8:15PM EST November 6. 2012 - MIAMI BEACH â€" When it comes to tablets, you can live large or live small.
Days after Apple broadened the iPad lineup by selling the more petite iPad Mini model, Google went in the opposite direction. The search giant added the Nexus 10 to an Android roster that already includes Nexus 7, a popular tablet with a 7-inch screen and one of the slates Apple is obviously going after with the 7.9-inch Mini.
The bigger Nexus, which is made by Samsung, boasts a a splendid 10-inch, high-resolution screen that rivals the gorgeous retina-display on the recent generations of full-size iPads.
It goes on sale Tuesday at the relative bargain starting price of $399 for a Wi-Fi-only model with 16 gigabytes of storage, or $499 for double the storage. Apple charges $399 for the older generation full-size iPad 2.
Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble is about to bring out a 9-inch Nook HD+. But the new tablet that I've been testing from the bookseller is the 7-inch, $199 (and up) Nook HD. It not only competes against the Nexus 7 and the iPad Mini, but also the Kindle Fire HD that's produced by Amazon.
For different reasons, I like both the Nexus 10 and Nook HD. A closer look:
Google Nexus 10
It is roughly an inch taller than my own third-generation iPad, but otherwise, a tad slimmer and not quite as wide. At 1.3 pounds, it's about an ounce lighter than Apple's latest full-size slate.
The black Nexus 10 has curved corners and a rubbery feel that's easy to grip. It's not as aesthetically attractive as the iPad, though. Still, you're looking at impressive hardware, especially for the price.
The front is protected by Corning's latest version of Gorilla Glass. There's a dual-core processor inside, along with a robust Wi-Fi radio, and NFC (near-field communications) technology that lets you share digital information with other devices through the Android Beam feature.
On board are micro USB and micro HDMI connectors for charging, or adding accessories. But the real knockout here is the 10-1 inch display, which has a resolution of 2560 x 1600 and 300 pixels per inch, specs that are higher than those of the iPad.
Nexus 10 is a terrific tablet for watching movies, playing games, reading Web pages and magazines. The stereo speakers are first rate, too. Nexus 10 also runs Android version 4.2, the latest iteration of Google's Jelly Bean mobile operating system.
I appreciated improvements to the Google Now feature that anticipates the things you might want to search for before you actually search. For example, here in Miami Beach, cards displayed the current weather, nearby attractions, even some cool photo spots just down the road.
There's a new gesture-driven keyboard that lets you enter text by gliding your finger against the letters you mean to type. My sense is the feature is more useful if you're using a smartphone, such as Google's new Nexus 4, rather than a large tablet.
I had fun testing a new Photo Sphere feature that takes the idea of panoramic photos in new directions. Guided by a blue ball you align in a circle, you can snap pictures up and down, and side to side. What you shoot is stitched into a single image.
Nexus 10 has a 5-megapixel main camera capable of shooting 1080p high definition video and a 1.9-megapixel front camera (up to 720p video) that you can use in a Google + Hangout.
Next week, Google plans to add the ability to give multiple people their own areas on the tablet, with customized home screens, apps, games and more. But this new Jelly Bean feature wasn't available for testing.
Google says you'll get up to 9 hours of video playback and 7 hours of Web browsing. I didn't do a formal test, but nothing in my heavy mixed usage suggested the claim is out of whack.
In all, there are some 700,000 Android apps now, but relatively few that have been optimized for the tablet experience. Google doesn't break out the number, but there are far fewer than the 275,000 apps that have been optimized for the iPad.
Barnes & Noble Nook HD
The 7-inch Nook is in a different league, price and size-wise. With a resolution of 1440 x 900 and 243 pixels per inch, it boasts a superb display compared with its main smaller-screen competition.
I enjoyed watching video on it and reading magazines, books and catalogs from leading retailers. Nice feature: You can virtually "tear out" or clip pages from a magazine or catalog and add them to a scrapbook app.
The device weighs slightly more than 11 ounces, making it almost 3 ounces lighter than the Kindle Fire HD. There are no ads, as on the Kindle. Nook HD comes with a power adapter, which Amazon leaves out.
At the entry $199 price, Kindle Fire HD gives you 16GB of storage compared with 8GB on the Nook HD. But the latter includes microSD expansion that the Kindle does not have.
Barnes & Noble has a strong ecosystem of books and magazines, but it's playing catch-up in other areas. The company has struck content deals with major studios and says it's adding thousands of movies and TV shows.
It does not have an offering to rival Amazon Prime, however, or anything close to the iTunes experience of Apple. There's no feature such as the appealing X-Ray for movies feature that Amazon has on Kindle Fire HD for revealing details on the fly about actors in a given scene.
My test Nook was preinstalled with such apps as Angry Birds Space, Cut the Rope HD, Evernote, Flipboard, Hulu Plus, OfficeSuite 6 and Rhapsody (Barnes & Noble doesn't have its own music service).
There's a separate e-mail app and Web browser. You can tap an ArticleView button to remove pictures and make the text within a Web article easier to read. But apps are another area in which Barnes & Noble has to play from behind.
The software interface on Nook HD is simple and inviting. Among the family-friendly features is the ability to set up unique profiles for different members of your clan. Barnes & Noble boasts a compelling lineup of children's content, with 35,000 chapter books and approximately 4,000 interactive kids picture books. A read-and-record feature lets parents or grandparents record themselves reading to Junior.
Worth noting: Barnes & Noble did not equip Nook HD with a camera.
Once more, I didn't conduct a formal battery test. Barnes & Noble says you can read for about 10.5 hours and or watch up to 9 hours of video, sums that seem in line with my use.
The arrival of the Nook HD and Nexus 10 â€" on top of all the other slates out there â€" means consumers have two more excellent tablets to choose from, both big and small.
Email: ebaig@usatoday.com; follow @edbaig on Twitter.
The bottom line
Google Nexus 10
play.google.com
$399 for 16GB (Wi-Fi only) or $499 for 32GB
Pro. Beautiful screen. Good price. Jelly Bean.
Con. Fewer tablet specific apps. Cameras are fair.
Barnes & Noble Nook HD
www.barnesandnoble.com
$199 for 8GB, $229 for 16GB (Wi-Fi only; smoke or snow color)
Pro. Excellent display. Family accounts. Strong books, periodicals and kids content. Expandable memory.
Con. No cameras. Playing catch-up on entertainment offerings and apps.
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