Yesterday, I wrote about the Nook HD mostly from a stock OS perspective. But I know the question you really wanted to have answered was this: "Does it work as an Android tablet?" After three days of using it, my answer is a cautious "yes." Because I still don't have a tablet case for it, I haven't run it through a typical work day. However, from my use in the house over the weekend, I can tell you that it's got potential. Let's start with what it can and can't do. Loading apps from Google Play is a breeze. When you install the...

It's hard to believe it's already/only been three years since Apple introduced its category defining iPad. On the one hand, it seems like only yesterday. On the other hand, for those of us with tablet computers of one stripe or another, it's hard to imagine life before our new constant companions—in the same way those of us who came up before the Internet can barely remember the days before Pine. There was a great piece on Ars Technica about two weeks ago in which its editors reflected on the device, their initial impressions and its impact on their lives since. I recall my own...

My e-reader sits on the bookshelf, dust growing on it every day. My Nook Simple Touch used to be one of my favorite gadgets—I carried it everywhere, even just to sneak a couple of pages here and there. I’ve replaced my e-reader with a tablet. I ordered a Nexus 7 last July (a birthday present) when the first batch was ready to hit the market. I use it to surf the 'net, check Facebook and Twitter, play games and, of course, read. I’m definitely not the only one. The Book Industry Study Group recently released information from the Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading survey...

We love the Nexus 7 tab. Google’s valiant iPad competitor nicely packs inside everything we enjoy about the company’s Android OS, their services and the streamlined symbiosis among them. Oh, and it being a full ‘Benjamin’ cheaper than Apple’s must-have tab makes the 7-inch Nexus even more desirable. First unleashed in July, it makes sense for an updated version to be quickly approaching, no? Well, we’re happy, as a report published today from Reuters leads us to believe exactly that. Google will allegedly be discontinuing its first batch of Nexus 7 devices alongside the roll out of its next-gen model. Ridding the floor plans of NVIDIA’s...

Last week The New York Times gave me an offer I couldn't refuse: 12 weeks of digital access for $5. No, that's not $5 per week. That's $5 for the entire 12-week period. See why I couldn't refuse? I'd been reading the Times' Top News on Flipboard for months, and I knew I liked it in that format. Now that I have access to the entire paper for a few months, I decided to try out the native Android and iOS apps and see which I liked better. Note that I purchased Tablet access, so I didn't test this out on my...

Apple famously refused to sell a 7″ tablet for many years, then reversed that notion and came out with the iPad mini last year and it sold very well. iPad mini and its many cousins have solidified the smaller tablet market. Display Search reported yesterday that in the first month of 2013, tablet PC panel shipments shifted dramatically toward smaller screen sizes. Look at that growth in the 7″ and 7.9″ sizes—and the collapse in the 9.7″ size. In case you haven’t kept up with tablet screen sizes, that’s the size of the new iPad. The reduction might just be an adjustment for...

Flipboard made my list of great productivity apps in a previous post I wrote for GadgeTell (one of TeleRead's sister sites), but until today I only used it on my iPad. Why? Because the New York Times was only available in the iOS version. Not only that, but previously, if you logged into Flipboard on Android, you lost Times access on your iOS device. No longer! As of today, you can get the Times in the Android and Kindle Fire versions as well. I just downloaded it and tested it out. The articles look great on my Nexus 7. Flipping is smooth. In fact, I think I like it better on Android. The Times in the iOS...

Do you like to read while you eat? I know people say you shouldn't multitask while eating, but reading during breakfast and lunch is one of my favorite ways to treat myself. Finding a good way to prop up my e-reader has always been a challenge. The MoKo case for my Nexus 7 works well in landscape mode, but my Kindle Touch case doesn't have any way to position it. If you've been searching as well, I've found two solutions you might want to consider. The first is the AmazonBasics Mini Travel Stand (top photo). It's only $6.20 on Amazon, and it's deceptively...

No, this doesn't mean I've given up on my Kindle Touch. It still has its uses, but I am really liking the Google Nexus 7 as a e-reader. For all my complaints in my earlier post about the Kindle app for Android, reading on it is a beautiful thing. The screen is gorgeous, and the text is clear and sharp. I've almost completely stopped reading on my iPad because the screen resolution is so much better on the Nexus 7. As soon as Instapaper is updated to add page flipping in the Android version, the only reading I'll be doing on...

I admit it: I’m cheap. And while I love technology, I don’t want to spend more money than I have to on it. When I decided I needed a Bluetooth keyboard for my iPad, I shopped around. The price range is huge. Naturally, I considered the Apple keyboard, but it’s expensive. Then I found the AmazonBasics Bluetooth keyboard. The reviews were good, and the price was right. (Note that Amazon's supply is currently out of stock, but the price is $29.99. At the time of writing, 24 new and used keyboards were available from third-party sellers.) Also notice that since I bought...

On Saturday, I bought a shiny new Nexus 7, which I already love. After the obligatory new app download frenzy, I switched my attention to selecting a case. After a happy half hour or so of browsing Amazon, I found one I liked. I used a similar selection process to the one I wrote about in my article on selecting an iPad case. I didn’t see a case from Targus that was similar to the one I have for my iPad, but MoKo had one that seemed pretty close, so I bought it. Amazon was nice to me and delivered it on Monday (even...

Last Friday, the New York  Times' Bits blog ran an interesting Q&A-style interview with John Lagerling, Google's Android director of business development, "about the company's strategy with the Nexus brand, one that revolves around lower prices," as the interview's intro explains. Lagerling, as it happens, was involved with negotiating the new Nexus line's decidedly low price points. "Basically," he says, referring to the Nexus 4, "we felt that we wanted to prove you don’t have to charge $600 to deliver a phone that has the latest-generation technologies." Regarding the low price of the new Nexus 7, he says this: "For Nexus 7, we were able...