Barnes & Noble Nook Joins the Android World With Google Play

Barnes & Noble announced today that its Nook HD and HD+ tablets will receive an over-the-air update to include the Google Play store, making them able to run the more than 700,000 Android apps in the store without sideloading.

The Nook tablets have always run Android: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to be precise. But until now, they've been locked to Barnes & Noble's store. While you could load other apps on a Nook tablet, it typically took some kludging involving another device, backup utilities and a MicroSD card, or the purchase of an N2A Card.

The Nook HD and HD+ will now be able to run all standard Google apps, including Gmail, Google Maps, and YouTube, as well as all the downloadable apps in Play, said Jonathan Shar, general manager of newsstand for Nook Media. The Nook tablets will run the Chrome Web browser, and Nook owners will be able to download media from the Google Play stores as well.

Google Play will appear on the Nook home screen active shelf and in the apps tray, Shar said. "We're obviously giving customers more of what they really want," he said.

The upgrade will be pushed out to tablets, but impatient Nook owners will also be able to download it at the Nook support Web page.

Nook vs. Kindle

The Nook tablets have always been more open than Amazon's competing Kindle tablets, with the Nook's expandable MicroSD memory card slots and relative openness to hacking setting it apart.

And while the Nook tablets have gotten top kudos as e-readers, Barnes & Noble has had trouble competing against Amazon on music, video, and gaming content.

Google Play support evens the balance and makes the Nook HD one of the best buys on the market for an Android tablet. The $199.99 Nook HD offers a better display and build quality than the competing Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0), although it lacks the Galaxy Tab's camera and IR remote functions.

Barnes & Noble has had real troubles selling Nooks of late. In its most recent quarterly results, the company said Nook sales dropped 26 percent between the 2011 and 2012 holiday seasons and hinted that a shift to "multi-function tablets" would help. Let's see if turning the Nook into a real Android tablet does the trick.

About Our Expert

Sascha Segan

Former Lead Analyst, Mobile

My Experience

I'm that 5G guy. I've actually been here for every "G." I reviewed well over a thousand products during 18 years working full-time at PCMag.com, including every generation of the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S. I also wrote a weekly newsletter, Fully Mobilized, where I obsessed about phones and networks.

My Areas of Expertise

US and Canadian mobile networks
Mobile phones released in the US
iPads, Android tablets, and ebook readers
Mobile hotspots
Big data features such as Fastest Mobile Networks and Best Work-From-Home Cities

The Technology I Use

Being cross-platform is critical for someone in my position. In the US, the mobile world is split pretty cleanly between iOS and Android. So I think it's really important to have Apple, Android and Windows devices all in my daily orbit.

I use a Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon X1 for work and a 2021 Apple MacBook Pro for personal use. My current phone is a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, although I'm probably going to move to an Android foldable. Most of my writing is either in Microsoft OneNote or a free notepad app called Notepad++. Number crunching, which I do often for those big data stories, is via Microsoft Excel, DataGrip for MySQL, and Tableau.

In terms of apps and cloud services, I use both Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive heavily, although I also have iCloud because of the three Macs and three iPads in our house. I subscribe to way too many streaming services.

My primary tablet is a 12.9-inch, 2020-model Apple iPad Pro. When I want to read a book, I've got a 2018-model flat-front Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. My home smart speakers run Google Home, and I watch a TCL Roku TV. And Verizon Fios keeps me connected at home.

My first computer was an Atari 800 and my first cell phone was a Qualcomm Thin Phone. I still have very fond feelings about both of them.

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