Barnes & Noble takes on the Kindle Fire with the Nook Tablet with streaming HD movies

There’s just about zero chance of this making it to the UK, but in the States the budget tablet wars have just heated up with the announcement of the new Barnes & Noble Nook 7″ tablet.

Released on November the 18th, the Nook Tablet is set to retail for $249 – $50 more than its rival the Kindle Fire but still a whole load cheaper than the iPad.

Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch was quick to big up his new product:

“What we set out to do here was create the best portable 7-inch media tablet. It is an evolution of Nook Color and a revolution in the 7-inch media category.”

The company say that they have spent a shedload of dosh developing what the hope will be a Kindle-pwner, with the new tablet bigged up as providing, “the world’s best reading experience.” That’s a mighty big claim, B&N!

Lighter and with more memory

The Nook Tablet offers a 1024 by 600 pixels touch screen (same as the Kindle Fire), weighs 14.1 ounces (a little less than its rival) and packs a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and 16 GB of internal storage – twice what you’ll get on the Kindle Fire.

You can also expand Nook Tablet’s memory via a micro SD memory card slot, and the tablet will come preloaded with apps from Netflix, Hulu Plus, TV.com, Pandora, with more promised.

Like the Fire, the Nook Tablet is a Wi-Fi only device – there’s no 3G option on offer – although Barnes & Noble has a deal with AT&T to provide free Wi-Fi access at hotspots in its own stores, as well as in McDonald’s and Starbucks.

Battery life is pegged at 11 ½ hours for reading or 9 hours of movie playback.

Here’s how Barnes and Noble describe the stand out features:

Our fastest, lightest tablet with the best in HD entertainment

Check out the video below for more: