Nook..good android tablet for the money?

[SAWYER]

I was listening to mac break weekly and one of the hosts on there was talking about the nook and how it's actually a good android tablet for the money. He was saying for 250 it is built well and if you root it that it is a really nice tablet for the money.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I was listening to mac break weekly and one of the hosts on there was talking about the nook and how it's actually a good android tablet for the money. He was saying for 250 it is built well and if you root it that it is a really nice tablet for the money.

I have one & it's impressive, think of it as a 7" iPod Touch, only running Android. It's gaining a pretty good group of developers that have some slick hacks. We have root, superuser, the marketplace, but no custom roms yet. It's just a matter of time till there's a port of some of the Android roms to the color nook.

For $250, it's a lot of fun, and a solid bit of Android to play with, and a hell of a lot better value than the generic tablets out there. When it was torn down, it was determined that it's a Foxcon device. (The same company that builds Apple devices).

One of the funniest things people do is to bring their modded nook back to B&N & show them what we've done to their e-reader

http://nookdevs.com/Portal:NookColor

http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=860

 

[s44]

The processor is about original Droid speed, right? How does it feel for subjective speed (say, in loading a big web page)?

Not expecting a Galaxy S/Tab, but if it's actively sluggish that's a problem.

 

[SAWYER]

How's the screen and battery life?

 

[Pliablemoose]

The processor is about original Droid speed, right? How does it feel for subjective speed (say, in loading a big web page)?

Not expecting a Galaxy S/Tab, but if it's actively sluggish that's a problem.

I may not be very objective, but I think it's fine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv22nz3jI-M

The work around for not having a microphone for things like Skype is to use a micro usb headset (remember those headsets that you had to use with HTC phones? I had a handful laying around, and they're cheap to buy if you need to)

 

[SunnyD]

Does it have built in speakers? I would think an eReader technically wouldn't need a speaker...

 

[Pliablemoose]

Does it have built in speakers? I would think an eReader technically wouldn't need a speaker...

It has a built in speaker, it's not very loud, but for a personal Pandora/Slacker/MP3 player it's fine.

7" 1024x600 IPS screen is very good, battery life is ~10 hours.

FYI, there are 2 versions out, the most current has an "A" at the end of the model #, and it has a light sensor built in that the original model didn't have (to the left of the "n" home button). http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/3478/img20101204131922.jpg

http://nookdevs.com/NookColor_Hardware_specs

http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-13625_11-487294-1.html

 

[SunnyD]

And how overclocking friendly is it?

 

[Pliablemoose]

And how overclocking friendly is it?

Evidently it has the original Droid processor, IIRC, one of the root methods bumps it up to a Ghz, the original Droid processor was/is pretty stout.

It runs Angry Birds smoothly, it's a hell of a lot better experience than using a Samsung Intercept.

 

[gorcorps]

I may not be very objective, but I think it's fine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv22nz3jI-M

The work around for not having a microphone for things like Skype is to use a micro usb headset (remember those headsets that you had to use with HTC phones? I had a handful laying around, and they're cheap to buy if you need to)

That's pretty impressive actually. I didn't expect much from the Nook when people said it was rooted, but it's pretty smooth. How does Android handle your marketplace accounts? If you have one on your phone can you put it on the Nook as well and get all your apps on that too?

 

[basslover1]

I thought I had read somewhere that B&N is going to be updating the Nook to 2.2, along with adding native support for the Android Market.

 

[Pliablemoose]

B&N was misquoted, they meant the B&N marketplace would be included with the 2.2 upgrade.

SunnyD, I haven't had time to install the marketplace on my nook yet, but when I've run multiple Android phones, I keep my marketplace purchases and can install them on the new device.

 

[SAWYER]

I just looked on bn.com and it is 249, on ebay and amazon its over 300!

 

[basslover1]

B&N was misquoted, they meant the B&N marketplace would be included with the 2.2 upgrade.

SunnyD, I haven't had time to install the marketplace on my nook yet, but when I've run multiple Android phones, I keep my marketplace purchases and can install them on the new device.

Thanks for the correction.

I just looked on bn.com and it is 249, on ebay and amazon its over 300!

Yea, I checked the price of it on Amazon just for kicks, and it's like 325. Best Buy sells them as well for 249. If I get one, that's where I'll go, gotta get my points.

 

[SAWYER]

Speaking of points, on fatwallet and slickdeals they are saying bb is sending either 10 or 20 dollar gc to all reward zone members, check your account through the weekend

 

[SAWYER]

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/deal-discussion/1056865/

 

[Pliablemoose]

Evidently the overseas demand for the nook is driving the eBay price up.

 

[SunnyD]

Yea, I checked the price of it on Amazon just for kicks, and it's like 325. Best Buy sells them as well for 249. If I get one, that's where I'll go, gotta get my points.

My wife has the discount card for educators from B&N for 10% off. Dunno if it works on eReaders though.

 

[basslover1]

Speaking of points, on fatwallet and slickdeals they are saying bb is sending either 10 or 20 dollar gc to all reward zone members, check your account through the weekend

Yep, got that email this morning for a 10 dollar GC. Just gotta print it up.

 

[theeedude]

Would a mini-jack microphone headset work on it for voip?

 

[Pliablemoose]

Would a mini-jack microphone headset work on it for voip?

Yes

There was an update released today, so I restored mine, took the update and rooted it with auto nooker 2.1.xxx, I have all the Google apps now, including the market.

 

[nace186]

Flash work on it? I have a friend who wants to know if FB game would work on it.

 

[charrison]

Yes

There was an update released today, so I restored mine, took the update and rooted it with auto nooker 2.1.xxx, I have all the Google apps now, including the market.

What did the update bring?

 

[Pliablemoose]

Update was for better WiFi connectivity, and no Flash till Android 2.2 next month, if it arrives as promised.

 

[charrison]

Update was for better WiFi connectivity, and no Flash till Android 2.2 next month, if it arrives as promised.

After rooting, do most apps from the appear to run without a problem?

I am real close to buying one of these things.