B&N unveils smaller, longer-lasting Nook

The All-New Nook also has the longest battery life of any eReader on the market

The world of eReaders has just gotten a little bit more competitive. Today at the Union Square Barnes & Noble store in Manhattan, B&N CEO William Lynch revealed the All-New Nook, the lightest, most compact, and longest lasting edition of the Nook yet.

Weighing in at only 7.48 ounces, the All-New Nook is a full 35% lighter and 15% thinner than the first generation Nook, and it’s compact enough to tuck into a jacket pocket at only 6.5 inches long and five inches wide. Additionally, it features 80% less flashing than other eReaders and ultra-fast page turning by using the touchscreen or the side buttons. The new Fast Page feature lets you skim through the pages to find a specific page by holding down the button.

The latest Nook edition is giving the Kindle a run for its money. Not only does it offer superior battery power, with one charge lasting two months compared to the Kindle’s one-month battery life, but it’s also priced competitively with its Kindle counterpart at $139. But the Kindle still has a one-up on storage. The All-New Nook holds up to 1,000 books (and offers an expandable memory slot), while the Kindle holds up to 3,500, which I suppose is ideal for those who read at least one book per week and plan to read exclusively on their Kindle for the next 67 years.

In tech specifics, the All-New Nook features 2GB of internal memory and is built on the Android OS 2.1 using Adobe technology. The company notes that users can borrow digital books from their local library-- “a feature Barnes & Noble has always offered to NOOK device customers,” in case you thought only the Kindle did that.

The All-New Nook available for pre-order now, with first shipments scheduled for June 10.  Just 18 months after launching the first edition Nook, Barnes & Noble now claims 25% of the digital book market and 17% of the physical book market. Additionally, over one million Nook apps have been downloaded to date.

“We set out to design the easiest-to-use, most optimized, dedicated reading device ever created and accomplished it with the All-New NOOK,” said William Lynch in a statement. “Touch makes it simple to use, and the beautifully compact design makes it the most portable eReader in its class. Add to that an unmatched battery life, the most advanced paper-like touch display on the market and wireless access to the world’s largest digital bookstore, and we believe that for readers of all ages, the All-New NOOK is the best eReader on the market, and a great value at $139.”