Category: Gadgets

Barnes & Nobel to launch new Nook ereader called the Tablet 7

| November 1, 2016

According to reports, this new mobile device may be released with Google Play support.

The Nook ereader hasn’t been receiving very much attention over the last while. However, Barnes & Noble is hoping to change that with the next version of this device. Reportedly, it will be doing this by adding a long list of additional features and capabilities.

The Nook Tablet 7 was spotted as a part of an FCC listing, revealing the company hasn’t abandoned the device.

The Nook ereader hasn’t been made directly by Barnes & Noble for some time now. The tablet device is manufactured by other companies. That said, the FCC listing indicated that this could be changing and the company may be having another go at it through the Tablet 7.

Nook ereader - ereader device on top of books The FCC list document provided some interesting information about what the Nook Tablet 7 may have to offer. A number of the mobile device specs were revealed including both hardware and software features.

The Nook ereader will be a considerably more powerful tablet with a spectrum of new features.

If the FCC documents represent the Nook Tablet 7 to be released by Barnes & Noble, its specs are very different from previous models. This includes a 3,000 mAh battery, front and rear cameras, Bluetooth 4.0, MediaTek MT8163 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 processor, micro USB and microSD card support and a 3.5 mm headphone jack.

That said, what has mobile device lovers raising their brows is that it will run on Android. The Nook Tablet 7 will also have Google Play Store support, which previous models did not.

Earlier in 2016, Barnes & Noble closed the digital doors on its Nook App Store. For this reason, equipping its next ereader tablet with the ability to support Android’s apps could be appealing to device users. This capability will be combined with the conventional Nook software for purchasing and downloading ebooks and other digital publications and content.

What the FCC document didn’t mention is when the next Nook ereader will be launched. That said, many in the industry predict that it is meant to be a rival to the $50 Amazon Fire tablet. If so, it will become available in time for the holiday season.

32GB iPhone 7 proves to be much slower than pricier models

| October 26, 2016

Testing has shown that the least expensive version also comes with a considerably slower performance.

Recent tests on the 32GB iPhone 7 are showing that the price you pay for a smartphone can make a difference to performance. The testing by both Unbox Therapy and GSMArena have revealed very similar results.

The 32GB version of the Apple smartphone is considerably slower than its more expensive counterparts.

The two companies both independently found that the 32GB iPhone 7 is much slower than the 128GB and 256GB versions. Furthermore, the 32GB model’s 4G reception is also notably poorer. The testing showed that the speed of the storage within the least expensive iPhone 7 model was a sizeable 200Mbps slower than the more expensive 128GB version.

32GB iPhone 7 - Image of iPhone 7The read speed of the two mobile devices was measured at 656Mbps for the 32GB and 856Mbps for the 128GB. That said, it was also pointed out that in terms of day to day usage, any fluctuation in read speed higher than 600Mbps is unlikely to be detected by the user.

What may be noticed by 32GB iPhone 7 users is a difference in writing to the storage.

The write speed was significantly slower on the cheaper model. While the more expensive 128GB iPhone write to memory at 341Mbps, there was an eight times slower write rate on the 32GB model. Its write to memory speed was measured at only 42Mbps in the Unbox Therapy tests.

This was only underscored by the GSMArena tests. The iPhone 7 Plus version write rate was nearly identical. The 32GB smartphone registered a write to memory speed of 39.6Mbps. The 128GB iPhone 7, on the other hand, wrote to memory at 308Mbps.

Other testing of the various Plus versions have shown that there are differences among them in their cellular performance. Cellular Insights, a firm based in New York, tested the networking equipment of the devices. What it found was that models A1778 and A1784 – which were sold in the UK and Europe – achieved considerably poorer performance than the A1660 and A1661 models sold in the United States.

These tests show that it’s not just the 32GB iPhone 7 that differs from the other models. Smartphone performance also depends on where you purchase your device.