Android Tables

Barnes & Noble updated its Nook for Android app Friday, adding support for digital periodicals on a variety of Android tablets.
Previously, the Nook app only offered digital magazines and newspapers on the Android-powered Nook Color. Now, it will now be available on Android tablets 7 inches and larger, running Android OS 2.1 and higher, including the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Motorola Xoom. It will not be available on Android smartphones.


The update will provide access to the largest selection of digital periodicals for Android tablet customers, Barnes & Noble said, with more than 140 top magazine and newspapers available, including Rolling Stone, Popular Science, The Economist, USA Today, and The Washington Post. All are optimized for high-resolution, color displays.

Nook for Android also now features an optimized library grid view and reading experience with enhanced book margins and line spacing, as well as an improved shopping experience. The app offers full-color pages in landscape and portrait mode and Barnes & Noble's exclusive ArticleView technology, which was formerly available only on the Nook Color, allowing users to view only the text from magazine articles.

The new version is available for free in the Android Market.

Barnes & Noble recently unveiled a free software update for the Nook that added apps like Angry Birds, as well as built-in email and support for Adobe Flash. On Monday, Barnes & Noble announced that readers have since downloaded more than one million apps.

In a statement, the company said the top five paid Nook Apps are Angry Birds, Drawing Pad, Solitaire, Aces Jewel Hunt, and Astraware Mahjong, and the top five free Nook Apps are Fliq Calendar, Fliq Notes, Pulse, Nook Word of the Day, and Fliq Tasks.

Barnes & Noble seems confident that the device is a viable tablet competitor, stating that the Nook Color is "now the best tablet value on the market at just $249." In early May, a Securities and Exchange Commission filing revealed the company is readying an updated e-book reader; an annoucement regarding the new launch is expected on May 24.