Just a couple of hours before its launch, Barnes and Noble’s Nook Color e-reader managed to leak online, through a picture that shows the device in the wild. This Android unit was apparently leaked by the Barnes and Noble website, that closed the page responsible once the leak was spotted.

The image shows a touchscreen portable device with a color display, that remains a mystery as far as screen technology is concerned. The current version of the e-reader relies on a monochrome E Ink screen, plus a smaller color LCD touchscreen with navigation features. As far as the price of the new product is concerned, it should be around $249.

Too bad that the leak didn’t provide info about the device’s specs, but we’ll learn more once the reader is launched.