Nook Color will get Froyo update, become a "real tablet"

Barnes & Noble plans to introduce an Android-powered color e-reader, the Nook Color. The device will have an seven-inch screen, as did the earlier device running Android 2.1.

The Android 2.2 update for the device which should give users access to the Android Marketplace as well as a more typical home screen, potentially making it one of the cheapest Android tablets on the market.

If the device retails for about $250, it would undercut pricing of somewhat similar devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

If you had any doubt that parts of the e-reader market would overlap with the tablet PC market, this move should eliminate those doubts.

Nook Color will get Froyo update, become a "real tablet"

Rival Tablets Not Dead, No Matter What Apple Says

Apple says seven-inch tablets will be "dead on arrival," but developers and retailers are not convinced, and consumers will have to make the call about demand for tablets in various form factors, says the Wall Street Journal.

Verizon Wireless soon will be selling the Samsung Electronics Co.'s Galaxy Tab—a seven-inch tablet that runs on Google's Android software. Next year, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. plans to release its seven-inch PlayBook.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs says 7-inch devices were too small to create great tablet applications. 'Their manufacturers will learn the painful lesson that their tablets are too small and increase the size next year, thereby abandoning both customers and developers who jumped on the seven-inch bandwagon with an orphan product,' Jobs says.

The argument for a smaller form factor is pretty simple. For many, perhaps most users, the smallest devices are the essential devices carried everywhere in a purse, pocket, backpack or briefcase. For most users, the phone is basic, but iPods might be a close second.

Traveling workers mostly consider their phones and notebook PCs to be essential, with all other devices secondary. Some people traveling for work say they carry both an iPad and a PC, but over time, I suspect that will shake out in favor of one or the other devices. For those users, a 10-inch device is better.

Some day, when prices drop, that might also be a viable option for college students when going to class. For some, though, who carry a phone all the time and a PC when traveling, and for whom content creation is a big reason why the PC is carried, the iPad will remain a third or fourth device choice (iPods might be most commonly carried, after the phone and PC).

Many users, especially those whose work allows them to travel with just a smartphone, leaving the PC at home or the office, will find an iPad a reasonable option. But that's why there would seem to be a market opportunity for tablets in a couple formats. When a tablet can be the second or third device (assuming the iPod is the second device), the bigger screen is helpful.

When the tablet has to be the third or fourth device, there are weight and bulk issues that could be important.

But the market will decide.

Is Apple Working on a 7-Inch Screen iPad?

Apple might be looking to develop a new version of iPad, this one with a 7-inch screen and bring it to market sometime in 2011, according to a research note put out by Rodman & Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar.

Some of us think that is a smart idea. The current iPad is too large to be a device normally carried everywhere, at least for some of us who have to use a notebook or netbook.

The Samsung Galaxy is available in a 7-inch form factor already, for example. 

Some smartphones, meanwhile, now feature 4-inch screens with very good "full web" access. In fact, some of us prefer to use the full web browser rather than apps for many tasks.

But content creation on a 4-inch smartphone still is too difficult. A 7-inch form factor is where the gap is, for a couple of reasons. It might just be small enough and light enough to lug around with a netbook. And it might be workable as a content creation platform for some tasks.

Is Apple Working on a 7-Inch Screen iPad?

iPhone 4, Samsung Galaxy S (Captivate), Evo 4G

Here's a review of the Apple iPhone 4m the Samsung Galaxy S (Captivate) and the HTC Evo 4G.

iPhone 4 vs. Samsung Galaxy S (Captivate) vs. Evo 4G: