Gadgetory

not only did Barnes & Noble make the 2012 Nook lighter and given an anti-glare screen protector they added a killer feature for nighttime reading and integrated light I'm Bill Detweiler and on this episode of cracking open I'm going to show you what's inside the new Nook Simple Touch and reveal the secret behind its glow light if it weren't for the gray edge along its bezel the Nook Simple Touch with Glo light would look identical to the standard Nook Simple Touch which I cracked open last year but holding a button down for a few seconds and the difference comes shining through so how does the light work well according to CNET's David Carr knowing glow light uses a form of LED front lighting instead of the traditional back lights found on everything from tablets to TVs Barnes & Noble developed glow light in-house and has filed for a patent so let's crack this thing open and see what's inside first I popped off the power button and removed the screw underneath I didn't slid the matte cover down and lifted it off disconnecting the battery in the process now the 1530 milliamp hour battery has the same model number as the one on the standard Nook this makes the batteries interchangeable but it also means a single charge won't last as long when running the readers light as with the outer shell and battery the circuit board is nearly identical to the one on the standard Nook there's an 800 megahertz TI OMAP processor 256 Meg mobile DRAM chip a 2 gig storage chip and a Georgian Wi-Fi module besides a few extra really small ICS and components the only big difference is a connector used for the glow lights LEDs on the underside of the board are the emitters and receivers for the touch screen system with the main board pretty much covered we can turn our attention to display assembly and finally investigate the glow light system the device is six inch display assembly is held the front bezel with double sided tape and separating the two is a bit tricky but a plastic spudger and a little patience should get the job done now looking at the assembly one difference between the Glo light and standard nook jumps out immediately the screens mounting plates are made from different materials the standard nook screen has what appears to be an aluminum plate the glow lights plate however appears to be made from a diecast magnesium alloy the new material may be necessary for the glow light system but it also shaves about half an ounce off the weight of the display assembly flipping the assembly over we find the glow light system mounted above the actual e-ink screen I know this because I reconnected the motherboard and battery to the display powered unit up and turned on the light knowing I was in the right spot I removed a piece of black and white tape from over the LEDs and again powered on the light with that glow lights eight individual LEDs were finally revealed I really enjoyed dissecting the Nook Simple Touch with Glo light it was a cinch to take apart has a beautifully simple internal design and I discovered how Barnes & Noble made it way less and light up now to see more tear down photos check out my full cracking open gallery at TechRepublic dot-com forward slash cracking open first CNET and TechRepublic I'm Bill Detweiler you