Battle of the Budget Tablets - Nook Color vs. Galaxy Tab
by Vivek Gowri on May 25, 2011 12:52 AM ESTMeet the Contenders - Nook Color
The Nook Color is an interesting case. It’s technically an e-reader, and the included Android ROM never lets you forget that. But the spec-sheet says differently. A 7” 1024x600 IPS display, an OMAP3 SoC, and Android 2.2 for $249? Sounds like a budget tablet to me.
Gallery: Barnes & Noble Nook Color
On a hardware level, that’s basically what it is. As with most tablets, the front face is screen dominated, with a slightly larger-than-normal raised bezel and a stylised N beneath the display acting as the home button. The design of the Nook Color was handled by Yves Béhar and his team at fuseproject, one of the leading industrial design firms in the country.
You’d expect a device coming out of an elite design studio to have a very polished design, and the Nook Color definitely does. The design elements are very cohesive, with a final product that is at once attractive and very functional. The bezel is rendered in a metallic-look matte dark gray plastic, with a near-black rubberized back cover. Connecting the front and back faces is a matte silver rim around the four sides of the device, acting as a plastic band holding the device together. It’s a nice look, with slightly cooler shades of gray (probably 3-5% saturation of blue), and more importantly, the rounded edges make it very comfortable to hold, almost like a thin hardcover book. Almost makes you wonder if they meant for you to read books on it...
But the most notable industrial design feature of the Nook Color has to be the nook (for lack of better word) in the bottom left corner. It’s like a larger version of the through-holes you can find on some MP3 players and cell phones, but with basically no function beyond housing the microSD card slot (unless you really are planning on attaching a 7” tablet to a lanyard.) It’s more of a design quirk, one that adds a bit of character to the device, but an aesthetic element through and through. I’m a fan; it does a lot to break up the monotony that most tablets, especially ones with large bezels, suffer from while also making an amusing play on the Nook’s name.
The buttons and ports are built into the silver colored band, with the power button on the left side near the top, and the volume buttons near the top on the right side. The headphone jack is on the top and the microUSB on the bottom, as God intended them. The microSD card slot is built into the edge of the “nook” on the backside, under a flap bearing the Nook logo.
Overall, the Nook Color is bigger and heavier than the Galaxy, but that gives it a more significant feel in hand, and it definitely feels more durable and rugged than most of the other tablets out there. This is a combination of the larger bezel, the rubberized back, and the high quality matte plastic, and a welcome one. It’s a $250 device that really doesn’t look or feel like it.
Unfortunately, the spec sheet sheds some light on why it’s so much cheaper than the Galaxy. Let’s start with the CPU - it’s an OMAP3 processor, which means Cortex A8 and PowerVR SGX 530. So far so good. Specifically, it’s the OMAP 3621, an 800MHz part that is the basis of TI’s eReader platform. Okay, so an 800MHz A8 isn’t going to set the world ablaze, but it’s definitely livable, especially if we’re planning on tossing a bare-bones ROM onto this thing. Here’s the weird part. Like the Droid 2, the 3621 uses an IVA 2 DSP decode chip, and it can only do SD resolution video decode. So no 720p video.
Which is kind of a pity, because the display is gorgeous. It’s a 7” IPS WSVGA panel with a great contrast ratio, but we’ll get to that in a bit. Rounding out the rest of the specs, we see 512MB RAM, 8GB of onboard flash storage plus the microSD expansion slot, 802.11g wireless, an 8 hour battery, and a distinct lack of any cameras.
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Pessimism - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link
I'd LOVE to see a roundup review of all the offshore generic pad clones you listed off at the start of the article.VivekGowri - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link
Yeah, so would I, but I'm not going to hold my breath for review units - I'm still waiting on eLocity, Archos, and NotionInk.peldor - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link
My wife uses the rear-camera on her 3G Galaxy Tab all the time for facebook posts (and as you note, it's good enough for that).The $200 Tab at Verizon with a $20 data plan (1GB/mo I think) was the cheapest way to get her an Android device with mobile service. She loves it.
Also note, Kindle slipcases are a very good fit for the Tab.
cgalyon - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link
I've always been a fan of the Nook Color, it's just a great little device (largely thanks to the hacking of it). One little thing that I think makes a large difference (and isn't mentioned in the review) is the distance from the screen to the glass. The Nook Color's screen is very close to the glass (like on the Palm Pre). This just has a nicer feel to it, but it's a subtle difference.That said, I ended up getting a Galaxy Tab 3G (refurb at $260). Seems like an unbeatable deal.
smolten - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link
http://www.woot.com/The price difference is GONE! You can get a refurbed Galaxy Tab off of WOOT today only for 259.99!
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7" 16GB Android Tablet - Wi-Fi + 3G
$259.99
* + $5 shipping
Condition:
Refurbished
Product:
1 Samsung Galaxy Tab 7" 16GB Android 2.2, Wi-Fi + 3G (Sprint), microSD, BT, GPS, 3.0 & 1.3MP Cams
micksh - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link
in order to install CM7 to eMMC. So the process of installing a custom ROM a bit more complicated but still doable.vld - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link
Why wouldn't you include the Archos 101 Internet Tablet in the <$300 collection?smolten - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link
Archos 101 is completely garbage! My screen was damaged in one week after I got it. The resolution is horrible as well. The replacement device I got was brand new and when you clicked on the screen it would register someplace else. Avoid the Archosits cheap and horrible.
,
skyhawk21 - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link
Curious why the author of this article did not include an audio section to compare whichever version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab to the Barnes & Noble Nook Color?Nook Color:
* Mono speaker installed into back of Nook Color tablet faces backward
* Volume at loudest is mediocre at best
* For some reason audio channels are reversed through the stock firmware when using headphones
* Headphone port has noticeable static in background even with audio muted
* Headphone port not solid and has trouble inserting a 3.5mm cable
Galaxy Tab:
* Stereo speakers installed into bottom of tablet face downward
* Volume at loudest is noticeable
* Audio channels are correct
* Headphone port has no static present in background when audio is muted
* Headphone port is solid and handles 3.5mm cables firmly
- Also I do believe the original galaxy tab natively will play 720p videos smoothly and has a full complete working android market. You can play 1080p videos with third party android software
- Even with a rooted nook color the market has issues, applications have issues due to not finding a hardware GPS built in so those apps will not load. Also battery drain and sleep issues are present with the different third party firmwares available. Nook color has many issues with using 802.11 N mode WIFI with many routers.
- Original Galaxy Tab stock do not have any of these issues present!
I did not see this information in the article so I thought I would post it!
VivekGowri - Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - link
I never had any issues with the headphone jack on the Nook, though I agree the speaker is terrible. Also, I found Market to work pretty well on the Nook...all of the apps I tried worked fine, but I didn't do much as far as location-centric apps because I knew there wasn't GPS on the device.