Hasta La Gadget!

Rumors are swirling that Barnes & Noble’s next device after the first-generation Nook will be an Android-based, full-color, touchscreen e-reader. The company will reportedly announce the e-reader/tablet hybrid, called the Nook Color, at its October 26 media event in New York.

“It’s a big step ahead, instead of chasing Amazon,” a source told CNET editor David Carnoy. Carnoy identifies the source as an anonymous tipster “who has proven reliable in the past.”

Reportedly, the Nook Color will have be Android-based like the current Nook, have a 7-inch screen and retail for $249. It won’t have quite as much functionality as the iPad or a full Android tablet, but it will also cost much less.

Currently, the Nook has a custom Android-based OS, a 6″ black-and-white E Ink screen, a 3.5″ color touchscreen LCD for navigation, and costs $149 ($199 for a model with 3G). Barnes & Noble will reportedly continue to sell the current Nook along with the Nook Color.

Barnes & Noble has definitely long been interested in combining e-books with color. Earlier this year, Pandigital offered a 7″ color reader with access to Barnes & Noble’s e-bookstore. The Pandigital Novel was available at many retail outlets, but was panned for poor hardware and interface design and went back to E Ink in its second iteration.

It’s possible that a color-capable Nook could use a Mirasol screen. Developed by Qualcomm, the Mirasol is low-power, is readable in direct sunlight, switches back and forth between color and black-and-white, and can play video. In August, we reported that Qualcomm was shipping 5.7″ screens at the end of 2010 for devices — including one from “a major client” — slated to appear in early 2011.

That doesn’t match the specs suggested by CNET’s source, which instead point to a 7″ LCD touchscreen. It would also mean that the new Nook wouldn’t appear until sometime next year at the earliest.

Barnes & Noble could also stick with the Nook’s two-screen approach, using a 5.7″ Mirasol screen for display and a 3.5″ LCD touchscreen for navigation. It may not run a full range of applications like a hybrid, but would be a solid media player, offering color books, photos, the web and some video on a single screen. Barnes & Noble could announce the device now, do preorders later this year, and begin shipping it in late winter or spring 2011.

That’s not quite as good as being able to sell it right away, but might slow the Kindle 3’s momentum. And with a firmware upgrade for existing Nooks on the way, they can continue to sell the discounted older device and plenty of e-books until the Nook Color arrives.

Image: Mirasol prototype e-reader.

See Also:

• Barnes & Noble May Present Nook 2 Next Week
• Despite Reports, B&N Nook Competes Just Fine, Thank You
• 5 Things That Make Us Want Barnes & Noble's Nook E-Reader
• Barnes & Noble Unveils Kindle-Killing, Dual-Screen 'Nook' E-Reader …
• Qualcomm's Mirasol Display Hopes to Create E-Reader Tablet Hybrids …
• Qualcomm Aims to Bring Color, Video to E-Readers

It was rumored back in August for a September release and, though it did miss that by a full month, we’re definite believers of “Better late than never.” The ASUS 1015PN is officially the newest entry in the Eee PC family with its 10.1-inch, 1024 x 600 LCD, a dual-core Atom N550 processor, 1GB of RAM, 250GB of platter-based storage, and, perhaps most importantly, NVIDIA Ion 2 graphics that won’t put a hurting on your battery life thanks to Optimus switching tech. That means an estimated 9.5 hours of longevity on a charge so long as you don’t spend your time pumping out reams of legally acquired full HD test footage. If all that sounds good you can order yours right now for around $429.

ASUS Eee PC 1015PN gets official, will do 1080p in a pinch originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Oct 2010 08:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A new survey by the Nielsen Company shows that one third of iPad owners have never downloaded an application. In a section titled “A majority of iPad owners have already paid for content” fully 32% of iPad owners asked said that they “did not download an app.” This compares to 63% who had downloaded a paid app, and 5% who had only downloaded a free app.

The Nielsen survey polled “5,000 connected device owners who completed an online, self-administered survey,” but the actual number of iPad owners in this 5,000 isn’t specified, but one third seems an astonishingly high number, especially given that apps are so easy to buy, and you pretty much have to sign up to the iTunes Store just to get started with any iDevice.

Less surprising is the breakdown of paid downloads. Games are the top choice, with 62% of responders having bought one, closely followed by books (54%) and music (50%).

If these figures are actually meaningful (ie. if the self-selecting sample-group actually contains more than a few dozen iPad owners) then perhaps the app store isn’t the competitive advantage that Apple believes it to be. Perhaps all you really need in a store is Angry Birds and a copy of the Kama Sutra.

Connected Devices: Does the iPad Change Everything? [Nielsen Company blog]

See Also:

• The State of Mobile App Stores Summarized in Charts
• Independent App Stores Take On Google's Android Market
• Feds Get Their Own App Store
• Google Says Mobile App Stores Have No Future

For this week’s giveaway, we’re serving the a high-end iPod/iPhone audio system, the Audyssey Audio Dock.

It’s only rumor for now, but Peter Kafka over at All Things D has sources telling him that the ABC/NBC/FOX-owned Hulu Plus video site is looking to cut its $9.95 per month subscription fee in halfish to $4.95, perhaps in a bid to increase subscriber count. If so that would drop it well below the $8.95 per month fee paid by Netflix subscribers. A price drop certainly wouldn’t surprise us knowing that content owners are still experimenting with pricing in the brave new world we call the internet.

Hulu Plus dropping to $4.95 per month? That’s what she said. originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Oct 2010 06:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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