Barnes and Noble is gearing up to release a new e-reader sometime in the next few months. This will be the second major release in the past couple of months, since the Nook Glowlight 4, which came out in December. Barnes and Noble has just attained FCC certification, which is the last step that is needed to sell a products in the United States.
Whenever Barnes and Noble submits an FCC application, certain aspects of the device is under an embargo. This means that until August, the manual, pictures and many other specs are not available to the public. I have been analyzing e-reader FCC applications for a long time, so I recognize some tell tale siring numbers for some internal components.
The new Nook is expected to be an entry level e-reader, that is going to compete against the Kindle Basic and Kobo Nia. It should feature a six inch screen with under around 227 PPI. The lighting system should comprise of white LED lights for the front-lit display, but it remains to be seen if they will also include amber LED lights for a color temperature system.
Underneath the hood is an unknown processor, but its likely a Freescale/NXP 1GHZ Solo Lite and likely will have 512MB of RAM, since nobody uses 128MB anymore. There is 8GB of internal storage that is provided by a KLM8G1GETF–B041 EMMC. There is an Asus EXA1205UA USB-C port that will will charge the device and also transfer data. There will be an included USB-C to USB-A cable that comes inside of the retail packaging. You will be able to connect up to the internet with its 2.4 GHZ WIFI to buy books from the Nook website or checkout some of the content available Nook Readouts. Like most Nook e-readers, it will have Bluetooth 2.1, but I doubt there will be audiobook functionality to take advantage of it. It will be powered by a EVE Energy 1500 mAh battery, which should provide a months worth of charge.
I believe Barnes and Noble is going for a 3 SKU strategy for their Nook e-readers. This new model should fill the gap for the entry level model, that should cost under $99, while the Nook Glowlight 4 is midlevel and normally costs $149.99. The Nook Glowlight Plus 7.8 is their large screen premium e-reader, but it is sold out, primarily due to EPD and component shortages.
Editor-in-chief| michael@goodereader.com| + posts
Michael Kozlowski has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past twelve years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
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