Nook Color vs Acer Aspire ICONIA Tab A500
It is really hard for readers to believe that Nook Color can be compared with a tablet as advanced as Acer Aspire ICONIA Tab A500, but then Barnes and Noble have upgraded their humble E-reader so much in the last one year or so that it now resembles and functions more like a tablet than just being a e-book reader. I know Nook Color is not yet a tablet, but let us see how things shape up when Nook Color is placed against Tab A500 which is the latest innovation in the tablet market from Acer.
Nook Color
Gone are the days when Nook was an E-ink device meant to read newspapers and books from the net. It is today a full color, tablet like device and not just an e-book reader. It is a totally revamped gadget that runs on Android OS. It is potentially capable of much that today’s tablets can do, and with a price tag that stands at just a fraction of the latest tablets, Barnes and Noble know that they have a winner from all angles.
The display stands at 7 inches at a resolution of 1024X600 pixels using an IPS technology that makes display as bright as you can get in an iPad. It is just .48 inches thick, and despite having a plastic body, feels comfortable in hand because of a rubberized back.
Nook Color has a 800 MHz processor and has a RAM of 512 MB. It has an internal storage capacity of 8GB (flash memory) that can be expanded up to 32 GB using micro SD cards. B&N make use of VividView technology that reduces glare to a great extent, and one can read e-books with ease even under broad daylight. For connectivity, it is WiFi 802.11 b/g/n without 3G capabilities. Being smaller than large 10 inch tablets that also weigh more, Nook Color is easy to hold and is more suitable for long reading sessions.
Remember, Nook Color is an e-book reader first and then a tablet. It is not to be confused with higher end tablets. Its ease of use is what makes it so popular among users and a dominant player in the e-reader segment. You can read, shop on the net, connect with friends, play a game and browse. In short, it is a best buy for those who want a decent e-reader with additional functionality of a web browser. Also good for those who cannot afford $500-600 tablets as it is priced at a modest $249.
Acer Aspire ICONIA Tab A500
This is the latest offering from Acer which doesn’t want to lag behind in the hot tablet market. It has a large 10” WXGA touch screen display at 1280X800 pixels that allows for stunning clarity while reading books and watching movies. It runs on Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS that has been specially designed for tablets and provides an enriching experience while browsing or playing games on this slate. It has a powerful 1 GHz Nvidia Tegra dual core processor and has 16 GB of internal memory that is expandable using micro SD cards. It has a mammoth 1 GB DDR2 RAM that allows for multitasking.
ICONIA is a dual camera device with a rear 5 MP camera that allows capturing HD videos in 1080p while the front 2 MP camera allows the user to video chat. It fully supports Adobe Flash providing a pleasing multimedia experience and seamless browsing. For connectivity it is Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n with Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. It supports USB 2.0 for fast and easy sharing of audio and video files with friends. It is HDMI capable that allows the user to instantly watch HD videos captured through its rear camera.
Talking of differences, there are many. Tab A500 is more powerful with a faster processor and a better OS. It is a dual camera device while Nook Color lacks a camera. While Tab A500 is HDMI capable, Nook is not. Tab 500 has a double RAM (1GB in comparison to 512 MB of Nook Color). The display of Tab 500 is larger at 10.1 inches while Nook Color has a display of 7 inches. Though Nook Color is a much improved version of an e-book reader with enhanced capabilities of a tablet, it would be unfair to compare it with ICONIA Tab A500. The biggest advantage that Nook Color has over Tab A500 is that it is less than half in price of Tab A500.