A new nook device?  Today we have an 18 month old eInk device and a 6 month old LCD device from B&N. Seems for a "bookstore" B&N is quite trendy when it comes to gadgets lately eh?  The nookColor has been selling quite well due to the buzz about using it as a cheap Android tablet (BTW: It functions quite well as a color eReader).  

So what is next?  Will B&N come out will a larger version of the nook Color running the new Android Tablet OS version "Honeycomb"? Will it be a new eInk device to compete with the new Kindle and Kobo reader near the $99 price range?

I think right now the nookColor is a hot item. I don't think B&N is likely to throw cold water on it and they really can't do much to improve on it from a hardware perspective unless they plan on being a company in the tablet business. The original nook is looking old.  The color 2nd screen didn't help the battery and to be honest I'm not sure it was that revolutionary because B&N took so long to really get the system solid.  Given the youth and popularity of the nookColor, my prediction is the next nook device will be an updated eInk device that will have a touchscreen and sell for $119.  That's my wild guess :)

According to B&N we'll know more on May 24th!  So what's your prediction?

We've been waiting for this day ever since we heard about the Home Shopping Network NookColor "deal" with fancy new features! Hopefully your excited about having an "official" path to buy apps, run Flash in the browser, and a few other enhancements.  Obviously the big deal with this update is the apps feature. If you are familiar with other Android devices, this is not full Market access. This new feature is a way to get new apps from a custom B&N App Store.  Unfortunately, none of the Google apps are in this update either. B&N has provided a pretty decent email client (better than the Gmail one from Google, but nowhere close to what Samsung provided for Tab users). This update is exactly what B&N promised - "nook" apps delivered to the NookColor using your B&N account. The experience is right on par with the nook interface. Apps are purchased directly from the device and sit in the NookColor interface along with B&N purchased books.

The reading experience has also been improved somewhat by adding page turning animations (which was a pet peeve of mine, I wanted some visual cue it had updated).  Reading can be done in landscape mode which is nice for something content. Books can now include  video, and one of the new "default" books contains some examples of how this works (how-to cooking videos).  It's a nice add, and something you would expect from a color eReader tablet.  The kid's books feature has been updated to allow for "read and play" which allows the reader to interact more with the book.

The built in browser now supports Flash, and reasonably well. I did notice some lag at times in videos and scrolling around Flash applications. The performance is about what you expect from an eReader :)  If you want a tablet with killer Flash support you might want to pick up a $700 Honeycomb-based device. Frankly, I could care less about Flash support 90% of the time - but it's good to have when you need it.

Normally B&N just surprises everyone with nook software updates. This time they start teasing people on their Facebook page with vague software update comments and posting images of the Angry Birds game.  Now we have the Home Shopping Network (HSN) sell a nook Color for $299 (with an SD card with 100 books) and disclosing some of what's coming in the new update.  The timeframe is April, and it seems HSN customers buying these overpriced nooks will get it before us.

Here are the highlights from the HSN page.