The Nook Tablet is about 10% lighter and has a touted battery life of 11.5 hours with WiFi off, a claim we weren't able to test during our limited time with the device.

Timing aside, the Nook Tablet is also less likely to generate buzz because it is essentially a hardware update to last year's Nook Color, rather than an all-new device.

Meanwhile, the Nook Tablet costs $50 more than the Kindle Fire and doesn't offer in-house video and music services, but has its own charms as a reading-focused device with a dollop of multimedia.