Topic Title. I am looking to get an e-reader and not sure if spending the extra money on the Nook Color is worth it. I primarily want an e-reader, but don't care for the glitchy or twitchy display of the e-ink readers when moving through menus and pages. I prefer the smooth fast response of a tablet type device. However that alone is not enough to persuade me to pay $70-$90 more to get a Nook Color over the Simple Touch.
I have purchased quite a few apps on a couple of my old droid phones. I no longer have a cell phone. I would like to be able to use those apps on a Nook Color if I spend the extra money on it, to make it worth while.
Is this possible without rooting the Nook Color? I have rooted my old Moto Droid, so I'm not overly concerned with doing that, however I did have stability and/or lag or sluggish type issues with it from time to time and really don't want to get into that with a new device. I simply want to access all the paid apps I have on my Google account. Can I do that?
Thank you
I don't think it's possible without root. I haven't played around with it much myself, but I think that by default you can only access the B&N appstore. I do not know if you can side-load apk's on the default OS. Usually, people root to get access to the google market instead of just B&N's appstore, and after that they can get all their apps back (with the google account, of course).
As per rooting - you can:
1) root stock, at which point you're still running B&N's OS, but can install other apps, etc. I've never done this so don't know how smooth this is.
2) run CM7/9 from the SD card (with root permissions) while maintaining the B&N OS on the nook (with/without root permissions) again, which will let you run all your previously purchased apps. I ran this way for ~6 months last year, I found it fairly smooth, a little lag when swiping screens or pulling up the app drawer, but not unbearably slow and not for typing.
3) Run CM7/9 off of the internal memory, replacing B&N's OS. Now it's basically an android tablet with no memory of it's previous corporate masters, so you can get your apps back, etc. What lag I had when running off of the SD card disappeared when I switched to internal memory. Also, the ROM's have just gotten better with time, so they're more stable and faster.
One thing you may have issues with is that the google play store tries to determine 'app compatibility with your device' - so if it doesn't think an app is compatible it won't let you download and install it. You can get around this if you have an old Ti:Backup of your apps lying around, or if you have another device that is compatible then you can transfer the apk from there.
+1 to what NCKevo said.
A little more info about rooting. You need it for adding non-B&N apps. It runs just as smooth as stock. There is no change other than you have root access which allows you to do many things including access to the Google Play store (and your previously purchased apps), Amazon App Store, new home launchers etc.
Running from a bootable SD card the smoothness depends on the particular micro SD card you use. SanDisk class 4 generally work the best in the Nook Color and with a good card (based on small block read/write performance) you can't tell the difference between running on the card and internal memory.
Using a custom CM7 or CM9 ROM you will also have the ability to overclock (up to 1.2GHz from the stock 800Mhz) built right in. Far from being sluggish or laggy you will get about 4 times the stock performance. Keep in mind this is still a budget tablet though with "older" hardware and the Nook Color is never going to be a lightening fast $800 tablet equivalent. It will blow the doors off any other $100 tablet though.
JP
Thank you for your replies.
The sluggishness that I experienced on my Droid with the Cyanogen Roms was primarily the app drawer. If I ever had a force close or sometimes without a force close when opening up the app drawer it would be empty for 10-20 seconds and then slowly my apps would load in 1 by 1.
I want to avoid that and avoid voiding my warranty. I wouldn't mind doing one of the above that does not replace the stock OS. Preferably just keep the original OS and add the Google Market capability. Is that something that can be undone in the event of a warranty issue?
Everything on the Nook Color can be undone as long as it isn't physically broken. If it is then they won't know what software is on it anyway That is what is so great about it.
So really there are no warranty issues since you can always go back to 100% stock if needed. But if you want to be extra cautious then use the bootable SD card method. As long as you use a SanDisk micro SD card you shouldn't have any of the sluggishness issues you described.
JP
Related
CM7 looks amazing! From what I see, with CM7, we use an app for reading vs stock. This seems like it could be a perk as notes and highlights would then be 'in the cloud' and not on the device?
I see the Kindle App, which I need as well as access to the market.
For those who have used both autonooter and CM7, is there anything I might miss that CM7 doesn't include? (Not trying to be negative, just wanting to be educated before making the leap )
Our primary use of Nook is for reading, but because BN doesn't have all the books we need, I rooted to gain access to the Kindle store.
Is CM7 permanent? Can I go back to stock/autonooter if we don't like it?
I've seen a few issues about battery life...has that been resolved in current updates?
Thanks for your help!
i think the question is what do you gain with cm7 -
first you get access to the markets, and while you lose the ability to read native nook magazines - it is far outweighed by among other things..
- flash playback for websites and video
- tablet like status bar with navigation
- bluetooth support for gps and/or BT keyboards
- fast snappy performance with overclocks
- augment your experience with 2.2 based apps TVSHow stream for watching past TV shows, PlayOn for streaming hulu, netflix to your nook via your home pc, MegaViewer Pro for catching a number of streaming movies off the net
- location based apps like geodelic, zagat, aloqa
CM7 can be installed into your internal memory for better performance or to an SD card - if you are unsure you can always install it to an sD card so when you want to go back to stock/autonootered, just pop out the SD card and reboot. As for me i installed internally and never looked back
What do you lose? as far as I know the only lost thing is proper sleep mode which results in only a 4-5 day standby battery life on CM7 over the multi-week standby on stock.
I'm not 100% certain since I haven't tested it myself yet, but you probably will lose access to the perks/certificates/coupons you would normally get when you connect to the internet using a Nook at a Barnes & Noble store.
You will lose:
- kids books
- magazines
- the library interface
- "read in store" feature
- "lend me" feature
Basically, the custom ROM turns your nook into a generic non-B&N tablet from B&N's perspective.
Given the excellent design of the nook's boot up setup making it nearly unbrickable, I would guess that there will always be some route back to stock via a CWM image or the original recovery. But once you go "all in" one direction or another (i.e. buying apps from B&N and locking yourself into their market or setting up a custom CM7 home/apps, etc), I'd guess you'll want to stay that way for a while.
I'm currently on the fence. I like the stock reader and library a lot and do not own any kindle books. I'm currently playing around with CM7 on SD card waiting for 1.2 root/noot but may stay with rooted 1.2 when it becomes available since I like B&N's library app and read in store features so much.
If it looks like 1.2 can't be autonootered, I will install CM7 and never look back, though. Market/root is more important than anything else for me.
First off, sorry for the hijack but I want to know and its not far off topic...
I read something somewhere that cm7 can be booted via sd and when the sd is out/a non cm sd is in it will boot completely stock bn nc? So kids books can be used and magazines and all the bn stuff for my wife and I can throw a cm7 sd in and go to cm7 when I want?
zenaxe said:
You will lose:
- kids books
- magazines
- the library interface
- "read in store" feature
- "lend me" feature
Basically, the custom ROM turns your nook into a generic non-B&N tablet from B&N's perspective.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App
the5ifty said:
First off, sorry for the hijack but I want to know and its not far off topic...
I read something somewhere that cm7 can be booted via sd and when the sd is out/a non cm sd is in it will boot completely stock bn nc? So kids books can be used and magazines and all the bn stuff for my wife and I can throw a cm7 sd in and go to cm7 when I want?
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is correct. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1000957
The big loser is battery life. Especially on standby. I never really used stock Nook much. But I'm trying to give the 1.2 update a fare shake, and I must say, the standby difference is quite noticable. After 6 hours of standy on stock, I am still at 98%. If I was on CM7, I would probably be at 91%. The difference ends up being how often you charge, which results in how long your battery will last over the life of the device.
That said, CM7 is great, and as long as you have a cooperative SD card, it runs great right off the SD just look for the size agnostic SD installer thread here and give it a try-- there really is no harm to try as long as you can follow the steps. Its good fun, and the only thing I think it needs is better standy time.
Also op, you can transfer kindle books directly to nook. Just put them in books folder. I have tons of books not from b&n on my nook.
Sent from a super smooth captivate running andromeda
Well, I installed CM7 on one of our nooks last night and it is soooo different!
A few things I 'miss' initially:
BN Stock Library Shelves - the app just has them in one list. It can be sorted by author, which helps, but I liked my shelves.
Angry Birds - Can not figure out how to get it working.
I'm not a big fan of all the 'phone' references/apps either. I'm still learning and their may be a work-around for the last 2 issues.
That's all for now. I may try Phiremod's on my next nook.
What you guys did, after you tear down the box and turn on your acer a500 for the first time, excluding language and timezone selection?
Check for update manually
root it
ibila said:
Check for update manually
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's the easiest way to do this?
ken_sadgit said:
root it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what is it, or how they do it, but first I wanna know why they do it. All I heard is root! root! root!
get to know it
Do not root update install 3rd party apps until you know honeycomb and android
Of course root is obviously needed it also puts system files in your hands to mess up.
Please be careful and read all the forums and threads here
Thanks for hearing my 2 cents
If you dont know why you most likely do not need to do so yet
There are a great bunch of people here .take your time and do not jumpinto to deep
If you're not going to root, obviously the first thing is to set your tablet up with your Google account (either an existing GMail account or a new one.) Then set up any other email accounts, and install any apps you know you want that aren't on the tablet already (Kindle/Nook, games, utilities, TweetDeck, Pandora, MoboPlayer, etc.)
Find yourself a good File Manager; Android doesn't come by default with a program to let you view the files on your tablet :| I personally use ES File Explorer, but HD File Manager is also pretty good and was designed for Honeycomb/tablet size displays.
As Erica said above, don't even consider rooting until you've worked with Android a bit. If you don't need the tools root provides, you're better off not doing it.
Rooting your tablet (or other Android device) installs a "SuperUser" application which can allow other apps to act as the owner of the operating system (for Windows user, Administrator level privileges rather than User). In most cases, the method of getting root involves using a device- or Android-version-specific exploit/security hole.
With Root/SU, you can:
Run root-only apps like Titanium Backup, SetCPU (profiles only currently)
Remove and/or replace apps and other files not normally in the "user" space (CAUTION: Acer's update process expects damned near all of the pre-installed apps to still be there, so ALWAYS back up the original files!)
Once the hard-working and never-appreciated-enough Devs figure out a way around the bootloader (or Acer unlocks it), you can replace the kernel files, overclock, replace the entire ROM with a custom one
Some caveats:
Rooting will almost certainly void your warranty (if discovered should you have to return it for warranty service) and if you do it wrong, you can brick your device (i.e. you now have a flat black brick, not a functional device)
Some apps will not work on devices that are rooted (and/or have the SuperUser app present). Currently this includes at a minimum Google Movies and Blockbuster.
DON'T waste you time trying to update. It's been pulled until release fo HC 3.1.
DO enjoy the unit!
DO download apps and play.
Root at your own risk, but HC 3.1 is around the corner and you will have a dificult time getting it if you don't know what your not a techie.
Lastly, put it in Airplane mode before sleep mode to save battery. If you are turning it off, no dif.
Get Astro file mgr - free
Get Weatherbug for HC - free
Get Pandora - free
Load a micro mem card with all you music and videos, and enjoy one of the best devices in production.
If you have a memory card reader, blow you Ipad friends minds by asking them to borrow the memory card in their digital camera, plug it into the USB and swipe through their pictures. They don't have an app for that.
I have had my A500 since last week. I have basically just been trying out apps and browsing Forums to get more info. In the end the forum here seems to be most active and contains the most interesting information.
Also try to google for list with "Optimized for Honeycomb". This will make you fiind the apps that are optimized for the Tablet.
I did not root my device as I dont have any need for it (yet), but I am certainly waiting for 3.1. The current version of honeycomb is a bit unstable.
For the rest just enjoy the tablet
Smile, you just bought a great tablet
So what are you guys saying is that I should not update my build version, and wait for the 3.1 update
Of course first have to buy a screen protector before remove the plastic cover. Apply the screen protector before it get dusted. Then only turn on the device, sign in your Google account and connect internet and do setting. Then go update the firmware.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App
So what are you guys saying is that I should not update my build version, and wait for the 3.1 update
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct, unless you know what you are doing.
I just got a nook simple touch which I am so far impressed with. However, there are a couple things I am disappointed about.
First, it seems difficult to add files to it. It would be much more convenient if I could add dropbox to it.
Second, I thought it would be possible put simple games like sudoku or word games on it.
Third, I was hoping I could have a rss/feed reader on it.
I know this device is very limited due to the grayscale and slow refresh, but I am not looking for a full fledged Android ROM on it. I would actually prefer to keep it as stock as possible, and simply add those three or four apps to it
What is the least invasive way to add these apps to the device?
Can I simply give it root access and install these apps without flashing a whole ROM?
Sent from my T959 using XDA App
Once rooted, you can have dropbox, sudoku, rss feeds and most android applications with little to no animation. Keep in mind the nook ST OS is android 2.1
To root it, you can check either this forum o http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1351719one. The process is simple, you 'burn' an image on a sd card, put it on your nook and restart it. Nevertheless, read the instructions carefully. I strongly advice you to backup your nook before attempting to do anything. Look here.
That looks pretty simple, but it sounds like it will have a new ui with the launcher and app drawer. Will I be able to have the stock
nook ui and still run the apps I want?
Sent from my T959 using XDA App
Well, original nook ui - and launcher, in this case - won't allow you to add apps. ADW or Go launcher, when well setup, won't hinder your experience in using nook.
Ok, I searched YouTube for a video on rooting it. (I can believe I didn't think of this already) it does give a different ui, but there is an option to load the factory launcher. I may just try it and see how a like it and just keep a backup or know how to factory restore it in case I don't
Sent from my T959 using XDA App
Rooting doesn't change the look and feel of the reader that much - the nook button still brings up the little launcher/appdrawer thingy at the bottom of the screen, regardless of if you have a replacement launcher as primary. You can even leave the stock reader app as default as well (I still like it better than the other ones I've tried).
After rooting it's very easy to install dropbox, dropsync(!) and other apps. Go for it.
just root and get apps that you want
Okay, i actually like the BNST, but I really miss basic stuff like gmail and an occasional browser... if I'd root... how about battery life if you mainly use the BN "launcher"? Anyone using it like that?
nicksbrain said:
Okay, i actually like the BNST, but I really miss basic stuff like gmail and an occasional browser... if I'd root... how about battery life if you mainly use the BN "launcher"? Anyone using it like that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FWIW...
I'm running rooted 1.1, using it "purely" for reading (btw, Calibre is great for getting the book covers to show up, and for me at least the books MUST be on the sdcard for them to show the cover. Internal didn't work when I tried).
However, I'm also running Metro UI Lite (https://market.android.com/details?...EsImNocmlzbWFuLmFuZHJvaWQuaG9tZS5tZXRyb3VpIl0.)
Eink-friendly button savior (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1250278)
and:
dropbox (for downloading stuff/'cause I can).
gmail, basic google apps (including reader, although I would prefer a more friendly e-ink type)
opera mini
basic sudoku/reversi/etc
Runs great! Also have setcpu and have changed the governor, seems to run snappier. Battery life is great still.
hmm, okay, miss dropbox too, actually, but i'm sick of rooting each and every android device iown...I already have my Nook Color and my Galaxy S2 rooted, so I think I'll stick with those for my E-Mail and other needs.. Thanks for the clarification though!
hi folks.
gonna be getting me one of these when they go on sale in a week or so here in the uk.
i want one to root because it looks like the perfect ereader to use with pdfs.
my question is once rooted and touchnooter is installed multi touch and no refresh are enabled and the very few apps i want installed are on the deivce can i then somehow remove the market app?
the plan is to simply install a few other ebook apps some pdf apps gmail skydrive and then never install another app ever. i want it as minimal as possible to help with the battery and the less that is on there the better
if anyone knows please let me know.
cheers
You could remove Market after using TN, or simply root without it. I've spent a lot of time looking at battery consumption on my NSTs, and have never noticed Market causing any drain worth worrying about.
With the recent release of Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite, you might want to wait to see how B&N responds. The NST is nice enough, but a capacitive screen would be nice.
bobstro said:
You could remove Market after using TN, or simply root without it. I've spent a lot of time looking at battery consumption on my NSTs, and have never noticed Market causing any drain worth worrying about.
With the recent release of Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite, you might want to wait to see how B&N responds. The NST is nice enough, but a capacitive screen would be nice.
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Click to collapse
thanks for the reply. yes i did see the tinynoot root solution after i originally posted this thread.
my question about that is if i used that method can i still install the multi touch and no refresh hack (i am guessing i can but confirmation would be nice). if i can then i will most likely go down that route. it isnt all about battery life but i know the market does check very often when wifi is enabled for updates and what not and i would rather not have to worry about that at all. bottom line i want to keep the reader as close to a reader as possible. pdf email web browser ebook reader and file manager is all that is needed. nothing more is required or wanted and therefore i want it is minimal as possible with no bells or whistles.
not really too fussed about any new future nook and will take the plunge as soon as i can here in the uk. if they bring out something extra special later then i will simply sell the old and buy the new but i will do that as and when i want/ have to. the reason the nook gets my vote over my kindle is the page turn buttons. i have a keyboard 3g at the moment and it is great but it doesnt handle pdfs very well. i bought the new kindle touch but i missed the physical buttons and so bought another keyboard but amazon have crippled the pdf functionality and although i could jailbreak it and install one of the pdf viewer hacks that improve the situation i cant be bothered with all the faffing around. however i was willing to do this but then i saw the multi touch no refresh hack on the nook and watched how it handled pdfs when the hacks were installed and that was me sold. i have a lot of pdfs that i would to view on an e ink screen and the nook is by far and away the best solution for the job.
"can i still install the multi touch and no refresh hack" (after rooting with tinynoot)
Not clear that you can, but if you look at the thread on the overclock kernel that's just been posted, the dev who posted that
also posted an APK that gives you much/most of hte benefit of the no refresh hack, in terms of screen speed.
I am not sure if that work also gives multitouch.
Ok, so I got an old Nook Simple Touch. In part because they can be had for such a cheap price on eBay these days and in part because they're among the few eInk based devices that run on Android and can actually be unlocked and more done with them than the manufacturers intended (I've used an old Kindle and man I hate how locked down and generally useless they are.) Actually, I was hoping I could do some neat stuff like setup daydream with weather info and a clock and all on it while the screen was "off" but I guess I forgot that this is a relatively new thing and it looks like it's based on a really really old Android version? Either way, I'm so used to CyanogenMod and its relatively near to AOSP nature that this thing is feeling horribly limiting and unpleasant to use for me.
Anyway, I've been searching around for various guides and such. I've found tools for rooting and putting the Google Market (yeesh, I forgot they used to call it "Market" ages ago.) It seems I needed to update the system to 1.1 for this (I had bootloops until I did, so clearly you have to have the right system version.) It seems there is a newer version or two beyond this though, but I didn't see root tools (I'm still hoping I can do more with this that might require root access to actually do.) Should I be updating beyond that? Namely, are there tools to actually root and all if I do?
Also, in the meantime, I'm running into troubles with the plain and simple fact that neither Google Market nor Amazon's app store installed by these tools work which may not be fixable. The thread on here says to add an account through Youtube first, then go to gmail and manually refresh over and over until it eventually crashes. After probably 15 minutes of this my hands were too tired to continue though. I just don't think it's supposed to take 15 minutes though. When I start the market it doesn't crash like that guide mentions either. Is there any other way to fix this? Is there any point? Obviously the market app is quite old, so perhaps it's simply never going to work? Is there some alternative way to find stuff that actually works on the NST? I thought to do F-Droid, but even it requires a newer SDK version apparently (I'm getting kind of curious what version of Android its base corresponds to. Does it predate 2.2? If so I may be in trouble since I don't think any of the stuff I was hoping I could put on there will go lower than 2.2.)
For this matter, is there a better way I can do stuff like loading apps? I was hoping to at least have a file manager to be able to use do stuff, but they didn't include one. I'll probably have to track down an apk. For now I'm having to actually use the network adb (I installed the version of the tools that was supposed to do adb over USB, but it doesn't even show up as an adb device at all for me to even so much as install a driver, so I guess it's not doing adb over USB as it should. The network method seems to work, though I'm not a big fan of leaving it wide open like that on principle really, yet remembering to manually change it on and off is a pain too.)
I realize this is a really old device and probably it is very limited what I can really do with it, but I was hoping I could at least squeeze a bit of use out of it. In particular, I'm going to need a much better reading app even if I use it for its intended purpose only. When I looked it up I had thought it was a close enough to stock Android that I'd be able to load up most apps I guess and I didn't think it would be so hard to even get anything on it.
Whew!
OK, let's start with basics. You didn't say how you rooted it but if you're working from 1.1 you probably are not getting the best out of the device. 1.21 is the final stock version. If you can get your NST back to stock, I would recommend doing so. Considering what you seem to have done already probably the easiest way to go is to use the NookManager route. Go here. Follow the instructions. There is info there for adding a Gapps package after rooting. But first get yourself back to 1.21 stock. Once that's done you can either use the Search Market tool from the Gapps package, or find apps on your computer and have them show up on the NST via the PlayStore, or side-load apps from the SD card or via ADB (default on that is WiFi with NookManager--you can install the ADB Konnect app and it works fine). There are plenty of alternate readers that run on the NST. I happen to like the stock reader very much, but to each his/her own.
When all that's done, everything depends on what your expectations are and what you want from your NST. There are a variety of kernals out there as well as USB host/audio mods. Although the Android system is old and the display limits what you can do, there are many apps that run well on the device and I personally get a lot of use out of mine, even more now that I have audio. Check out what I've done (second post) and look at what others have done (in the same thread).
There's a lot of good info in this forum on modifications, apps that run well (and don't) and many tips and tricks.
I think I have most of what I need with that actually, yes. I didn't realize from the guides I initially found that you could root or install third party components with a > 1.1 system version. With that stuff I do have a semi-working Google Market now and can actually install a lot more stuff than I thought. I see also my favorite reader app not only works, but apparently knows I'm running it on a device with an eInk screen and defaults to having eInk adaptations turned on.
Is there any way it can do anything like what I had sort of envisioned before btw? Eg on the screen "off" mode have some sort of thing that shows weather or news or something that updates every so often? (Nevermind the clock thing, that's probably a bad idea. I was just wondering about dedicating it to being sort of something like a clock with it plugged in all the time. Now I think maybe I can stop using my tablet for reading and use this instead.)
Nazo said:
Is there any way it can do anything like what I had sort of envisioned before btw? Eg on the screen "off" mode have some sort of thing that shows weather or news or something that updates every so often? (Nevermind the clock thing, that's probably a bad idea. I was just wondering about dedicating it to being sort of something like a clock with it plugged in all the time. Now I think maybe I can stop using my tablet for reading and use this instead.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you are having CM lockscreen widget withdrawal
Actually that seems like a job for Tasker. But it would be potentially messy. You'd need to:
1. Clear image in custom screensaver folder
2. Turn on wi-fi
3. Open weather/whatever app to update info
4. Take screenshot and save to custom screensaver folder
5. Close app
6. Turn off wi-fi
At that point when the Nook goes to sleep the info will be displayed on the lock screen. The question is whether Tasker can wake up the Nook and repeat this at desired intervals when you're not using it.
Also, have a look here for something along the same lines. Maybe you'll get an idea.
Ironically on my phone and tablet I keep it really simple. It's just that the eInk screen of the Nook can essentially be "always on" so to speak without draining the battery like mad (since it would only actually need to wake up every half hour or so for a frequent update schedule.)
But, all that said, it just doesn't sound like this is really worth all the effort. I guess I'm actually more used to newer versions of Android mostly rather than CyanogenMod specifically as they just have more power in what these things can do. With the Nook -- even unlocked and opened up -- it really sounds like the amount of time and effort required to even remotely approach such a thing is orders of magnitude higher. Well, that's fine. I had initially thought that I might maybe just use it as some sort of really neat "smart clock" type thing (at $35-ish on eBay you won't find many clocks that could come close to doing what an Android device could theoretically do) but in the end I don't think this is really all that realistic and definitely not worth the effort. On the other hand, now that I'm able to get more stuff actually running on it and open up its capabilities more I'm thinking I could maybe use this thing for something more akin to its original intended purpose: reading. From time to time I want my tablet to be able to do a bit more and I think this can do pretty well everything I care about beyond the basic reading stuff, so maybe I can stop carrying my tablet around all the time. (And for stuff like music I have a dedicated multimedia phone courtesy of eBay that's much better off really.)