For people who like reading on a tablet, book retailer Barnes & Noble is partnering with one tech giant to deliver its own branded device that promises to be easy on the eyes. TCL originally launched the Tab A1 NXTPAPER with a paper-like display in September 2026, and there’s little difference between that device and the new Barnes & Noble tablet save for the book retailer’s Nook app coming pre-installed on the latter. Nonetheless, the Barnes & Noble tablet may still be appealing to those who want the best of both tablet and e-reader worlds. The NTXTPAPER uses LCD and AMOLED to mimic the look and feel of real paper, which helps reduce eye strain during reading.
Launching for $249.99 (about the same price as the non-branded option), the Barnes & Noble TCL Tab A1 NXTPAPER 11-inch includes an anti-glare 11-inch display with three different viewing modes, 128 gigabytes of storage (expandable to two terabytes with microSD), and Bluetooth 5.0. The tablet runs Android 16, and its 8,000-milliampere-hour battery promises long battery life for reading and browsing. The entire machine is powered by a MediaTek Helio G100 octa-core processor, and there’s also stylus support alongside built-in Google Gemini.
The Barnes & Noble edition won’t be available until November 19, but preorders began in early November 2026. If you don’t want to wait, the non-branded edition from TCL is still available online. It’s also worth mentioning that users don’t need a NXTPAPER device to access the Nook app on other Android devices. Just something to keep in mind if you want to shop for Android devices under 12 inches that don’t involve TCL.
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Does Barnes & Noble have an app for Android?
Aside from branding, one of the largest differences between the TCL Tab A1 NXTPAPER and the Barnes & Noble edition is the inclusion of the Nook app, so it’s worth mentioning that the app is available for free in the Google Play Store (or even the Apple App Store). Users just need to install the app themselves. Though the Nook app is free to download, users should be mindful of in-app purchases, and the Nook app does require Android 10.0 or later.
Along with accessing a library of Barnes & Noble’s latest electronic releases, including bestsellers and recommendations, users with the Nook app installed can also access a backlog of 75,000 e-books and over 10,000 free audiobooks. There’s also Android Auto support (though Android Auto is killing support for Android 10). Users can create profiles while sharing accounts with their family, and there’s also a variety of customization options for adjusting settings like narration speed, background colors, margins, spacing, and more.
In the Google Play Store, the Nook app holds a 4.4-star rating with over 176,000 reviews and more than 10 million downloads. Though some users find the experience buggy, many still compliment the app for its selection of readings and the easy-to-use interface. Considering the app is free to download, anyone with literary interests has little to lose by checking it out. This app, along with the Barnes & Noble edition of the NXTPAPER, may just be another reason people are ditching Kindles for non-Amazon e-readers.
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