eReaders

Working the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Barnes & Noble has formally recalled the power adapter sold with their recently-introduced Nook Tablet 7-inch model. The bookseller stopped selling the tablet in early January after a few (now four) reports of “the adapter casing breaking apart while still in the socket” and recommended informally that customers stop using the charger while they investigated further. Under the recall, BN will replace the potentially fault units and provide customers with a $5 BN gift certificate (along with a prepaid shipping label to return the chargers). The company says the recall affects “about 147,000” units — the first […]

An internal Barnes & Noble memo posted on 9to5 Google and cited by a store employee on Reddit on Friday showed a January 9 advisory telling store managers to return all the recently-released $50 Nook Tablets to the company’s distribution center. At the same time, the tablets are listed as “not available” on the company’s web site. Shortly thereafter, the company said in a brief statement that they are investigating three cases involving “the adapter casing breaking apart while still in the socket.” They say that “out of an abundance of caution, we recommend that customers stop using the adapter until we […]

For the second time, Barnes & Noble has restructured their agreement to purchase and resell Nook-branded Samsung tablets — with the parties finally admitting the market is much smaller than planned and agreeing to a far more modest goal of selling $10 million worth of units. We had reported discussions on the renegotiation that were mentioned in the bookseller’s March SEC filing. When the partnership was first brokered in 2014, BN agreed to buy at least 1 million devices within a year. An extension gave them until June 30 of this year, but device sales for the bookseller had continued to […]

Exactly as previewed by Amazon’s Canadian and Chinese sites, on Wednesday morning the company officially unveiled their new Kindle Oasis ereader — premium priced, starting at $290 with ads. (Removing ads costs another $20; adding 3G is another $70.) Per our report yesterday, the new model is thinner and lighter than ever, as long as you are not counting the charging cover, which almost doubles the weight. That self-charging cover is actually “a new dual-battery system” that charges the reader once it is connected to the cover. “The battery in the cover uses a custom cell architecture that optimizes power and energy […]

The original Kindle reader was one of the odder-looking pieces of consumer electronics, and with the new eighth-generation “top of the line” Kindle reader that Jeff Bezos tipped on Twitter last week, Amazon appears to be returning to its roots. Called the Kindle Oasis according to early posts spotted on Amazon’s Canadian and Chinese stores, the asymmetrical device is thicker on one side, to allow for page-turning buttons. As the WSJ noted, it sports a removable “rechargeable protective case for extended battery life” (even though battery life is hardly a complaint about current devices) — which is supposed to make the […]

Recent Tweeter Jeff Bezos leaked himself on Monday afternoon. He wrote: “All-new, top of the line Kindle almost ready. 8th generation. Details next week.” Meanwhile, Amazon Prime members are being offered $30  to $50 off the three existing Kindle devices right now.