Google Play Store part of update pushed out starting today for Barnes and Noble Nook HD and HD+

Happy days are coming to those who own the Barnes and Noble Nook HD and the Barnes and Noble Nook HD+. A ton of new apps and content is coming your way with an OTA update containing the Google Play Store. That means that those with either slate will be able to install apps like Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps. While 700,000 apps and games and millions of tunes will be available for Nook HD and Nook HD+ users, the word is that magazines, books and other video content will also soon be made available.

The Google PlayStore will be already pre-installed on new units of the Barnes and Noble Nook HD and Barnes and Noble Nook HD+. Owners of the two tablets will start receiving an OTA update starting today, while on Wi-Fi. In addition, after the update, the Chrome browser becomes the default browser on each slate with faster page rendering and unlimited tabs. Barnes and Noble's own content store will remain available for users to use. And if you can't wait for the OTA update to hit your tablet, you can visit the Nook website at the sourcelink for information on how to install the software update manually.

The Barnes and Noble Nook HD offers a 7 inch LCD display with resolution of 1440 x 900 and a pixel density of 243ppi. Under the hood is a dual-core 1.3GHz TI OMAP 4470 processor, with 1GB of RAM on board. The tablet comes in 8GB or 16GB versions in snow or smoke, for $199 or $229 respectively. And yes, there is a 32GB capacity microSD slot on the tablet. Android 4.0 is pre-installed out of the box.

The Barnes and Noble Nook HD+ features a larger 9 inch LCD screen with resolution of 1920 x 1280 and a pixel density of 256ppi. A dual-core 1.5GHz TI OMAP 4470 processor is running the show. 1GB of RAM is on board. Available in Slate, the 16GB model costs $269 while the 32GB variant is $299. Android 4.0 is also pre-installed out of the box. And this unit also offers a 32GB capacity microSD slot.

source: BarnesandNoble via Engadget