Nook Color: sneaky Android tablet

[Foulkey Reese]

$250

I just rooted it and now it's like a giant Android phone. Runs super fast. I'm playing Angry Birds on it and it's faster than my phone. People on the Droid forums are comparing it to the $500 Samsung Galaxy in terms of power and speed.

Going to post some screen shots and quadrant scores in a bit.

This is fucking awesome.

http://forum.android...nook-color.html

 

[Nick Kaufman]

So it's like a cheaper galaxy tab?

 

[Foulkey Reese]

That is with the stock kernel.

So far it runs pretty smooth on top of being an excellent e-reader. Friend of mine says his gets 6-8 hours of battery life rooted.

Edit: That 600 ePub book file that Nip posted a while back is awesome. All of those books look great on this.

 

[Beomoose]

Going to upgrade to Honeycomb later?

 

[OttoC]

Edit: That 600 ePub book file that Nip posted a while back is awesome. All of those books look great on this.

You now get a message saying that it has either been removed by the poster or removed for copyright issues.

 

[PBDWake]

You now get a message saying that it has either been removed by the poster or removed for copyright issues.

I'll reupload it when I get home from work today, and PM links to whomever wants it.

 

[Foulkey Reese]

Going to upgrade to Honeycomb later?

Yea once I get to play with it for a few days I will look into that. Played with this thing in bed for hours last night and the battery life was great. I feel like I hit the jackpot getting it for only $250. It's a fully functioning tab for half the price of an iPad.

 

[Omar's Wacky Neighbor]

$250

I just rooted it and now it's like a giant Android tab. Runs super fast. I'm playing Angry Birds on it and it's faster than my phone.

How'd you get Angry Birds to run on it? Didn't think most of these ereaders had enough CPU horsepower, even after optimizing.

I rooted a few Pandigtial Novels ($60 a few weeks back at Kohls), but haven't optimized it yet. I can get Birds to open, but not much beyond that.

 

[Foulkey Reese]

NOOKcolor full specs:

* PCB: Foxconn ML1 S 94V-0

* CPU Processor: ARM Cortex A8-based Ti OMAP 3621 @ 800 MHz (same processor as Droid 2 and Droid X)

* GPU Processor: PowerVR SGX530 Graphics Rendering: Open GLES1.1/2.0 Hardware Scaling: 854x480 scaled to 1024x600 Video Formats: .3GP, .MP4, .3G2 ** Video Codecs: H.263, H.264, MPEG-4, ON2 VP7 ** Image Formats: JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP ** (same GPU as Droid 2 and Droid X)

* RAM: 512MB Hynix H8MBX00U0MER-0EM MCM (Stacked Chips 2x256MB each die mDDR)

* Internal Flash: 8GB Sandisk SDIN4C1-8g
* Removable Flash: 32GB via microSDHC

I now have it overclocked to 1.100 mhz

Runs like a dream.

 

[PortlandSoxFan]

I got my wife a Nook color for christmas...since she already has an Android phone, turning it into an android tablet might be easier for her.

Is there an easy way to get it back to stock should she not like the rooted version?

 

[Foulkey Reese]

I got my wife a Nook color for christmas...since she already has an Android phone, turning it into an android tablet might be easier for her.

Is there an easy way to get it back to stock should she not like the rooted version?

I haven't gotten that far yet. From what I've read on the various forums they are currently working on a "stock" rom that will bring it back to default.

It wasn't the exact same as rooting a phone, but it wasn't that tough. You just need a new Micro SD card that you can format.

 

[AlNipper49]

This is pretty awesome, Arev

 

[Foulkey Reese]

This is pretty awesome, Arev

I'm just shocked at how smooth it is. Rooting it also leaves the B&N Reader software on there so you can still use it like it came out of the box.

 

[kneemoe]

Going to upgrade to Honeycomb later?

They're still working on getting the basics working with Honeycomb (yes, it boots, but not much beyond that), so there's no accelerometer or WLAN or or or under Honeycomb right now... of course things are changing quickly but its not quite there yet.

edit: - link -
It looks like he got the some of the censors working early this morning
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=930223&page=16

 

[PortlandSoxFan]

I'm just shocked at how smooth it is. Rooting it also leaves the B&N Reader software on there so you can still use it like it came out of the box.

If that's the case, then I will be doing this soon. She has barely used the Nook because of the learning curve; if it is a giant Android tablet she will start using it more.

 

[Foulkey Reese]

If that's the case, then I will be doing this soon. She has barely used the Nook because of the learning curve; if it is a giant Android tablet she will start using it more.

Facebook, Twitter, Google reader, ect. all look really good on it. Text is a tad small in FB, but not enough to bother me. Lots of apps let you increase the text size so that's the only place I've really had an issue with it.

 

[Marceline]

What is Honeycomb? I just ordered one of these. Looks like a great deal. How is the battery life with overclocking?

 

[Foulkey Reese]

What is Honeycomb? I just ordered one of these. Looks like a great deal. How is the battery life with overclocking?

Honeycomb is going to be the newest version of Android Software. It's not out yet but the source code is.

Battery life seems pretty good. I charged it to 100% last night, rooted it, backed it up(which seems to kill battery life), then played with it for hours and it didn't fall below 50% until 11am or so today. It charges pretty slowly, but the battery life seems pretty solid so far.

I like that it gives you an accurate reflection of the remaining battery life. 87% (for example) as opposed to going in increments of 10 like my phone does.

 

[FL4WL3SS]

I'm am VERY tempted to go out and get a nook now. I may even go and do that this evening.

 

[Beomoose]

Yeah I didn't expect you to upgrade to Honeycomb by tonight :lol: I was just curious if it was in your plans.

 

[bakahump]

Bare with me with might be a dumb question, I dont have any android devs...

This has Wifi so....

In my Home I have a Windows media Server. Would I be able to "Map a drive" or navigate to that server over my wireless network?

I would use this to pull music for instance from my server to the NC.

Would I be able to "Control" my Windows media Server? Currently I use RDP from a laptop.

Is there an RDP Application that Android has? Is there a "Drive Map" app?

 

[czar]

This would be infinitely more exciting if MLB.tv supported an Android app.

I'd 100% drop a couple hundy on a Nook just to walk around with the Sox on a tablet.

 

[Marceline]

This would be infinitely more exciting if MLB.tv supported an Android app.

I'd 100% drop a couple hundy on a Nook just to walk around with the Sox on a tablet.

No MLB.tv yet, but slingbox for android is awesome and supposedly netflix is coming out soon.

 

[Foulkey Reese]

Yea Netflix is supposed to come out early 2011 right? As awesome as it sounds, I don't really see myself watching TV on a 7 inch screen over a Wifi connection.

 

[czar]

Yea Netflix is supposed to come out early 2011 right? As awesome as it sounds, I don't really see myself watching TV on a 7 inch screen over a Wifi connection.

See, I tote my laptop around the house with the Sox on during the summer (into the kitchen, garage, etc.) but it gets pretty cumbersome. Plus we don't have a TV in the bedroom, either.

I couldn't justify getting an iPad to fill that tiny void when it would overlap with my iPhone and laptop. However, for a couple hundred I'd be really, really tempted to pick up a Nook just so I have something triple the screen size of my iPhone but one-third the bulk of my laptop that I could whip around the house with me wherever I go.

I'm still tempted to get one just to screw around with it. I almost got a Kindle a few months ago and thankfully didn't-- maybe I'll put that chunk of change towards this. Honestly, I was a big fan of the e-ink screens because I figured they'd reduce eye wear (I get headaches by the end of the day after looking at a computer screen so long)-- how is the LCD screen on the Nook in terms of reading stuff for 1-2 hours?

 

[Orange Julia]

how troublesome/risky is it to turn this thing into a gigantic android tablet?

 

[Zeebo]

Wow, did not realize that the Nook was that powerful, pretty impressive specs and on par with any android phone before the new dual core wave hits. The GPUis working now with Honeycomb, but there's lots more work to do. The fact that you can put android on it and still use it for e-reading puts it so far ahead of the Kindle in my book, really cool stuff.

 

[zenter]

how troublesome/risky is it to turn this thing into a gigantic android tablet?

Rooting and re-ROM-ing is not necessarily HARD for more Android devices, but it's a little unnerving for someone who has never done it. The first time takes a LOT of reading and procedure-following. That said, after you've done it once, you become more fearless. That is to say, if you rooted and put a different ROM on your Vibrant, you won't be too afraid to do the same to a NookColor. From what I've read, NookColor is a touch harder than most phones.

EDIT: I's bad at the reading.

 

[PortlandSoxFan]

Wow, did not realize that the Nook was that powerful, pretty impressive specs and on par with any android phone before the new dual core wave hits. The GPUis working now with Honeycomb, but there's lots more work to do. The fact that you can put android on it and still use it for e-reading puts it so far ahead of the Kindle in my book, really cool stuff.

You really aren't PUTTING Android on it...the Nook already IS an Android device.

 

[Foulkey Reese]

It's different than rooting your phone, that's for sure.

You have to burn a file onto a fresh micro SD card and then have then boot the Nook up off of that card. The steps in the link I posted in the first post were pretty easy to follow thought. If you are reasonably good with phones and computers it shouldn't be an issue. There are a ton of sites out there that can help you.

Tonight I'm going to try to load a Froyo rom on it. Right now it's running 2.1 so there's no Flash.

As far as the screen it's back lit like an iPad so it's not as easy on the eyes as the Kindle, but it's very easy to turn the brightness down which is what I do when I play with it in bed. I read 2-3 chapters of some Tom Clancy book last night on low brightness and was fine with it. No eye strain at all for me, even without my glasses.

The full, non mobile version of SoSH looks awesome on it btw.

 

[EddieYost]

Seems like a great alternative to an iPad. What does rooting it allow that wasn't previously allowed? Is a Nook completely locked down before being rooted? Can you install any apps at all on a Nook that isn't rooted?

 

[zenter]

Seems like a great alternative to an iPad. What does rooting it allow that wasn't previously allowed? Is a Nook completely locked down before being rooted? Can you install any apps at all on a Nook that isn't rooted?

To answer your second question first: no, not at the moment. However, B&N folks say they will be opening up an NC-specific Android Market.
To your first question: because NC comes only with nookreader, Pandora, a browser, and a couple other apps, NC rooting opens up a world of Android awesomeness. Specifically, the Kindle app, widgets, and the rest of the Android app ecosystem.

Foulkey - battery life?

 

[Marceline]

Foulkey - battery life?

http://sonsofsamhorn.net/topic/63220-go-get-a-nook-color/page__view__findpost__p__3354993

 

[Foulkey Reese]

To answer your second question first: no, not at the moment. However, B&N folks say they will be opening up an NC-specific Android Market.
To your first question: because NC comes only with nookreader, Pandora, a browser, and a couple other apps, NC rooting opens up a world of Android awesomeness. Specifically, the Kindle app, widgets, and the rest of the Android app ecosystem.

Foulkey - battery life?

what he said.

And like I said I've been very pleased with the battery so far. Goes 6-8+ hours of Android use easily. When you turn the brightness down and just use it as a reader the battery drain slows to a crawl.

 

[kneemoe]

More development on Honeycomb - he's released an image and has some notes on what's working (almost everything) and what's not (hardware decoding, sound) here. From other people's feedback it looks like you'll need a 8Gb SD card to get up and running.

 

[Foulkey Reese]

Though this was pretty cool.

 

[Foulkey Reese]

Well it was fun while it lasted.

With all the talk about using the Nook Color as an Android tablet (including the jaw-dropping port of Android 3.0 'Honeycomb' before it even launches), maybe you've wondered what Barnes & Noble thought of all this? Well, we may have just gotten an idea . . .

According to the folks over at Good E-Reader, B&N is pulling its entire stock of Nook Colors from the shelves for the next two weeks. Initial rumors were that this was to prepare for the promised Froyo update, but now sources within Barnes & Noble are apparently saying that this is to install some sort of anti-rooting mechanism. While the reasoning behind their pulling the Nooks is still unconfirmed at this point, it appears to be fact that all Nook Colors are being systematically removed from shelves and online orders for about two weeks.

Despite having solid hardware specs for an Android tablet, the main reason the Nook Color has been so popular is because it's priced at a modest $250. While this is great for us, the Android tablet junkies and hackers, from Barnes & Noble's business perspective, this could be seen as a big problem.

http://www.androidcentral.com/barnes-noble-pulling-nook-color-ready-anti-root-measures

 

[zenter]

Well it was fun while it lasted.

http://www.androidcentral.com/barnes-noble-pulling-nook-color-ready-anti-root-measures

That leads me to ask - does Motorola's anti-rooting tech work? Nook has a 14-day return policy. I might need to run out and get one.

 

[Time to Mo Vaughn]

That leads me to ask - does Motorola's anti-rooting tech work? Nook has a 14-day return policy. I might need to run out and get one.

Anti-rooting? No.

Anti-ROMing? Yes.

As of right now on the Droid X and Droid 2, while the phones can be rooted, there is no way to create any custom ROMs or development off anything other than the approved Kernels. This means that all ROMs out there right now are just variations of 2.2, there's no way to put gingerbread on there.

 

[JPA]

Despite having solid hardware specs for an Android tablet, the main reason the Nook Color has been so popular is because it's priced at a modest $250. While this is great for us, the Android tablet junkies and hackers, from Barnes & Noble's business perspective, this could be seen as a big problem

I'm curious as to why this would be a problem for Barnes & Noble. I would imagine that the ability to use the Nook as a true Android tablet, including the ability to install honeycomb, would make a broader group of people interested in their product and lead to more sales. I'm sure I'm missing something though.

 

[I12XU]

I'm curious as to why this would be a problem for Barnes & Noble. I would imagine that the ability to use the Nook as a true Android tablet, including the ability to install honeycomb, would make a broader group of people interested in their product and lead to more sales. I'm sure I'm missing something though.

Well, it could be that B&N sells the Nook Color for 250 and a push from the profit perspective but counts on you as a Nook owner to be buying e-books from them which is much more profitable long run.

 

[P'tucket rhymes with...]

Well, it could be that B&N sells the Nook Color for 250 and a push from the profit perspective but counts on you as a Nook owner to be buying e-books from them which is much more profitable long run.

That's what I was assuming, although the commenters to that article point out that this is more likely to be found money for them--the rooters are an additional niche on top of the folks who will buy it for its intended use.

Just to note, too, that the commenters don't seem completely convinced that they pulled the Nooks to root-proof them.

 

[Corsi]

If you're going to grab a Nook Color, today might be the day. Groupon has a $20 coupon to B&N for $10, and if you buy the deal at multiple cities, you'll be able to combine. Seems like a good way to get the Nook for half off.

 

[Jimy Hendrix]

I'm curious as to why this would be a problem for Barnes & Noble. I would imagine that the ability to use the Nook as a true Android tablet, including the ability to install honeycomb, would make a broader group of people interested in their product and lead to more sales. I'm sure I'm missing something though.

Given the specs and price, my assumption would be that they're selling the thing at either a really slim margin or even as a loss leader to try to make up for it in book sales.

If people just buy it, root it and spend more time on the thing playing Angry Birds or surfing the web rather than buying B&N Bookstore books, it's a much less attractive proposition for them.

 

[zenter]

If you're going to grab a Nook Color, today might be the day. Groupon has a $20 coupon to B&N for $10, and if you buy the deal at multiple cities, you'll be able to combine. Seems like a good way to get the Nook for half off.

Are you sure about combining?

• Limit 1 per person. Valid on all items - including sale items. Not valid on previous purchases and/or adjustments. Not valid with other offers.

Given that the value of these halve on April 11 (evil T&C), I'd want to be sure about combining before spending 130 on these vouchers.

 

[bakahump]

Portsmouth B&N still has these in Stock. Augusta Maine...just sold their last on.

SO....we are headed to Portsmouth.

 

[Hextall]

$250

I just rooted it and now it's like a giant Android phone. Runs super fast. I'm playing Angry Birds on it and it's faster than my phone. People on the Droid forums are comparing it to the $500 Samsung Galaxy in terms of power and speed.

Going to post some screen shots and quadrant scores in a bit.

This is fucking awesome.

http://forum.android...nook-color.html

I'm thinking of going today and buying one of these to root (I called my local B&N yesterday and was told that they had plenty in stock).

But looking around XDA at the rooting section, there are two things that give me a little pause...
1. the microUSB plug on a lot of these appear to be faulty. There's even some speculation that B&N are pulling them off the shelves because of this, and not because they want to block the rooters.
2. someone said it wasn't a good multimedia device... not really knowing what this means, and knowing that one of the things I'll definitely be doing is playing youtube videos on it for my 3 year old... how is your experience with the youtube app?

I'm hoping to sneak out early today to buy one.

 

[Foulkey Reese]

I'm thinking of going today and buying one of these to root (I called my local B&N yesterday and was told that they had plenty in stock).

But looking around XDA at the rooting section, there are two things that give me a little pause...
1. the microUSB plug on a lot of these appear to be faulty. There's even some speculation that B&N are pulling them off the shelves because of this, and not because they want to block the rooters.
2. someone said it wasn't a good multimedia device... not really knowing what this means, and knowing that one of the things I'll definitely be doing is playing youtube videos on it for my 3 year old... how is your experience with the youtube app?

I'm hoping to sneak out early today to buy one.

Plays youtube fine for me. I have it set to play "high quality" and it looks good in my opinion. I haven't tried any other kinds of video or music yet though. Plays my podcasts well.

I haven't seen anything about the microusb plug, no problems with mine yet. But that would give me pause too if a lot of people were talking about it.

 

[mt8thsw9th]

Portsmouth B&N still has these in Stock. Augusta Maine...just sold their last on.

SO....we are headed to Portsmouth.

It's available on B&N.com. Why not save yourself a half tank of gas?

 

[Hextall]

Plays youtube fine for me. I have it set to play "high quality" and it looks good in my opinion. I haven't tried any other kinds of video or music yet though. Plays my podcasts well.

I haven't seen anything about the microusb plug, no problems with mine yet. But that would give me pause too if a lot of people were talking about it.

If you dont' mind a couple more questions...

what size microSD card do I need to root?
does B&N do OTA updates that could wreck root?
Can you still use it as a B&N book reader (i.e. not have to get the B&N app)?