They could have just called it the Nook Color 2!

• Nook Tablet is a metallic silver instead of a dark gray and has a more textured back.
• Nook Tablet weight almost 1.5 ounces less than the Nook Color

• Access to streaming movies/TV via Netflix (you just have to download the app).
• New nook Comics support.
• Improvements to the book reading experience (read in portrait/landscape & more font sizes). Way nice.
• PagePerfect™ NOOK Books™ - a whole new category of NOOK Books carefully crafted to keep the precision and beauty of their stunning print versions. Zoom in on pictures, and fluidly scroll through pages of beautiful cookbooks, art books, and more. 
• Direct look-up of words in the built-in dictionary.
• The nook button (n) has been revamped to pop-up and include more places.  Double tap home to get to the home screen.
• The button for font changes in book reading is a small caret by page number.
• Video support via Flash player.
• Shop enhancements are nice and it runs faster (to me).

So my impressions are that after an hour of playing this is a pretty solid update. The netflix streaming was nowhere as smooth as my iPad but it was usable. The shop app updates are nice. I know a LOT of people have been waiting for landscape reading and it seems to work well (2 column layout).  

You know, given how some devices I own have been abandoned (Galaxy Tab 7) I think it's great to see B&N hasn't left the nookColor in the dust as with their new nook Tablet on the scene :) 

If you don't want to wait for the update you can get more information and download it on the B&N site here.

If you have a rooted device or sideload apps you should wait before applying this update as B&N has closed sideloading. I think this is a huge mistake - but hopefully you'll be able to root this version soon and bypass that restriction.

Today the new nook Tablet was announced! What - wasn't the nook Color a tablet? Well, yes and no...

The nook Color is an Android tablet with a customized interface that focuses on reading material (books, magazines, etc). It has an app store the is powered by the B&N website (not the Android Market). The nook Color has been hugely popular by people wanting a cheap tablet device that typically install another version of Android over the top of the B&N version. So with the nook Color why a nook Tablet? I'm going to make some educated guesses ...

Reason #1: Tablet is a popular word.  The word is talking about tablets, and B&N has one but it's been considered by most as an eReader. The new device is capitalizing on the tablet craze. While more powerful it's no more a tablet than the nook Color in my opinion.

Reason #2: Multimedia. The nook Color doesn't have all the power to stream HD video (some overclock/hack the nook to boost it's performance). The new nook Tablet has a dual core processor and 1GB of RAM - not to mention a special Netflix app that is supposed to be "over the top" compared to other netflix tablet apps.

Reason #3: Kindle Fire. B&N now has a device to serve as a platform for streaming video and video downloads. The new Kindle is a multimedia tablet and the nook Color was an "eReader" (in theory). B&N is planning on staying in the eReader/Tablet business and they don't want to fall behind!

The nook tablet is the same dimensions as the nook Color, same screen size, and the same design (but different shade of gray). The device is lighter than the nook Color (which is a good thing). According to B&N the battery isn't smaller they have just optimized the device for better power optimization (10+ hours).

So is the nook Tablet worth the upgrade?  If you are using the nook device as a tablet and want to consume multimedia content it might be - especially if you are trying to pick between them ($199 versus $249). I don't think it's a worthwhile upgrade for nookColor users that primary use it as an eReader. The device is really just a nice hardware upgrade - that's it.

In other news the nook Touch is now $99 and has an upgrade to make it faster and increase the already great battery life. If you are looking for just reading books (not watch movies or read magazines) I love my nook Touch. :)