I'm afraid there isn't a convenient (or even standardized) way at the moment to determine version numbers across all apps, or whether an upgrade is available.
In general, the download feeds generally have the revision number information available, but displaying the current version is handled by each app directly.
In Trook for instance, you can long-tap the settings icon, and the installed revision number shows up on the eink screen. The feed for the package download (root->nookdevs->trook) shows the currently available revision number.
-kb
|