• PCB: Foxconn ML1 S 94V-0

• CPU Processor: ARM Cortex A8-based Ti OMAP 3621 @ 800 MHz (same processor as Droid 2 and Droid X)

• GPU Processor: PowerVR SGX530 Graphics Rendering: Open GLES1.1/2.0 Hardware Scaling: 854×480 scaled to 1024×600 Video Formats: .3GP, .MP4, .3G2 ** Video Codecs: H.263, H.264, MPEG-4, ON2 VP7 ** Image Formats: JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP ** (same GPU as Droid 2 and Droid X)
  

• RAM: 512MB Hynix H8MBX00U0MER-0EM MCM (Stacked Chips 2x256MB each die mDDR)

• Internal Flash: 8GB Sandisk SDIN4C1-8g
• Removable Flash: 32GB via microSDHC

• Radio: Chip ID Ti wl1271 (kernel reports wl1273) Chip supports bluetooth transmit/recieve and fm radio functions through the same antenna, but is not enabled in software drivers. Connectivity: 802.11b/g/n Security: WEP/WPA/WPA2/802.1x Mode: Infrastructure

• Display: 7″ 1024×600 IPS Display w\VividView Cypress Semiconductor,TTSP Gen 3 (TMA340) Touchscreen, kernel driver , reference LG Display LD070WS1 (SL)(02) LED Backlight Pixels per Inch: 169 Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Colors: 16 Million Viewing Angle: 178° (same as HTC 7 Surround and HTC 7 Mozart)

• Audio: Ti TLV320DAC3100 Codec 3.5mm Headset Jack (TRS 3-Pole) – no mic input Single Rear Speaker PWM Headphone Amp Headphone Detection Mic Amp and ADC(Mic input not available) Audio Formats: .3GP, .3G2, .MP4, .AMR, .MP3, .MID, .XMF, .MXMF, .RTTL, .OTA, .IMY, .WAV, .OGG, .ACC ** Audio Codecs: ACC, ACC+, AMR, MP3, MIDI, LPCM **

• Power Management: Texas Instruments TPS65921 PMIC Integrated Power Management IC with 3 DC/DC’s, 4 LDO’s, USB HS Transceiver

• Battery: “Barnes & Noble” labeled 3.7V 4000mAh 14.8Wh Li-ion battery Battery Life: ~8 hours

• Physical Specifications Dimensions: 8.1″ (205mm) L x 5″ (127mm) W x 0.48″ (12.2mm) D Weight: ~15.8oz (~422g)

• Micro-B USB 2.0 High-Speed
• Accelerometer

• Input Virtual QWERTY Keyboard On-Screen Soft-Keys ** ‘n’ Home button Power\Lock button Volume Up\Down buttons

 

 

First Impressions

The packaging is extremely sturdy with the open end sporting a magnetic lock tape that makes a sweet click each time you open the box. The Nook color was placed snugly inside the box shielded against the atrocities of the outside world via a pair of thermocols. The NC itself was packed in a tight plastic covering which was easy to remove, more like an envelope. It came with only a charger and a data cable. Such frugality should be condemned and the manufacturer sentenced to the gallows. Anyways, enough of the packaging, lets move on the device itself. The first thing you notice while holding the Nook is the weight. Damn its heavy, but after sometime, once you get used to the weight, you shall still feel its heavy, but in a good way.  For starters, its extremely well built. And i mean extremeeely. The whole body is made of metal with a rubberised cover on top. It has a Microusb port at the bottom, a 3.5 jack at the top, the power button on the left and the volume up and down key on the right. There are however no buttons on the Nook itself except for the home button which is the soul button among the acres of real estate at the bottom. The only thing annoying here about the placement of the buttons is the tactile feedback which is horrendous. It takes quite a bit of hard work to pull the power button down. The volume keys are kinda okay. And before I forget, it has a speaker at the back which is extremely tinny and you would be well advised to carry a headphone around if you plan to catch up on some music. It spells some good quality on my 2.1 system though.

Interface

The interface is extremely fluid with no lags whatsoever. The B&N app is where you can buy your favorite books from the B&N site or download your favorite apps. There is also a full fledged browser through which you can browse your favorite sites. keep in mind though, the Nook is Wifi only and unless you are in a wifi zone, it will not work.The transitions are really smooth in the book store and you can download a sample of every book before buying it. Honestly though, my review of the Nook colors original interface would be a drag and not completely honest. This is because I hardly spent any time playing with it. The moment I got the nook color, i flashed it to a CM7 nightly and started rolling.

CM7 on the Nook is a treat to cherish. It is one of the most intricate and well thought out interface of Android Gingerbread(2.3.3) and works better than any “over-the top” customizations in the market. Though the version destined to run on the Nook color is just an evolved version of the one used in a phone it works very well. The phone and contacts settings are still there but they dont prove a hindrance to day to day activities. The interface and transitions are not as smooth as seen on a proper phone, owing to the inferiority of the processor used but one can use a custom kernel by dalingrin(xda) to speed up things a bit. Market works great and so does most applications. Some applications need getting used to the difference in resolution to the normal phones that generally use them and have black lines at the sides but are pretty usable. Everything works without  lag and videos run on a third party application are a treat to watch on this high resolution display.

Conclusion

So woould i recommend this product to everyone? No.I wouldn’t. Anyone who is scared to play this 250$ system in fear of bricking it, sorry guys, this is not for you. The whole concept of the Nook color revolves around the fact that you can mod it to your likes and customize it every way you find feasible. It is not a tablet, it is an ebook reader by right and anyone who thinks they can make a tablet out of it is wrong. The processor just isnt fast enough to handle the resolution betrothed on it and nor is the battery any larger to make it last a day of heavy usage. CM& makes it half a tablet and most people will be happy with what they get from there. A high resolution slab which runs videos, a high resolution display for reading ebooks and play the odd game or so. For the 12k I shelled out for this piece, I am more than happy for what I get..