The Digital Reader

It’s only 2 days since the Kindle launch and the NookColor, recently voted the most discounted tablet of 2011, is back on sale again. Daily Steals are offering a refurbished NookColor for $150.

The NookColor comes with a high resolution 7″ screen (1024 x 600) and a capcitive touchscreen, 8GB Flash storage, microSD card slot, Wifi, and Bluetooth(disabled). The refurbished  model has a 1 year warranty from B&N.

This tablet came out last fall and it is getting a little long in the tooth. But consider the price; there aren’t very many tablets new or old in this price range that are as good as the NC and only the Kindle Fire (announced this week) and the Kobo Vox  (comign soon) have the same high resolution screen. The specs of this ebook reader put it squarely in the budget tablet category, but few budget tablets are as finely finished or run software as polished as the NookColor.

The question to ask today is whether you should get this now or wait to see what B&N announce next month? It’s pretty clear to everyone that B&N are about to release a replacement. Not much is known about the NookColor Acclaim, but based on my sources it will be a major hardware update and is currently projected to cost around $350. That price will likely change, though; the Kindle Fire launch earlier this week is going to force B&N to offer the Acclaim at a lower price.

I’m thinking that this might be worth buying. The NookColor can be easily hacked and there are several third party firmwares for it, at least one of which includes the Android Market.