Barnes & Noble launches the Nook HD and Nook HD+ tablets

The largest book retailer in the United States, Barnes & Noble, has introduced two new tablets, dubbed Nook HD and Nook HD+. In comparison to their predecessor, the mobile devices offer improved performance, higher pixel density and Bluetooth connectivity. Furthermore, the company claims both slates will be available for pre-order in October of this year in the UK and USA (shipping will start sometime in November) and will have starting prices of $199 (8GB, HD), and $269 (16GB, HD+).

Apparently, the 7-inch Nook HD is equipped with a Dual-Core Texas Instruments OMAP 4470 system-on-chip running at 1.3GHz and an In-Plane Switching touchscreen display of 1440-by-900 pixels native resolution (243ppi). In addition, the 11mm thick device is based on an Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system and houses 8-to 16GB of on-board storage (expandable via microSD card reader slot), 1GB of memory and a Wireless LAN 802.11 b/g/n adapter.

Moving up the price ladder, the Nook HD+ is described by the manufacturer as the “world's lightest Full HD tablet”. Weighing 515 grams, it sports a 9.7-inch IPS screen with a maximum supported resolution of 1920-by-1280 pixels (256ppi) and a Dual-Core TI OMAP 4470 SoC clocked at 1.5GHz. Moreover, the slate computer measures 11.5mm at its thickest point and features up to 32GB of internal storage (again, expandable via microSD), 1GB of RAM and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Reportedly, the Nook HD weighs 315 grams with the built-in 4,050mAh battery that lasts for around 10.5 hours on a single charge (Wi-Fi off), whereas the Nook HD+ has a battery life of up to 10 hours (9hrs when watching videos).  

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