Barnes & Noble unveils an updated e-reader

BOOKSELLER AND E-BOOK VENDOR Barnes & Noble has unveiled an updated Nook e-reader.

The internet has been buzzing with speculative early sightings, specifications and alleged features built-in to Barnes & Noble's upgraded e-reader. Most of that speculation proved to be on the money as Barnes & Noble's chairman, Len Riggio hawked the company's e-book at a New York press conference today.

Tagged the simple touch reader, the entry level 6in Nook is light and black, weighing 7.5oz and now with a pearl display touchscreen for a better navigation experience. The screen uses the same Neonode infrared technology that Sony uses for its e-readers and the same e-ink as Amazon's Kindle.

The Nook will run Android 2.1 and will have an 800MHz ARM Cortex A8 CPU. Punters will also get 2GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot and WiFi, though no 3G. Annoyingly, the batteries aren't user replaceable but they are rechargeable, and should last for two months on a single charge.

Barnes & Noble claimed it is 35 per cent lighter and 15 per cent thinner than the original Nook and has 50 per cent better contrast. However, the bookseller was more interested in comparing it to Amazon's Kindle because that's where it is losing most sales. Barnes & Noble was at pains to point out the new Nook is a lot less complicated than Amazon's Kindle, which has over thirty more buttons.

Updated features include a fast page zoom, more fonts to choose and social-notworking additions like My Nook for sharing content with mates.

The Nook will be out from June 10 for $139 (£85.80), assuming it escapes Microsoft's lawsuit against Barnes & Noble for selling Android based e-readers. µ