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Nook Color update adds Netflix app

Barnes and Noble's free Nook Color update gives users access to Netflix, among …

Barnes and Noble has given Nook Color users the gift of Netflix, as well as a few other big apps, according to the revised product page. The company is rolling out an update that will bring the Nook Color a little closer in OS functionality to the Nook Tablet, including better dictionary integration, portrait and landscape modes for reading, and more font selections.

The Nook Color launched just under a year ago, and has received no hardware refreshes since then—it's still packing an 800MHz single-core processor and 512MB of RAM, compared to the Nook Tablet's dual-core 1GHz processor, gigabyte of RAM, and couple hours of extra battery life. Rather than letting the Nook Color fade away, Barnes and Noble is bringing the device a bit closer to parity with the Nook Tablet.

Maybe it's that the company still has Nook Colors to sell through, or wants to make good with current owners who may be miffed at the big difference in functionality. Either way, this closes the gap quite a bit—we're fond of saying how big a role Netflix plays on our mobile device choice and use, and OS refinements are always welcome.

Nook Color owners and interested parties can get the update here starting today.

Channel Ars Technica