Barnes & Noble offers full Google Play access for the Nook HD and HD+

The Barnes & Noble lineup of Nook digital readers originally required a hack in order to access the full version of the Google Play store.

Well, Barnes & Noble has shaken up the current status quo with an announcement that Nook HD and HD+ tablets owners can now gain full access to the Google Play store –  without having to root their respective devices.

This means Nook owners now have access to all of the reading material that made Barnes & Noble popular, as well as 700,000 apps, games, movies, and songs available via Google Play.

In addition, users also have easy access to Google’s Chrome browser, Gmail, YouTube, Google Search, and Google Maps. This is indeed good news for Nook owners, as Barnes & Noble previously limited both access and content. This is definitely a timely move, especially considering that Barnes & Noble is having a rather difficult time competing against other tablets and e-readers from industry heavyweights like Apple and Amazon.

As previously discussed on TG Daily, the Nook HD is a seven-inch tablet with the screen resolution of 1440 x 900 and at least 8 GB of storage. The HD+ sells for $269 and features a nine-inch 1920 x 1280 pixel resolution display and 16 GB of storage.