Nook Color 2 may be mild external update

Barnes & Noble's sequel to the Nook Color could be ready in days if a rumor from the supply chain is real. The design is supposedly due this month with a similar seven-inch screen and the same Android support for apps, e-mail, and other extras. Digitimes understood that Inventec would be the main manufacturer with Pegatron helping out and TPK making the touchscreen panels.

Throwing some doubt on the rumor is a claim that E Ink would supply e-paper display backplanes for the design. The Nook Color is an LCD model that doesn't have any e-paper involved, and a sequel is unlikely to change the display technology.

The bookseller has been making a pattern of introducing yearly updates to its Nooks and already reworked the basic Nook to merge e-paper and a touchscreen. Virtually nothing is known about what a Nook Color 2 would introduce, although Android 3.2 and a faster processor are possible inclusions.

An update could be important to Barnes & Noble. The Nook Color managed to topple the Kindle in the e-reader market and is now the chain's most important device, if not most important product. Although it's characterized as a tablet, the Color isn't pitched as in direct competition with the iPad.

By Electronista Staff