Here's the scoop on the new Nook Tablet:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/07/nook-tablet-barnes-and-noble_n_1079718.html

It looks like the main selling points are the increase in RAM (twice that of Kindle Fire...Graphics will load faster) and the memory.  It comes with 16GB but can be expanded ro 48GB.

They are also improving the Nook Color and the First Edition:

"The Nook Color, one of Barnes and Noble's bestselling devices, has been updated with a better display, social reading functionality and new apps. The price of this device has been dropped from $249 to $199.

Finally, the Nook Simple Touch, a basic e-reader that uses E-Ink technology, now has an improved battery life and crisper text. At $99, it is $20 more than the cheapest Kindle, however that device comes with advertising pre-installed, whereas the Nook is ad-free."

I am very interesting in people's reviews when the two products (Nook Tablet & Kindle Fire) are in people's hands. The guy who's blog I read just came out with a post that he likes the Nook Color and/or the Nook Tablet better than the Fire....he has played with both, he was at both the events. I'm surprised but I think its too early to make such a definitive statement. He might be right, and it does seem a more open platform for aps etc. I just think the Silk browser might make using the web much faster, which would mean the spec differences between the two (three) products might turn out to be negligible.

Just have to wait and see!

Really, it always just comes down to what the person needs. Kindle is great since you get amazon movies too.  Nook is great liked the set up of the color and easier to navigate.

I am hoping we get both to play with.  We got Nook eink, Nook Color, Kindle, Kindle DX (sneeze and buy machine), Sony eink and Ipad.  My fav by far was the Nook Color. So from that I'd go for the Nook Tablet. But my hubby likes the kindle fire due to be able to watch movies on it from amazon instant watch.

Yeah but those Amazon movies, most are not free, despite being a Prime member. Now if Fire will stream Netflix and Hulu, then that would be fine. We know that Nook Tablet is supposed to stream those. If Kindle Fire won't that will be very bad. If amazon comes up with a monthly subscription fee to match what Netflix offers, then it wouldn't matter.

At least for watching movies. If one doesn't plan to watch movies on the tablet, then that is a non-issue.

Well here's an interesting tidbit

Amazon says there are 6GB available for user content:

“8GB internal (approximately 6GB available for user content). That’s enough for 80 apps, plus 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books.”

Okay, about 2GBs on the Fire goes for the operating system and such…that’s reasonable.

How about the NOOK Tablet?

B&N says:

“Approximately 13GB available to store content, of which up to 12GB may be reserved for content purchased from the Barnes & Noble NOOK Store.”

My headline says ‘YOUR stuff” (emphasis added), and that’s the key point.

Amazon gives you 6GB of storage for your content on the Kindle Fire.

Barnes & Noble gives you 1GB.

Fire: six times as much.

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I want a refurb Nook Color....now that the sale is over.  I should have jumped on it. What I like is the SD card slot. Its a great piece of hardware, and with the slot, you can use the software as is or change it. Can't go wrong there. I hope there is another refurb sale before Christmas!

The other reason I would get one of these instead of the Fire is b/c I have like thousands of smut books in my Kindle archives and I don't want my kids having access to them.  Plus I've heard Nook has a really good selection of kids picture books and a read to me selection of kids books that would be cool for my 6 yo.

Anne Kindle Fire Does Hulu & Netflix!   You just get the apps from amazon market your in business LOL

I know but $199 vs $119 (assuming I can get it for that price), plus an SD card slot and no smut....I'll go with the NC if I can get it.

The biggest difference between the two tablets is the way expandable memory is handled.  The Nook Tablet allows for up to a 32 BG expansion card for personal files.  The Kindle Fire does not allow expandable memory but gives you space on Amazon's cloud storage.  A lot depends on how comfortable you are with having files stored in a cloud format.  I'm not completely sold on cloud computing/storage yet, but my opinion may change over time.

Melody, do you have either one of them? If you have both, I'd love to hear which you like best.

The other thing that is tempting me about the NC is that with the SD card slot it can easily be turned into an Android tablet...with full access to the Android market. I don't know if I would find it necessary to do that, but having the option to do so is very good. I have read that almost all the apps available from B&N are not free, whereas there are many free ones available on the Android market.

I'm excited, I just ordered a refurb Nook Color from Best Buy! Used the $30 GC I got from them when I bought my 2nd Kindle last summer LOL. Can't wait! Will wait though, I am gonna stick that sucker under the tree and not open it til Christmas.  Now to see if I can stick to my plan hehe

glad you got one Anne - I was debating ordering another off ebay for my dad but don't see them at the $119 price anymore. not sure about overstock -t hey ahd them last week for 139 I think - not sure exactly.

Yeah they are back to $149 everywhere I checked. They'll probly go down again.