Does anyone have a rooted nook color?

[Drachen]

I am thinking about getting an e-reader for myself (my wife has the nook that i bought her). I have been going back and forth between just getting the nook, or the nook color. I think that it would be cool to get the nook color because once I root it I know it would have greatly enhanced capabilities. I don't know, however, if these capabilities are something that I would actually use, or just think are "neat", but would ultimately be wasted. I don't want to spend $100 extra just to get something that is neato, but useless (to me).

[Cry Havoc]

I have the NC but I haven't rooted it yet.

I love it though. It's an awesome e-reader. The customization you can have for the text makes it extremely easy on the eyes, despite not being e-ink.

[Drachen]

I have the NC but I haven't rooted it yet.

I love it though. It's an awesome e-reader. The customization you can have for the text makes it extremely easy on the eyes, despite not being e-ink.

That is the thing, if all I am going to use it for is ereading, then I will just spend $100 less and get the nook, because I like my wife's nook. If it has other capabilities that I will use then I could justify the extra 100.

[Cry Havoc]

That is the thing, if all I am going to use it for is ereading, then I will just spend $100 less and get the nook, because I like my wife's nook. If it has other capabilities that I will use then I could justify the extra 100.

Well it's basically an Android tablet if you root it. Just don't expect other-worldly performance, because it's only running on an 800mhz processor, if memory serves. Still a great deal though.

[Drachen]

Well it's basically an Android tablet if you root it. Just don't expect other-worldly performance, because it's only running on an 800mhz processor, if memory serves. Still a great deal though.

Yes but at that price point it is hard to find anything near to it. Even if I went up to $300 and looked at the archos 70, that extra $50 doesnt get me much. Yes, it has a 1ghz processor, but it only has 256 Mb of ram (vs 512 for the NC). Archos has resistive touch, NC has capacitive touch (point for NC), however the archos has two speakers to the NC's one (but I couldn't see myself using the media portion much without headphones).

I do understand that it is a decent tablet when rooted, but I am just trying to figure out roughly what the capabilities are and if I would actually use them. I guess I should just borrow my mom's Ipad for a day and see how I would use it (if at all) so that I have some basis for comparison.

[robino2001]

So I'm semi-familiar with the rooting of these... what about the actually downloading/bootlegging of the ebooks? Anyone familiar with that? Any good/easy/simple solutions out there?

I'm doing the grad school thing right now and that's the big thing holding me back from buying an ereader (I know I wouldn't have enough time to make it worth it) but the general cost of the ebooks is the other significant reason.

[MannyIsGod]

If most of my textbooks were offered in ebook format I'd probably get one.

[Nathan Explosion]

If most of my textbooks were offered in ebook format I'd probably get one.

Definitely do the same here. I'd be even better if I could just get it on my iPhone 4. I really don't need an e-reader when I got my phone.

Then again, the readers aren't very big, so it would be nice to carry it in my backpack as a bigger option than my phone. Since I have my phone, I don't need an iPad or any tablet for that matter.

[IronMaxipad]

Nook Color gets overclocked, further blurs the line between tablet and e-reader

First, they ported Ubuntu to the Nook Color, and now the intrepid hackers at the XDA Developers Forum have overclocked its stock 800MHz processor to run at speeds up to 1GHz. The mod allows users to have their cake and eat it too, as the custom kernel ups the speed of the CPU while running it at a lower voltage, which means longer battery life -- though we don't know exactly how much longer. Apparently, the developer who wrote the code found that the system became unstable at the 1GHz level, but there were no such problems at 950MHz and below. Hit the source link to download the kernel and see for yourself what a supercharged Nook Color can do.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/17/nook-color-gets-overclocked-further-blurs-the-line-between-tabl/


:wow

[Cry Havoc]

Definitely do the same here. I'd be even better if I could just get it on my iPhone 4. I really don't need an e-reader when I got my phone.

Then again, the readers aren't very big, so it would be nice to carry it in my backpack as a bigger option than my phone. Since I have my phone, I don't need an iPad or any tablet for that matter.

A 3.5" screen is comfortable to read a novel on? Really?

[leemajors]

A 3.5" screen is comfortable to read a novel on? Really?

to each his own. I don't see why anyone would want an e-reader in the first place.

[balli]

A 3.5" screen is comfortable to read a novel on? Really?

I don't understand? What does the screen size have to do with comfort? Isn't the text size what matters?

I wouldn't mind having an actual Kindle or a Nook, but I read via my Kindle App all the time. Doesn't bother me in the slightest.

If that's your argument why read anything, ever, on your phone at all? Just carry around a newspaper or scurry home to a widescreen desktop display.

[Drachen]

:wow

Crap... It sucks to read this. I had decided to wait until feb or march to buy this. My excitement had all but calmed down and I was feeling normal again. I hadn't read anything on the nook color since the day after the OP.

Then you post this. So I read it, then I read the comments, then I go to XDA. Now I really want to get this again TODAY. I mean come on, 1ghz and LESS power, AND Cyanogen is porting CM7 (Android 2.3) over to the Nook Color and they have successfully done it, but it is not yet a public release (I run CM6 on my HTC Hero).

There has been a lot of additional progress in the last week. Geez.

[Nathan Explosion]

A 3.5" screen is comfortable to read a novel on? Really?

I tore through Adam Carolla's book in a few days. Not a problem at all. It's not a big deal at all since you can adjust the text size for older eyes such as yours. :downspin:

And even so, the app is really the big deal. The app is free, and I can also download the app on my computer. If for some reason my phone was too small, I can read it on any computer that has the app as well. I only pay for the book and not the reader plus the book.

It's much cheaper.

[Drachen]

I tore through Adam Carolla's book in a few days. Not a problem at all. It's not a big deal at all since you can adjust the text size for older eyes such as yours. :downspin:

And even so, the app is really the big deal. The app is free, and I can also download the app on my computer. If for some reason my phone was too small, I can read it on any computer that has the app as well. I only pay for the book and not the reader plus the book.

It's much cheaper.

I do understand that, but it would be annoying to me to have to flip pages so often on my 3.5 inch screen.

[MannyIsGod]

How expensive is a Nook Color? With that mod I think I might just get myself one.

EDIT - I stopped being insanely lazy and answered my own question. I very much like the price for an Android Tablet. However, I don't know how worth it it is because I don't know how much I'd use it. I'd love to just leave my 15 inch laptop at home when I travel to school but at the same time I can do more on my laptop (I can't run the GIS program I need on a tablet).

[Drachen]

How expensive is a Nook Color? With that mod I think I might just get myself one.

EDIT - I stopped being insanely lazy and answered my own question. I very much like the price for an Android Tablet. However, I don't know how worth it it is because I don't know how much I'd use it. I'd love to just leave my 15 inch laptop at home when I travel to school but at the same time I can do more on my laptop (I can't run the GIS program I need on a tablet).

This is where I have been stuck at. All of this is very cool, but would I use it? I think once the get the bluetooth radio in it activated that it could really be something to bring to school. bust it out, get a light bluetooth keyboard and take your notes on google docs.

[Cry Havoc]

I tore through Adam Carolla's book in a few days. Not a problem at all. It's not a big deal at all since you can adjust the text size for older eyes such as yours. :downspin:

And even so, the app is really the big deal. The app is free, and I can also download the app on my computer. If for some reason my phone was too small, I can read it on any computer that has the app as well. I only pay for the book and not the reader plus the book.

It's much cheaper.

:rolleyes

You're right, my mistake. Why not just buy an iPod Nano to read books on? I mean, if a 3.5" screen is fine, a 1.2" screen should be just as good as a full size page of text. :lol

Text size is obviously not the issue here, but way to jump the gun and get super-defensive about it. :lol

And good luck sliding your computer into your coat pocket.

[MannyIsGod]

The appeal is how light it would be. I wanted a powerful laptop and I got it but you have to lug that damn thing around and since when its not 10 degrees here I like to ride my bike to and from school the weight is a pain in the ass when you add in my textbooks.

However, I really am starting to warm up to the idea of having a tablet for school use. I should do some research on sub 300 dollar tabs and find out what I could get out of one.

I do have access to my GIS program at the Geography labs at school so having web access with some data storage might be a fine trade off.

[MannyIsGod]

I bet WC could read anything on an Iphone.

Personally I wouldn't want to read a novel on my phone but I guess I could if I had to.

[Drachen]

The appeal is how light it would be. I wanted a powerful laptop and I got it but you have to lug that damn thing around and since when its not 10 degrees here I like to ride my bike to and from school the weight is a pain in the ass when you add in my textbooks.

However, I really am starting to warm up to the idea of having a tablet for school use. I should do some research on sub 300 dollar tabs and find out what I could get out of one.

I do have access to my GIS program at the Geography labs at school so having web access with some data storage might be a fine trade off.

Good <$300 tablets = Nook Color only.

Archos 70 is the nearest and it has a faster processor, half the ram, resistive instead of capacitive touch screen and the nook has a far better display.

Put it this way, the nook is a major loss leader for B&N

(Edit: ok, I don't know if that last statement is true because I don't work for them, but there are substantially higher priced tabs with similar hardware out there, the only ones that seem to be lower priced all run android 1.5 or something like that)

[balli]

:rolleyes

You're right, my mistake. Why not just buy an iPod Nano to read books on? I mean, if a 3.5" screen is fine, a 1.2" screen should be just as good as a full size page of text. :lol

Text size is obviously not the issue here, but way to jump the gun and get super-defensive about it. :lol

And good luck sliding your computer into your coat pocket.

Obviously, people can draw a line wherever they're personally comfortable. And I'm simply telling you that in my case, and in Nathan's, that reading off of a 3.5" screen is hardly a burden. My guess would be that if you tried it, you'd be no less bothered than you are reading a news story off of a mobile website.

Would a Nook screen be nicer, sure, probably.

Is reading, for $150.00 cheaper, off of a smartphone screen inherently uncomfortable? Hardly. The comfort level isn't that binary.

[Cry Havoc]

Obviously, people can draw a line wherever they're personally comfortable. And I'm simply telling you that in my case, and in Nathan's, that reading off of a 3.5" screen is hardly a burden. My guess would be that if you tried it, you'd be no less bothered than you are reading a news story off of a mobile website.

Scanning a 300 word article on cnn.com and pouring over Dostoevsky, are completely different types of reading. It baffles me that someone could read a heavy novel with no problem while having to scroll through text every 1-2 paragraphs and be comfortable with it. More power to you if you can, it just seems to me like you're attempting to justify not having something you would otherwise want. Similar to the 360/Ps3 owners talking about how they don't want the other console, even though they both know the exclusives on each system are well worth having.


Would a Nook screen be nicer, sure, probably.

Is reading, for $150.00 cheaper, off of a smartphone screen inherently uncomfortable? Hardly. The comfort level isn't that binary.

I guess it depends on the type of reader you are. Reading on my Nook is far, far more relaxing and comfortable than on my Evo. If I'm browsing a website, that's a completely different story. But browsing and actively reading are very different things.

[MannyIsGod]

Good <$300 tablets = Nook Color only.

Archos 70 is the nearest and it has a faster processor, half the ram, resistive instead of capacitive touch screen and the nook has a far better display.

Put it this way, the nook is a major loss leader for B&N

(Edit: ok, I don't know if that last statement is true because I don't work for them, but there are substantially higher priced tabs with similar hardware out there, the only ones that seem to be lower priced all run android 1.5 or something like that)

I'm looking on Amazon and seeing plenty of sub 300 tabs. However, I don't know how good they are.

The benefits of something like the Nook being more popular are of course apparent with the XDA hacks.

Whats the difference between a resistive and capacitive touch screen?

[Drachen]

My wife was pretty comfortable reading book after book on her samsung moment for months before I bought her the OG Nook (it was actually the reason I bought her the nook). Is she more comfortable on the nook? Absolutely. I don't think Balli is arguing that. I think the question he is asking himself is if he would be $150 more comfortable on the nook than on his phone.

[MannyIsGod]

Nevermind looked up the difference.

[balli]

Reading news and say, Dostoevsky, are completely different types of reading. It baffles me that someone could read a heavy novel with no problem while having to scroll through text every 1-2 paragraphs and be comfortable with it.
I get that. I mean, I haven't ordered a kindle version of Infinite Jest for a reason. But that said, speaking of Dostoevsky and DFW, and in lieu of downloading a screenshot app, Ima post one page of text from my kindle app, as an example:


somehow afford to have servants).
The point is that it's not just the death-by-canonization thing: there is real and alienating stuff that stands in the way of our appreciating Dostoevsky and has to be dealt with -either by learning enough about all the unfamiliar stuff that it stops being so confusing, or else by accepting it (the same way we accept racist/sexist elements in some other nineteenth-century books) and just grimacing and reading on anyway.
But the larger point (which, yes, may be kind of obvious) is that some art is worth the extra work of getting past all the impediments to its appreciation; and Dostoevsky's book are definitely worth the work. And this is so not just because of his bestriding the Western canon -if anything, it's despite that. For one thing that canonization and course assignments obscure is the Dostoevsky isn't just great -he's also fun. His novels almost always have ripping good plots, lurid and intricate and thoroughly dramatic. There are

There it is, one page of text from my kindle app. Which I'd guess is about the same amount of words you get from an average teen fiction paperback ala Harry Potter or something. And nobody complains about having to turn the pages too often when reading Harry Potter. And the app makes it easy; your thumb is right there, you simply tap it on the right side of your screen and the page jumps.


Of course, given a better alternative, you're right, it's nicer to have a full page sized layout. Which is why if a book is incredibly long I might prefer it in paperback or something. But shit, at the end of the day whether I'm reading a traditional book, an e-reader or from a phone app, I've generally found the experience to feel like, well, reading. And if any one is more comfortable, any method will ultimately suffice.

My big issue would be e-ink's relative comfort. As opposed to the color screen of a reader or phone.

[Drachen]

Nevermind looked up the difference.

sorry, wasn't paying attention.

[MannyIsGod]

Thats ok - takes less effort to look shit up than ask stupid questions on Spurstalk. Its just lazy of me.

[Drachen]

well now I am reading that people are (successfully) using styli to take notes on the darn thing. That is pretty much the final piece of the puzzle.

Caution: it does seem to matter which brand/model stylus you buy, but they all seem to be between 15-25 dollars. Not too bad.

[MannyIsGod]

That sounds bad ass. Do you write on screen or whereever with those?

[Drachen]

Ok, I broke down and got one today. Loving it so far. Haven't rooted it yet (I am at work). I will probably play with it for a few days before rooting it. That screen is magnificent.

[Drachen]

That sounds bad ass. Do you write on screen or whereever with those?

Sorry, I could have sworn that had replied to this already... You write on the screen. Just like a piece of paper.

[MannyIsGod]

Yeah, I did some searching for it today because I was thinking if you didn't have to write on the screen then maybe I could even do that on my Moment.

I'll probably hold off on this as the only real advantage to my laptop is weight and I'm definitely going to need my laptop a lot this semester. That being said it really does seem bad ass.

Feel free to remind me at how bad ass it is and how much you like it as you go along so that maybe you'll get me to buy it too. :lol

[Drachen]

Just thought I would post something from my brand new toy. This thing is blazing fast and it's not even being overclocked yet.

[Drachen]

Sent from my ridiculously fast and rooted nook color

[Drachen]

Nook Color: Now served with Honeycomb!

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/01/honeycomb-for-nook-color-released-for-download/#disqus_thread

[Cry Havoc]

Nook Color: Now served with Honeycomb!

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/01/honeycomb-for-nook-color-released-for-download/#disqus_thread

I read that. Pretty damned incredible.

The best video cards for the money are around $200-250 too. Amazing what that can you get you in terms of tech these days. An average computer used to run $1500! Now you have to go seriously overboard to hit that mark, and you get a tablet for $250! Unreal.

[Drachen]

B&N is selling NC for $199 on Ebay for anyone interested.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/28/barnes-and-noble-now-selling-the-nook-color-on-ebay-for-199/