US books retailer Barnes & Noble has launched an all-out assault on Amazon's dominance of the UK e-reader market.
The company will launch a slate of aggressively priced new devices ahead of the Christmas shopping season, including a pair of all-new tablets and E-ink readers.
The Nook range of devices will include the all-new Nook HD and Nook HD+, which feature high-resolution screens and high quality industrial design for a relatively low price.
But how do the devices compare to the market-leading iPad - and more pertinently to Amazon's own recently-announced hardware?
HuffPost managed to get an early glimpse at Barnes & Noble's line-up. Here are our impressions:
PREVIEW: Nook HD: Seven-Inch Multi-Media Tablet
Barnes & Noble claim their Nook HD tablet boasts the highest resolution ever seen on a seven-inch scree - and we have to admit, the product did feel like a seriously well-made and solid device in our hands.
With a pleasing matte finish in either white or grey, the HD was comfortable to hold and seemed easy to use. Compared to the Kindle HD it appeared to have the edge in terms of industrial design - and it had a noticeably brighter screen than Google's own seven-inch Nexus 7.
Yes, the product does come in at the lower end of the tablet market - and doesn't feel as capable or lovingly crafted as the iPad. But a 'cheapo' Android tablet this is not - it's a well-made device.
The tablet also comes with a dual-core 1.3GHz high-speed processor, which B&N claimed is "80% faster" than the Kindle Fire HD when it comes to graphics processing. We haven't spent enough time with the product to make a full assessment, but in general using the device seemed to be a smooth experience - enough to switch between books, watch movies and some light gaming, at least.
The Nook HD also boasts some nice OS touches, including well-animated page turning and multiple profiles for different family members, with a suite of security restrictions to let kids stick to the Nook's children's books offerings, and not Fifty Shades of Grey.
That said, the Nook HD (and its larger brother) also features a similarly restrictive Android-based operating system as Amazon's devices, which means fewer apps and games to choose from compared to Apple's App Store.
So if you're planning to get any work done on your tablet this isn't for you - it's a strictly reading, watching and, at a push, light gaming, device.
Nook 2012 Line-Up
Nook HD+: Nine-Inch Tablet For A Seven-Inch Price
In many respects the Nook HD+ is the more impressive and interesting of the Nook tablets to be made available in the UK.
Offered in a dark-grey 'slate' finish, it really is a very handsome device, with the Nook's signature cut-out corner in the bottom left of the screen adding a unique touch to the design.
Most of all, it is immediately obvious that the HD+ has a very impressive screen for the price - which at 16GB for £229 and 32GB for £269 is exceptionally low.
The HD+ screen clocks in at 1920 x 1280 over nine-inches, which is 256PPI or just under the resolution of the new iPad's "resolutionary" screen. It really was very, very bright and clear to our eyes.
The obvious comparison here is with the Kindle HD 8.9, which also has a great screen and comes with a compellingly cheap 4G connection in the United States. But that tablet isn't available in the UK yet, and so far it looks like Barnes and Noble might have caught the jump over their online-only rivals.
The tablet has some fairly impressive speakers, expandable storage and a solid battery that will offer 10 hours reading and 9 hours video (with WiFi turned off). Barnes & Noble added that the HD+ is 20% lighter than the iPad, at just 515 grams, and also features a higher-powered processor than the seven-inch Nook HD at 1.5Ghz, with 1GB of RAM.
There are some compromises, however. The HD+ has no camera, either on the front or back, meaning it is not a communication device in the same way as the iPad. Neither does it have an option to add 3G connectivity, and it also suffers from the same relatively restrictive selection of apps compared to the wider iOS and Android platforms.
Most importantly for consumers, the Nook Store is unfamiliar and unproven compared to Apple and Amazon's offerings, and time will tell whether enough are prepared to make the jump to give it the momentum needed to take the Nook anywhere close to Apple and Amazon in the UK.
That said, Jamie Iannone, president of Barnes & Noble digital, was pretty blunt about the importance of the UK to the company's business.
We asked how long B&N would wait to 'crack' the market this side of the Pond, he had a strong one-word answer: "Forever".
At this price, and with build quality this solid, it might not take that long.