Kindle Review – Kindle Fire Review, Kindle 4 Review

B&N seems ready to take on the Kindle 2 and perhaps set-up a Kindle 3 Vs Nook 2 showdown in August. It just filed details of the Nook 2 with the FCC (submission dates are shown as 14th and 16th July). Although B&N has asked for the 180 day confidentiality option some details did manage to slip through -

1. Model Number for the Nook 2 is XHHBNRZ100-1. The model number for Nook 1 was  XHHBNRZ100. This hints it’s an incremental update of the existing Nook and not a completely separate model.
2. Code names are CR Nook 3G and Bravo Delta 3G. Bravo was the code-name for the Nook – Does that mean the internal name for the Nook 2 is Nook 4? Perhaps CR is for Color – perhaps that’s wishful thinking, perhaps it just means Nook is in a different color.
3. At first glance the only definite change seems to be a change in the 3G and WiFi cards.  
4. One of the test documents talks about 3 possible orientations. This is really strange given the Nook didn’t have rotation support (plus the FCC documents for Nook have no mention of 3 orientations). How do you rotate 2 screens into 3 rotations? Is there an accelerometer involved?
5. Another of the test documents talks about super fast download speeds using HSDPA and intelligent 3G wireless that switches off when not in use.

Thanks to UberGizmo for the Nook 2 scoop. You can also take a look at the original Nook 2 FCC documents - they’re all PDFs.

B&N made a mistake in their FCC application as it initially submitted the wrong 3G and WiFi radio part numbers. Does that mean there is yet another Nook in the works? That would explain a code-name of Nook 4 for the Nook 2.

What Nook 2 features is B&N hiding?

Let’s start off by saying that B&N might be hiding nothing – With Nook WiFi the only thing it didn’t ask to be sealed was the Nook WiFi name and the fact that there was no 3G. That ended up being the only difference between Nook WiFi and Nook 1.

If B&N is doing the same this time then the only change between Nook 2 and Nook 1 might be the frequencies they work at -

1. Nook 1 had a triband UMTS/HSPA 3G radio that worked at 850, 1900, and 2100 MHz. It also had a WiFi card.
2. Nook 2 has a Sierra Wireless MC8201V wireless modem that works at 850 and 1900 MHz and supports GSM (GPRS, EGPRS (EDGE)) and UMTS WCDMA/HDSPA (FDD Band II, FDD Band V). For WiFi it has the M/N PW621-M chipset from Cybertran which supports 802.11 b/g.

Another hint that Nook 2 might look just like Nook 1 is that in one of the documents submitted B&N claims that a picture of the Nook 1 (see section 1. Executive Summary for picture) represents the new Nook 2. If that’s right then it’s probably the exact same device with minor changes.

Here’s what it has asked the FCC to hide -

1. Schematic Diagram and Block Diagram.
2. Theory of Operation, Tune-up procedure, and Parts List.
3. Antenna Specification.
4. External and Internal Photos, and Test Setup photos.
5. User Manual.

The internal and external photos would be pretty revealing as would the User Manual.

Interesting Things that hint B&N might be hiding something

Well, there are very few oddities -

1. One of the test documents (WiFi testing results) talks about Nook 2 having three orientations with the third orientation differing in power output from the other two.
2. There’s no clear reason why there’s a change in 3G and WiFi modems. There are just two possibilities - cutting costs, adding support for outside the US. It’d be a strange way to go about it as only a small group of countries support 850/1900 apart from the US - They include Canada, Mexico, Australia, and Brazil (AT&T forums). 
3. Will the Nook 2 come with the new eInk Pearl screen - Is that why it is hiding the screen photos and components list?

Chances are pretty high Nook 2 is just a cheaper version of Nook 1. At the same time there’s no way B&N would release a new Nook without the new eInk Pearl screen.

Other Interesting Things

The SAR Evaluation document has a bunch of details including download speeds -

1. On AT&T’s HSDPA network download speeds will usually be 700 kbps to 1.7 Mbps. Upload speeds of 500 kbps to 1.2 Mbps.
2. On UMTS networks download speeds will usually be 220 to  320 kbps.
3. The download speeds for  EDGE and GPRS are shown as 100 to 140 kbps and 28 to 60 kbps.

The documents mention that files larger than 10 MB are only downloadable via WiFi or USB. Then there’s data on book download times - Time taken ranged from an average of 10.18 seconds for a .25 MB file (Tipping Point) to 49.03 seconds for a 4.05 MB file (Allergies).

B&N share lots of details -

1. Nook owners downloaded 89.6% ebooks, 8.6% newspapers, and 1.8% magazines. Average download time was 16.3 seconds. 
2. They have a detailed table of time taken and wireless usage time for turning on Nook, searching B&N ebook store, and buying an ebook. 
3. The 3G wireless has power saving and turns off automatically when not needed.

The eReader rumors this year have focused on Kindle 3 arriving in August – yet it’s the Nook 2 that’s landed at the FCC. It certainly suggests that August might see a Kindle 3 vs Nook 2 show-down – Unfortunately, Kindle 3 and Nook 2 details are still scarce.

Filed under: Barnes Noble Nook Tagged: | kindle 3 vs nook 2, kindle vs nook, nook 2