NOOKColor E-Reader Android Tablet
You may have seen the Quick Look intro a few days ago about the NOOKColor e-reader from Barnes & Noble. With a 7 inch screen, this Android Tablet is based on the ARM Cortex A8-based TI OMAP3621. We don’t know the speed of the processor, but we can tell you that it’s very responsive and once modified works as an excellent everyday Android tablet.
Below is a Quick Look video to show you how the tablet works once you’ve hacked the system and have access to the full queue of Android applications.
If you’d like to find out how to root your NOOKColor yourself, you can head over to the NOOKColor Android Developers section on XDA. There’s also an excellent site dedicated to NOOK development called NookDevs where you will find all sorts of useful information and resources. You’ll also find more ROMs in development, including a Froyo (Android 2.2) ROM that is currently in development. I’m pretty sure that ROMs and development for this Tablet will be intense once more of the developers get their hands on them.
Did you get a NOOKColor for Christmas? Have you rooted the device? What do you think? Should everybody go out and buy one?
About the Author
Got 4 of em in my house. Once I rooted the kids, I knew the wife and I needed them. Amazing tablet for 250.
I too have the NookColor rooted and it runs faster than my Vibrant, plus I can connect my Vibrant to it when WiFi is not around, so my phone is a phone and Nav and I have a tab (without Samsung poor file system and word breaking update OS) that I use for email, web, cheap testing latest and greatest hacks, Oh did I say the Color screen is awesome and the Kids love the books that reads to them. At the low price I am not worried if I mess it up as no $500-$600 and/or 2 yr contacts to worry about. Can we all just accept everyone can do their thing and not say this or that is better, other for them self.
Everyone has the right to pick and choose that which works best for their needs. Bad mouthing one over the other as a POOR choice only is like pointing a finger at someone, as you then have three pointing at yourself. While I may disagree with your choice I fully defend your right to make the choice that is right for you. Happy New Year!
My gf got one for xmas…can’t say its worth the money and wouldn’t tell ppl to get one…but if you do have one or were given one as a gift you might as well root it to get the most out of it…really does make a difference
You can’t say its worth the money. Have you checked out what other Android tablets you can get for $250. It’s easily the best value Android Tablet you can get. Capacitive Multi-Touch screen. Vivid LCD Screen. Would you rather pay $600 for a Galaxy Tab. I’m just interested in what you are comparing this to and why you think it’s not worth the money.
I’m not saying the Nook is not a good deal, especially since you can root it and make it much more useful, but I did want to add that the Archos 70 is worth a look too for about $20 more ($100 more if you get the one with 250 Gigs of storage). But I did mess with a Nook at a store and the display looked pretty good so I can imagine it would be handy rooted as one of the cheapest tablets.
Its a complicated answer so ill try to keep it short.
A tablet for someone technical like myself is a waste of money..its a glorified e-reader and doesnt do much. If I really want something with a touchscreen and worth spending that kind of money I can get a tablet netbook at 10″ for 450 bucks with lots of storage space, all the inputs and outputs i need, a decent cpu and more (can even use it to play windows games…granted ill probably need to upgrade it to 2gb..but an extra 30 bucks is all).
The nook has an 800 MHZ cpu..my vibrant has more…It has no usb port (im not counting the micro for pc connection) no hdmi, no default android support. Yeah you can root it and make the most out of it…so what..you have gmail, youtube and can install some market apps…lots wont work well since they are for specific builds (froyo eclair etc). Yeah..developers will eventually make decent froyo ports but how does that make the nook any good..buy something now with the promise it will be just ok someday?
If you really want to waste your money and want to know the best tablet right now for the money I would say the Archos 101 8GB model (not 16gb..not worth the extra 100). Buy a 32GB sd card for 45 bucks and you are set. Capacitive multi touch screen, hdmi tv-out, 1000 MHZ CPU and native froyo support. Plus lots of developers that are doing wonders in making it better…by default it is better than the nook and only 299 on amazon (when its in stock). I tested one of these and a nook..and yeah the nook looks like a good deal..but I feel the archos is a better value for the money at a very small price range difference..and no..I would not suggest buying a galaxy tab at 600…might as well buy an ipad…actually no..that would be worse.
My point is tablets are for limited use. I am glad android tablets are coming out to push the ipad as much out of the market…but i cant stand that tablets made a comeback in the first place..did everyone forget how useless we thought palm pc’s were??? We have phones that do much more now…!!!
Please dont attack me for this..the last thing I want is to start a flame war here!!!
Just saying..for a technical user who wants to do more than just what his phone probably already does tablets are useless…get a tablet netbook (check newegg). I have said it before..the only place where I thought…”now there is a good use for a tablet”…was dana farber cancer institute where they lend out iPads I wish they had android tablets..but hey) to patients and family waiting…otherwise…useless..
I just realized you are the author of the article. I thought it was an aggravated member who would then get offended by my reply…that is why i made the reference to a flame war. Didn’t realize who it was. :p
CPU runs at 800 mhz
[...] Simon did a Quick Look Video of the Nook Color here [...]
[...] Simon did a Quick Look Video of the Nook Color here [...]
I actually got one for my mom and hacked it. It was not very responsive. I ended up returning the device. I was personally disappointed.
I tried out a NOOKColor on display at a local B&N. My first impression was OMG thats HEAVY! Really, really, heavy. There is no way I could stand using it for more than 15 minutes at a time for its actual intended purpose… reading ebooks. And for reading ebooks, the Kindle wins hands down over any other ebook reader. This thing was HEAVY, had no hardware buttons for page flipping, a bright lcd screen instead of e-ink, and you don’t even want to get me started on their horribly unintuitive and unresponsive interface. Though it is better than the original clunker nook, if ebook reading is your deal, the Kindle should be your first and last look.
The real appeal of it comes as being used as a cheap general purpose Android tablet, but I fail to see that as a real possibility either. At 800mhz, with limited ram, no external storage, no video out, no camera, no phone, and currently no aosp android builds it has to be one of the worst general purpose android tablets. Sure, after you root it, you can run a few market apps or sluggishly play a few games, but as a general purpose tablet it would not be super impressive. I think I would rather have a $99 K-Mart tablet and a Kindle which combined is less than the NOOKColor. Really interested to see what HTC and Motorola have cooking though and get my fingers sticky on a real honeycomb tablet.
[...] root, a limited eReader turned into a quite reasonably-priced tablet, capable of accessing the Android Market to download games and other apps, including Gmail and [...]
[...] root, a limited eReader turned into a quite reasonably-priced tablet, capable of accessing the Android Market to download games and other apps, including Gmail and [...]