Get a closer look at the Barnes & Noble-branded Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook is a re-branded version of the Galaxy Tab 4 7.0, loaded with apps from Barnes & Noble's Nook marketplace. Its 7-inch display offers a 1,280-by-800-pixel resolution, and it costs a mere $179 after a $20 instant rebate.
The Galaxy Tab 4 Nook is "optimized for reading," with a few handy features that'll be familiar to fans of older Nook tablets. Article view will clean up a magazine's layout so you'll get an unfettered stream of text, while Highlights pulls all of your notes into a single convenient location.
A few Nook-centric apps are the primary sign that there's something different about this tablet. But you'll still have full access to the Google Play Store, so there's nothing stopping you from getting books from Amazon, too.
This plastic tablet weighs just over half a pound and is only 4.25 inches wide, which makes it very comfortable to hold. It also feels fairly sturdy.
The microSD card slot supports cards of up to 32GB -- you'll want one to make up for the meager 8GB of storage.
You can use the IR blaster on the side to control your TV, care of Samsung's WatchOn app.
Skip the speaker. It's a tiny little thing, pumping out anemic sounds.
The cameras arent worth writing home about either. The tablet has a 1.2-megapixel shooter on the front and a 3-megapixel shooter on the rear, but both take grainy, dull photos that muddle details.