Nook HD review

The lightest, highest resolution 7-inch tablet, but is it any good?

Nook HD review
It may look good on paper, but that doesn't always translate

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Battery life

Nook HD review

The size of the battery inside the Nook HD is unknown, although Barnes and Noble claim you'll be able to squeeze 10 hours of reading time out of the tablet, or a respectable nine hours of video.

From our tests we're inclined to agree, with the Nook HD holding up well as we surfed the web, watched videos and flicked through magazines.

Slightly annoyingly there's no auto-brightness function, so you'll want to make sure you've only got it on full illumination when it's really needed, otherwise battery life will take a hit.

We were easily able to get through a day without worrying about running out with power, and with slightly more limited use we were able to go at least three days between chargers.

Connectivity

Nook HD review

There's not a great deal of connectivity options adorning the Nook HD, with the Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth standards making their typical appearances.

We were pleased to find the Nook HD offered up a microSD card slot, something which few tablets have built in.

This is a handy addition, as the rather paltry 8GB and 16GB models don't give you a whole lot of storage, especially if you want to download videos onto the tablet.

It supports cards up to 64GB in size and from the settings menu you can set the SD card as the default video storage, if you don't want to clog up the HD's internal space.

Annoyingly the Nook HD doesn't come with the traditional microUSB port, instead opting for a 30-pin option, which forces you to use the bundled USB cable to charge and connect to a computer.

John McCann
Global Managing Editor

John joined TechRadar over a decade ago as Staff Writer for Phones, and over the years has built up a vast knowledge of the tech industry. He's interviewed CEOs from some of the world's biggest tech firms, visited their HQs and has appeared on live TV and radio, including Sky News, BBC News, BBC World News, Al Jazeera, LBC and BBC Radio 4. Originally specializing in phones, tablets and wearables, John is now TechRadar's resident automotive expert, reviewing the latest and greatest EVs and PHEVs on the market. John also looks after the day-to-day running of the site.