Nook HD, a review

I never had any interest in the Nook line of tablets. While I am very interested in selling ebooks to Nook users, I didn’t want a Nook tablet, since the app selection was too heavily curated, which meant the device’s usability was limited. But then B&N added Google Play to the HD tablets, which was intriguing. Then the price dropped to $150 for the weekend, and I needed something to test Nook books anyway, so I decided to give it a shot.

With the additional of the Google Play store, the Nook HD goes from being an ereader with a few extra functions to a full-fledged Android tablet that happens to have a very heavy Nook skin laid on top. Most Android apps install on the device now (in fact, the first one I installed was the Kindle app), and you get the full suite of Google apps for Android – Gmail and Maps and the like.

Physically, it’s quite impressive – the contoured sides make for easy gripping, and the screen is quite nice and easily the match of the retina iPad models. In fact, the screen is nice enough that it’s almost the equal of reading on an eInk display.

It’s too bad B&N didn’t include Google Play from the beginning – I suspect the company may have shot itself in the foot (or possibly the heart) with that oversight, since Google Play massively improves the Nook HD’s value. It looks like the Nook store will wind up becoming a subsidiary of a larger company, like Kobo and Rakuten, and will discontinue producing tablets in favor of pure media sales. Which is a pity, because the Nook HD is really quite a good piece of hardware. So if you’re in the market for a low-cost tablet, get the Nook HD while it lasts.

-JM