Barnes & Noble and Amazon have an eery habit of releasing identically sized and priced
tablets at the same time, and this time round, both are having a crack at a new, seldom-seen
nine-inch form factor. Only B&N has deemed fi t to release its effort, the Nook HD+, in the UK
however, giving it a unique spot in the market.
Like the HD, the HD+ is about delivering a stunning screen at a low price, and it certainly
does just that. For just £229, you get a phenomenal full HD 1920x1280 display with wide
viewing angles and great colour reproduction that’s almost twice as sharp as Apple’s iPad
mini - which, by comparison, costs £279, while the blisteringly sharp Google Nexus 10 from
Samsung starts at £319. On board you’ll fi nd 16GB of storage, which you can expand via
micro SD (so don’t bother with the £269 32GB version), and the tablet supports full HD output
to a TV.
The software experience meanwhile is identical. Sadly, that means the HD+ falls down
at exactly the same hurdles as its little brother; volume from the internal speakers is poor;
there are no cameras to be found; the number of apps is paltry; the OMAP 4470 dual-core
1.5GHz processor can’t stop the lag. If anything, it’s worse here, with slow, sticky browser
performance and seconds between tap and homescreen refreshes and animations.
The build quality’s a matter of taste too. While the size feels just right for watching video
and browsing the web, why B&N has drilled a hole into the side of the slate is anyone’s
guess. Still, at least the fi rm plastic frame feels like it could take being used/bashed by
a small child - and with its excellent account handling for parents, that may count for
something at least.
Source.What Mobile February.2013
