NOOKcolor is a logical step for new e-readers

Barnes & Noble, Inc. announced the launch of NOOKcolor, their version of a full-color touch Reader’s Tablet that delivers digital books, magazines, newspapers and children’s books in color, and all in one nicely designed, thin and highly portable device. Instead classifying it as just another tablet, it is rather a logical and advanced step of a reader which offers more diverse content.

Designed by Yves Behar from fuseproject, NOOKcolor is elegantly simple in classic graphite features an angled lower corner that evokes a turned page, along with a beaded border and a soft-touch back that makes holding NOOKcolor comfortable. The device is weighting less than 0.5 kg (15.8 ounces), and its dimensions are 20.6 cm (8.1 inches) in height, 12.7 cm (5 inches) in width and 1.2 cm (0.48 inches) in depth. Installed rechargeable battery offers up to 8 hours of operation without recharging with wireless off. It can charge from a wall outlet using the in-box Power Adapter or from a USB Cable.

NOOKcolor features a 7-inch color touch display which displays more than 16 million colors and offers a wide viewing angle (178°) for personal or shared reading. The special design provides enhanced color tuning, gradation and reduction of glare to reduce distracting reflections. It is operating at a resolution of 1024 x 600 delivering 169 pixels per inch (PPI). It has 8GB of internal memory. That’s approximately 6,000 NOOKbooks or a combination that might include 1,000 books, 25 full-color magazines, 10 newspapers, 50 kids’ books, 500 songs and 150 photos. It also has microSD card expandable memory.

You can stream tunes from your favorite artists over Wi-Fi with Pandora internet radio’s free, personalized music service or load your music in MP3 and AAC format which can be listened while reading by using the built in speakers or 3.5mm headphone jack.

The full-color touch device uses Android to present various digital content which ranges from bestsellers to favorite magazines in full color, interactive children’s picture books and enhanced cookbooks. The multimedia titles aren’t available at the moment but new editions will feature instructive video and audio to learn about travel, cooking, music and more. Their LendMe App enables NOOKcolor users to view LendMe books in their friends’ NOOKcolor digital libraries and request to borrow a title they’ve been meaning to read. Customers have the ability to easily lend their favorite NOOKbooks with friends through Facebook and e-mail, even using their imported Google Gmail contacts, and recommend a title, share reading status or a quote via Facebook, Twitter and e-mail.

You can customize the home page and Daily Shelf, organize and view your library your way, find the right text type, size and color theme that’s right for you, and read in portrait or landscape. Transfer and view personal PDF and ePub files to NOOKcolor, as well as JPG, PNG, GIF and BMP files, and use personal photos for wallpaper. With Quickoffice software you can view Microsoft Office files including Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Barnes & Noble invites content providers and application developers to create innovative reading-centric experiences through the new NOOKdeveloper program. This ensures development of more engaging content and applications in the coming months. This will ensure many entertaining software to be developed.

The content (NOOKbook) is interchangeable between NOOKcolor, NOOK 3G and Wi-Fi devices (following a NOOK firmware update in late November), third-party eBook Readers powered by the Barnes & Noble NOOKbook Store, and your favorite mobile and computing devices enabled with free NOOK software. These include iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android smartphones, and Windows-based PCs, laptops or netbooks.

NOOKcolor is available for pre-order for $249 and is expected to begin shipping on or about November 19, making it the perfect holiday gift for people who love to read everything.