Profiles
As being proved by the lock screen, Barnes
& Noble is really pushing the features this time – and it is not really
tricky to understand the reason. The families share their tablets, especially
the low-cost ones. However, while you are not hesitant to spend your money for
a $200 tablet, it is not necessary to put all of these contents on your
children’s hands. You can create 6 profiles for each device by clicking on the
user icon on the home screen. From here, you can freely create profiles for
different subjects, from adults to children. You can change the icon of the
profile by using clip-art or the built-in images which is saved on the device
as well as choosing the gender (you can also head for the non-specific-gender
version). Filled-in ages also help Barns & Noble identifying the “age-fit content”.
Nook
HD’s profile
On the next page is the checklist of
different content which you allow your children to access, as well as ranking
levels for movies and TV shows. Once finishing all of this and chose some
preference, Nook will recommend you some free content.
Shop
Nook Shop’s design is quite easy to
understand as it provides a rotating carousel for nice content at the left top
corner, with the list of different content (books, magazine, movies and TV…) on
the right. Below this are introductions which are split into categories like
“Passion for Fashion” and “Your Favorite Heroes” (comics). However, if you are
aware of what you are doing, just jump straight to the searching field at the
bottom of the page.
Nook
HD’s shop
It should be bear in mind that, just like
Fire, UI of Nook means that you cannot access the Google Play store. Instead,
the company chose to cooperate with developers to create more appropriate apps
for their device. And while B&N claimed to have every popular thing, there
are some absences that are really notable for instance the Spotify searching
will just provide a $12 copy of ebook, “Spotify for Dummies”. Who knows there
is such existence and really, if there is no application access, who would need
such thing?
Conclusion
Barnes & Noble has invested a lot in
hardware, and it has been showed. The Nook HD owns a magnificently small
screen, fast performance and outstanding industrial design compared to its
competitors and not really polarizing as its predecessors. It is mainly
designed for easily holding, the fact that echoes with the focus on reading
experience of the device. That main feature flows to software and turns the
magazines, comics and children’s book into an interesting experience in terms
of vision. With the price of $199 (ad-free) for the 8GB model and $229 for 16GB
model, it is a great hardware unit for those who are looking for a reader that
can process the normal game playing and high-definition videos. The addition of
profiles turns it into one of the most appealing thing for families with
children.
On the other hand, the “paper-like” UI does
not really bring good feeling. It is simple and sometimes unstable (although
the company has promised to fix it soon), lacking of the focus of Kindle Fire
HD and the full functionality (and Google Play access) of Nexus 7 running Jelly
Bean. The lack of the camera seems to be an awkward omission. However, in
short, the Nook HD is such a small and beautiful tablet at this price, although
in a segment that Kindle and Nexus are winners, asking people to jump for
another ship is relatively difficult.
Barnes
& Noble’s Nook HD with magnificent display
Info
·
Price: $199, $229
Advantages
·
Low cost
·
The beautiful and good hardware
·
Magnificent display
Disadvantages
·
The simple UI
·
Cannot access to Google Play
·
The software is not good enough when we write
this review
Verdicts
·
Nook HD is a good hardware unit with a nice
price which is somehow regretful due to the minimized Android
|
Nook HD specifications
·
Processor: Dual-core 1.3GHz OMAP 447
·
Graphics processor: PowerVR SGX544 @ 384 MHz
·
Display: 7 inch 1440x900
·
Density: 243ppi
·
Built-in storage: 8 GB/16 GB
·
Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth
·
Ports: Micro USB, 3.5mm headphone jack, power
port
·
Camera: no
·
Video playback: MP4 3GP, KV, TS, WEBM, AVI,
ASF
·
Battery: Lithium Ion,
·
Dimension: 194x127x11mm
·
Weight: 315g
|
