eReaders

MWC 2012 is going on right now in Barcelona, and Qualcomm is there to show off their Mirasol screen.

Chippy of UMPC Portal shot this short video in Qualcomm’s booth. It shows the same device we’ve seen everywhere, including at CES, but Chippy does include a few interesting details. Qualcomm’s new manufacturing plant is under construction, and it is expected to open late this year. Hopefully that means we’ll see this screen on more devices in 2013.

Barnes & Noble launched an 8GB Nook Tablet yesterday, but that wasn’t all they did. They also finished an update for the older 16GB Nook Tablet.

According to B&N, the update includes bug fixes and system improvements. Early reports suggest that it also has a replacement email client and a new Netflix app. Some users have complained about these apps, so I’m sure they will be pleased with the change.

The update will be pushed out to you this week. But if you don’t want to wait, you can download the update here.

Do you recall how everyone says that Amazon sells the Kindle Fire at a loss so they can make it up on content sales? It looks like B&N has settled on the same strategy.

B&N has put the Nook Tablet on sale today. This is a new, not refurbished, tablet and you can get it on Ebay for only $200 (enter the code CNOOKDEAL to get the discount). Needless to say, that is a very good deal.

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Here at eBookNewser we’ve been reading eBooks for years, but we realize that many people out there are still nervous about digital books. In fact, last month at the Digital Book World conference in New York, Kelly Gallagher, VP, publishing services at R.R. Bowker, revealed that 74% of book buyers have never bought an eBook. To help make the transition smoother, we’ve put together a list together to demystify eReaders.

1. eBooks don’t feel or smell as good as print books. Do you really read books for how they smell? eBooks have the same great stories as their print counterparts and you can carry around a lot more with you than you can print books.

2. eBooks are expensive. This is not true. eBooks are usually  cheaper than their hardcover counterparts. Plus there are millions of free eBooks out there in the public domain. And while eReaders used to be fairly pricey, these days you can get an eReader new for less than $100 and they are even cheaper if you get one second hand on eBay. Read more

Daily Steals has a great deal today. They’re carrying the Nook Touch, Barnes & Noble 6″ eReader, for only $69.

It’s a refurbished model, but it comes with the same warranty and service of the new ones. This truly is  good deal, and it beats the best price of the Kindle by $10.

It’s surprising how prices continue to drop, isn’t it? We’re only  few months away from the Nook Touch hitting the $99 price point, and now it’s selling for $69. At this rate, we could well see the Nook or Kindle reach $50 by April.

Daily Steals

If you’re like me and you cannot stop at just a single tablet, I have some good news for you. Walmart has the Kindle Fire on sale for the next couple weeks. It’s selling for the regular price, but it comes with  $50 gift card.

The KF is just over 2 months old, and it is already on sale. That would seem to suggest that sales aren’t quite as good as Amazon might hope. And I think this sale suggests that just the Kindle Fire is doing poorly, because Walmart isn’t offering  similar deal on anything else.

While this isn’t strictly a sale, it still comes to a very nice deal. It’s easy to spend $50 at Walmart; just buy another gadget. But if you do, please be careful about how you buy it. If you buy  product online and decide to return it, you will have a lot of trouble should you take it to a store.

Walmart

It looks like the UK eReader price war is starting to heat up a little. Go check the Asda website today and you’ll see that they’ve dropped the price of the Kobo Touch.

When they first started carrying the Kobo Touch in early December, Asda priced it at £107. That price prompted WH Smith, Kobo’s new UK ebookstore partner, to drop their price to £99. And today we see Asda’s response.

This is happening rather slower than I expected, but it’s a good sign nonetheless. The UK eReader market is getting as competitive as the US market. In fact, it might actually be more competitve now.

Consider the prices. In the US you can get an ad-supported Kindle for $79 or an ad-supported Kobo Touch for $99 ( $20 difference). But in the UK you can get a Kindle for for £89 or the Kobo Touch for £87. Who knows, we might even see Amazon lower their price in response to Asda and WH Smith.
That would be good for everyone.

Barnes & Noble only puts the NookColor on sale on days ending in ‘y’, and that probably explains today’s offer.

B&N is selling refurbished NC on Ebay today for $20 off the regular price. That’s a decent price for this 7″ tablet, but it is also not the best price. B&N has put the NC on sale for as low as $99.

Ebay

It didn’t take long for the Nook Tablet to get hacked, and in short order the Nook Tablet had  full suite of Google apps, support tools, and more. But one thing that was lacking was  root technique that made it super easy, so almost anyone could do it. That changed today.

A hacker going by the name of Indirect has just posted instructions on how you can root a Nook Tablet with just a microSD card. His method hacks the Nook Tablet and installs Google apps (Android Market, Gmail, etc).

This technique requires at least a small amount of technical skills. You’ll need to be able to format a petition on the microSD card. That’s where you will copy the hack files before inserting the card in your Nook Tablet. After you have the card ready to go ll you hve to do is insert it into a powered down Nook Tablet

via XDA Forums

If you haven’t made plans to attend the Tools of Change Conference, which is coming up in another few weeks, be prepared to drool with envy. O’Reilly will be having an eReader petting zoo on the last day of the conference, and we already have a couple dozen devices waiting to go on display.

Over the past couple months I have been working with Joe Wikert to bring together various tablet and eReader manufacturers. I’ve also dipped into my collection to provide some eReader that you might not see elsewhere.

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