Yesterday, Barnes & Noble debuted a new version of the Nook e-reader. It weighs less than a paperback book and has a battery that will last two months. It will retail for $139 and start shipping on June 10th. This is a straight book reader, not like the Nook Color which has a browser and email functions and is more like a cheap tablet computer.
Amazon decided not to let Barnes & Noble just have a special day on their own. Amazon announced a new $164 ad-supported version of the 3G version of the Kindle. They also, weirdly, announced that the Kindle could also last for two months on a battery charge, double the amount it had before. What did they do to the battery? NOTHING! Amazon said that they had been calculating battery life differently and that by B&N’s system, the battery lives were the same.
Adorably, an upcoming update to the Kobo from Borders lists that device’s battery life as “up to two weeks”.
Seriously, is it so much of a challenge to plug the dang thing in once in a while?
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