnership between Barnes & Noble Samsung. The companies paired up for a seven-inch, Nook-bred tablet just two months ago.
The bookseller has stopped building its own hardware farmed manufacturing duties out to Samsung, which always seems keen to make even more devices. ile the new tablets put Nook content up front with custom software, they also include the ay Store. You’ll be able to sign in with your account install any supported Android apps, which of course means you can download Amazon’s Kindle app (though Barnes & Noble naturally didn’t highlight that fact in the press release).
The Galaxy Tab 4 Nook is launching with an “introductory price” of $300 directly from B&N, which implies the cost may eventually jump up, though it’s likely just marketing speak. To sweeten the deal, buyers get four e-books for free an episode each of The Newsroom, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Octonauts. Other perks include four, 14-day free trial magazine subscriptions.
The internals match up with the non-Nook Galaxy Tab 10, sporting a 1280 by 800 screen with 149 pixels-per-inch. The tablet has 16GB of storage, expable to 64GB with an SD card. It has a 3Mcamera 1.3Mfront facer, if you really plan on taking photos with your 10-inch tablet.
The story behind the story: Once the king of booksellers, Barnes & Noble’s market whithered away with the rise of Amazon its dominant Kindle. The Nook line of e-ink e-readers tablets was its answer, though it didn’t quite catch fire as the company had planned. In fact, Nook business has plummeted this year.
Barnes & Noble’s next move is to split off its Nook division into a separate company to focus on digital content, with the old-school branch honing in on running traditional bookstores.
