Barnes & Noble’s New Tablet Now Has Its Own Keyboard Cover, Dock

Barnes & Noble recently launched its largest mobile device to date, the 10.1-inch Nook Tablet.

Declining to take on Apple’s dominant iPad at the pricier end of the market, the company instead designed a no-frills machine costing just $130, putting it in direct competition with devices like Amazon’s Fire HD tablets.

While a range of third-party accessories are available for Nook’s existing mobile devices, Barnes & Noble has just unveiled a couple of its own extras that you might want to drop into the shopping basket if you’re considering the Nook Tablet 10.1.

First up is the Smart Folio Cover with Keyboard priced at $40. Similar to other cover-keyboard combos, the device is powered via a magnetic connection to the tablet, which means there’s no Bluetooth pairing to grapple with, or messy cables for that matter.

A fold in the back of the cover lets you use the case as a stand to give it a laptop-look for when you’re hammering out emails, while an adjustable hinge offers various viewing angles. A magnetic tab ensures the cover stays firmly closed when the tablet isn’t in use, and the display switches off to preserve battery power the moment the cover is closed.

Speaking of battery power, Barnes & Noble also has a Charging Dock available exclusively for the Nook Tablet 10.1. Costing $35, the dock’s minimal design places the tablet longways, and lets you listen to audio books, stream movies, or place a hands-free video call as the device charges. With regular use, you should be able to get about seven hours of use from the tablet before you need to pop it back in the dock.

While most consumers will instinctively connect Barnes & Noble with its ebook and ebook-reader business, the Nook Tablet 10.1 is the company’s latest effort to highlight a broader vision, one that encompasses multipurpose, reasonably priced, Android-powered tablets.

We haven’t had a chance to put the new tablet through its paces yet, but we do know the latest Nook comes with 32GB of internal storage, expandable to 256GB by way of a MicroSD card.

For its low price, you clearly can’t expect great specs, so don’t be surprised to learn that the front and back cameras each offer a dismal 2 megapixels. As for the tablet’s RAM and processor, Barnes & Noble hasn’t even said.

Still, as a simple Android tablet that appears to be capable of the basics, shoppers may consider the Nook Tablet 10.1 alongside other devices in the same price bracket, such as the Amazon Fire HD 10.