Samsung has just announced its teamed up with Barnes and Noble in order to launch the all-new Galaxy Tab 4 Nook. The slate is available to purchase in the United States starting today for $179 after a $20 instant rebate from any of the booksellers bricks-and-mortar stores or its website.

Here’s a partnership you probably weren’t expecting: Samsung has teamed up with Barnes & Noble to launch the new Galaxy Tab 4 Nook. The 7-inch device is almost identical to the original Galaxy Tab 4 — inside and out — but it comes pre-loaded with Nook apps and a custom user interface.

The official Nook app for Android has been updated with support for high resolution magazines on tablets with 1280×720 displays or greater. The update comes more than three months after HD magazines came to the iPad, but it’s better late than never.

Like Amazon’s Kindle Fire devices, Barnes & Noble’s Android-powered Nook HD and Nook HD+ tablets have always relied on the company’s proprietary app store for software distribution.

While this ensures that every app you download will work well on your slate, it also means that the app selection is limited, and nowhere near that of Android’s own Google Play store.

But that all changed today when Barnes & Noble announced it will finally be bringing Google Play to its tablets.

Acer appears to be preparing a new entry-level addition to its Iconia tablet family, according to an FCC application for the Iconia Tab B1-A71. The 7-inch device is expected to run the latest Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean operating system on a dual-core processor. And according to the plans above, it’ll look a lot like a Nook tablet.