The fierce competition between Barnes & Noble and Amazon continues with the battle between the Nook HD and Kindle Fire HD. While the Amazon touts the Kindle as the premium digital content ecosystem, B&N dubs the Nook HD as the "world's best 7" media tablet." The Kindle HD is now available, while the Nook HD will launch at the end of October. While critics have yet to receive a retail copy of B&N's device, many editors from respected tech sites had positive things to say about the tablet.
"One thing's for certain, Barnes & Noble is clearly serious about competing in the tablet space. Not only from a price perspective, but in performance as well. The company has taken the Nook Tablet concept and heavily iterated on it -- much like Amazon did with the Fire HD. It's too early to tell, of course, which offers the better value, but that will depend on more than just specs and pricing. Luckily, I don't have to decide that today, as this will be a tough one."
"We spent precious little time actually handling the Nook HD, but from what we've seen so far this is definitely a tablet to keep an eye on, and one which will give the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD a run for their money.
It remains to be seen if Barnes and Noble's Nook Store can offer up the same wealth of books, comics, apps and videos as found on the likes of Amazon and Google Play, plus the customer will ultimately decide if the design is winner, but it's so far so good for this new 7-inch contender."
"Overall, I'm excited to try out the new Nook models. It's easy to forget that Barnes & Noble is a player in the tablet space, but it showed today that it's not going anywhere. Amazon, watch out! You can pre-order the Nook tablets at Nook.com and check them out at Barnes & Noble and some other select retailers around the U.S. and UK."
"We were very impressed by the Nook HD's lightweight build and comfy design, particularly as it was much easier to hold in one hand than the Google Nexus 7. It's certainly a contender for the 7-inch tablet crown "
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