Some thoughts

khalleron · 05-26-2011, 05:31 PM

I've had my Nook Color for three weeks now, got CM7 on the SD card, and I have a few observations -

Everyone who recommended the Sandisk SD cards was dead on. The Kingston Class 4 card I had worked OK for most things, but Pandora would force close, so I 'upgraded' to the Sandisk Class 2 card, and not only does Pandora run lovely now, but everything works much better with a noticable increase in speed.

The screen, the screen, such a lovely screen! I can't get over how beautiful this screen is - it wasn't made for books, it was made for video. BN has really missed the marketing on this one. I even prefer watching on it over my TV, even though it's so much smaller, because it's so crisp and the colors really pop. Beautiful.

I need to get my photographs on this - is the gallery the best photo viewer, or is there a better app?

Now, a question - I've got everything running fine off the SD card, but I'm considering replacing the stock OS and just running everything from the main memory, but I'm a bit leery of it. I would like a bit more speed and efficiency - would installing CM7 over the stock give me that?

Pros and cons, please.

noaxis2 · 05-26-2011, 06:14 PM

Check out xda developers forums...many people there to discuss the pros and cons with! Also check this guy...he's been very helpful answering my questions on his blog: http://quinxy.com/guides/how-to-pick...stall-options/

I agree with you about the screen! Even with the B&N screen cover the screen is awesome. I also like watching movies and netflix on it...but more because I'm sensitive to light and my LED LCD flat screen lights up my room like it's noon and gives me headaches!

Good luck!

taosaur · 05-26-2011, 06:17 PM

I'm just shy of the one month mark, and I have moved CM7 to eMMC, but I wouldn't say there's any increase in performance vs. my most stable SD install on an unclassed 16GB Sandisk. The move was prompted partly by issues with Wi-Fi and some FCs on my SD install, but those probably had more to do with all my ROM-and-kernel-swapping than the fact that I was running from SD. For a good week-and-a-half before I started trying betas and Phiremod and everything else, my SD install was rock-solid.

Initially I moved to eMMC so that I could try out other ROMs on my SD card, but by the time I had the CM7.1 beta + OC kernel on eMMC and a Honeycomb/Phiremod dual-boot on SD, my curiosity and patience had run its course and I was ready to have one stable system set up how I liked it and loaded with what I wanted on there. I booted into Honeycomb and Phiremod each once, then reverted the card to storage (which is more bother than you'd think) and loaded it up with actual content to read/hear/watch.

I'll still take my 22" monitor over this screen for movies, but it's great for web comics, and I'm loving Aldiko for epub. I think it will be better when I get an anti-glare screen protector on there, and I've heard they improve touch performance as well.

Overall, as far as SD vs. eMMC, I would say if it ain't broke, don't fix it. If you do start seeing problems with your SD install, I wouldn't make too big a deal out of migrating to eMMC, but if the SD is fairly snappy, you probably won't see much if any improvement moving to internal.

jswinden · 05-26-2011, 06:52 PM

I started out with CM7.0.3 stable on a PNY 8gb class 10 SD card. Unfortunately I didn't read about the Sandisk cards until after the fact. It ran stable and was fairly fast, but now that I've installed it to eMMC it does seem significantly faster in some apps.

The battery gets eaten up much faster under CM7 that it did as stock, butthe XDA forum indicates that is a known issue. I suspect they will get it fixed before long.

I've noticed that many reader apps do better when installed to an SD card and certainly data seems to work better stored of the SD. No bleep about being a bit tricky to reconvert a flashed SD card to storage because after flashing the card only showed 186 mb of total space. I finally downloaded the flash file made just for 8gb cards, flashed it to the SD, then it showed 8gb again. Then I was able to reformat it and recover all 8gb.

I've got to agree that the nookcolor screen is definitely tops in its field. Some 7" Android tablets only have a 800 x 480 resolution, but the NC has something like 1024 x 600, plus the screen quality is excellent. I use a non-glare screen protector and that really helps with the glare from bright lights and sunshine.

taosaur · 05-26-2011, 07:35 PM

Battery drain during sleep has been all but eliminated in the CM7.1 beta and all nightlies since #82. There should be a stable 7.1 soon. I'm on day three since I last plugged in, and the battery's at 50% (that's with light use).

To get my SD card back, I did a bit of trial and error and ended up re-installing CM7 to the card via verygreen's image, then in EASEUS Partition Master I deleted all but the "SDcard" partition, then stretched that partition to take up all the unallocated space.

jswinden · 05-26-2011, 07:49 PM

For those who want to install on eMMC, it only requires a 1gb SD card. I would suggest finding a old card and using it. That way you don't have to go through the process of reclaiming all the storage space on your larger/faster card. Besides, if you want to flash updates in the future, you will be better off keeping the older/slower/smaller card just for that purpose--that is, turn it into a dedicated update flashing card. Then when you get ready to flash a new update just copy it to the dedicated SD card and flash away.

WillysJeepMan · 05-26-2011, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by taosaur

Battery drain during sleep has been all but eliminated in the CM7.1 beta and all nightlies since #82. There should be a stable 7.1 soon. I'm on day three since I last plugged in, and the battery's at 50% (that's with light use).

To get my SD card back, I did a bit of trial and error and ended up re-installing CM7 to the card via verygreen's image, then in EASEUS Partition Master I deleted all but the "SDcard" partition, then stretched that partition to take up all the unallocated space.

CM7.1 still lags behind unrooted 1.1 firmware with regard to battery life. How is video playback on CM7.1? Unrooted video playback is smooth regardless of codec played.

As soon as battery life and video playback are nailed down, I'll probably check out CM7 again.

taosaur · 05-26-2011, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WillysJeepMan

CM7.1 still lags behind unrooted 1.1 firmware with regard to battery life. How is video playback on CM7.1? Unrooted video playback is smooth regardless of codec played.

As soon as battery life and video playback are nailed down, I'll probably check out CM7 again.

I'm not surprised an OS with a fraction of the capability, designed to compete with e-readers, gets better battery life. Personally, I found battery life more than adequate before CM7 fixed deep sleep, and it's great now. Of course, there's always room for improvement.

I can't say I've had video playback issues on any OS, but I haven't been doing a lot of video playback, either. I know any video I've grabbed from my PC has worked great in Moboplayer (you got me re-watching the first episode of True Blood to check it out, and it's smooth and clear). Streaming Flash video varies, but it's usually decent. I tried out the Hulu hack, and it basically worked, but was choppier than I'd want to watch for anything with actual acting or special effects. Anyway, like everyone else said, video files look great.

=X= · 05-27-2011, 12:13 AM

I started with nookie on my SD card and ran like so for several months. While there was stability issues the real issue for me was that over that time the performance degraded the more I stored data on the nook.

I also realized I never booted to stock nook during that time. So when I decided to upgrade I went for CM7 in the eMMC . The result is a fast more stable platform and no performance issues over the long run. Also I have read freed up my SD card to use it as it was intended, as extras storage.

=X= · 05-27-2011, 12:21 AM

you actually don't need an SD card any more, Just install ROM Manager and download the Rom from the ui, you do have to be rooted however.

Also I've upgraded, to CM7 build 87 with the latest overclocked kennel at noon, 9 hrs later and I'm at 90% battery still.

even though I've hardly used my nook today that seems too good of a battery improvement.

SCION · 05-27-2011, 12:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by =X=

...

Also I've upgraded, to CM7 build 87 with the latest overclocked kennel at noon, 9 hrs later and I'm at 90% battery still.

even though I've hardly used my nook today that seems too good of a battery improvement.

Hmmm...

Must consider.

05-26-2011, 05:31 PM	#1
khalleron Kate Posts: 1,683 Karma: 3165009 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Oregon, United States Device: Nexus 7 2013, Kobo Aura H2O, Kobo Forma	Some thoughts I've had my Nook Color for three weeks now, got CM7 on the SD card, and I have a few observations - Everyone who recommended the Sandisk SD cards was dead on. The Kingston Class 4 card I had worked OK for most things, but Pandora would force close, so I 'upgraded' to the Sandisk Class 2 card, and not only does Pandora run lovely now, but everything works much better with a noticable increase in speed. The screen, the screen, such a lovely screen! I can't get over how beautiful this screen is - it wasn't made for books, it was made for video. BN has really missed the marketing on this one. I even prefer watching on it over my TV, even though it's so much smaller, because it's so crisp and the colors really pop. Beautiful. I need to get my photographs on this - is the gallery the best photo viewer, or is there a better app? Now, a question - I've got everything running fine off the SD card, but I'm considering replacing the stock OS and just running everything from the main memory, but I'm a bit leery of it. I would like a bit more speed and efficiency - would installing CM7 over the stock give me that? Pros and cons, please.

05-26-2011, 06:52 PM	#4
jswinden Nameless Being	I started out with CM7.0.3 stable on a PNY 8gb class 10 SD card. Unfortunately I didn't read about the Sandisk cards until after the fact. It ran stable and was fairly fast, but now that I've installed it to eMMC it does seem significantly faster in some apps. The battery gets eaten up much faster under CM7 that it did as stock, butthe XDA forum indicates that is a known issue. I suspect they will get it fixed before long. I've noticed that many reader apps do better when installed to an SD card and certainly data seems to work better stored of the SD. No bleep about being a bit tricky to reconvert a flashed SD card to storage because after flashing the card only showed 186 mb of total space. I finally downloaded the flash file made just for 8gb cards, flashed it to the SD, then it showed 8gb again. Then I was able to reformat it and recover all 8gb. I've got to agree that the nookcolor screen is definitely tops in its field. Some 7" Android tablets only have a 800 x 480 resolution, but the NC has something like 1024 x 600, plus the screen quality is excellent. I use a non-glare screen protector and that really helps with the glare from bright lights and sunshine. Last edited by jswinden; 05-26-2011 at 07:01 PM.

05-27-2011, 12:21 AM	#10
=X= Wizard Posts: 3,671 Karma: 12205348 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: Galaxy S, Nook w/CM7	you actually don't need an SD card any more, Just install ROM Manager and download the Rom from the ui, you do have to be rooted however. Also I've upgraded, to CM7 build 87 with the latest overclocked kennel at noon, 9 hrs later and I'm at 90% battery still. even though I've hardly used my nook today that seems too good of a battery improvement. Last edited by =X=; 05-27-2011 at 12:24 AM.

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05-26-2011, 06:14 PM	#2
noaxis2 Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: SF Bay, California Device: Nook Color (rooted w/autonooter)	Check out xda developers forums...many people there to discuss the pros and cons with! Also check this guy...he's been very helpful answering my questions on his blog: http://quinxy.com/guides/how-to-pick...stall-options/ I agree with you about the screen! Even with the B&N screen cover the screen is awesome. I also like watching movies and netflix on it...but more because I'm sensitive to light and my LED LCD flat screen lights up my room like it's noon and gives me headaches! Good luck!

05-26-2011, 06:17 PM	#3
taosaur intelligent posterior Posts: 1,562 Karma: 21295618 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Ohiopolis Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2, Samsung S8, Lenovo Tab 3 Pro	I'm just shy of the one month mark, and I have moved CM7 to eMMC, but I wouldn't say there's any increase in performance vs. my most stable SD install on an unclassed 16GB Sandisk. The move was prompted partly by issues with Wi-Fi and some FCs on my SD install, but those probably had more to do with all my ROM-and-kernel-swapping than the fact that I was running from SD. For a good week-and-a-half before I started trying betas and Phiremod and everything else, my SD install was rock-solid. Initially I moved to eMMC so that I could try out other ROMs on my SD card, but by the time I had the CM7.1 beta + OC kernel on eMMC and a Honeycomb/Phiremod dual-boot on SD, my curiosity and patience had run its course and I was ready to have one stable system set up how I liked it and loaded with what I wanted on there. I booted into Honeycomb and Phiremod each once, then reverted the card to storage (which is more bother than you'd think) and loaded it up with actual content to read/hear/watch. I'll still take my 22" monitor over this screen for movies, but it's great for web comics, and I'm loving Aldiko for epub. I think it will be better when I get an anti-glare screen protector on there, and I've heard they improve touch performance as well. Overall, as far as SD vs. eMMC, I would say if it ain't broke, don't fix it. If you do start seeing problems with your SD install, I wouldn't make too big a deal out of migrating to eMMC, but if the SD is fairly snappy, you probably won't see much if any improvement moving to internal.

05-26-2011, 07:35 PM	#5
taosaur intelligent posterior Posts: 1,562 Karma: 21295618 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Ohiopolis Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2, Samsung S8, Lenovo Tab 3 Pro	Battery drain during sleep has been all but eliminated in the CM7.1 beta and all nightlies since #82. There should be a stable 7.1 soon. I'm on day three since I last plugged in, and the battery's at 50% (that's with light use). To get my SD card back, I did a bit of trial and error and ended up re-installing CM7 to the card via verygreen's image, then in EASEUS Partition Master I deleted all but the "SDcard" partition, then stretched that partition to take up all the unallocated space.

05-26-2011, 07:49 PM	#6
jswinden Nameless Being	For those who want to install on eMMC, it only requires a 1gb SD card. I would suggest finding a old card and using it. That way you don't have to go through the process of reclaiming all the storage space on your larger/faster card. Besides, if you want to flash updates in the future, you will be better off keeping the older/slower/smaller card just for that purpose--that is, turn it into a dedicated update flashing card. Then when you get ready to flash a new update just copy it to the dedicated SD card and flash away.

05-27-2011, 12:13 AM	#9
=X= Wizard Posts: 3,671 Karma: 12205348 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: Galaxy S, Nook w/CM7	I started with nookie on my SD card and ran like so for several months. While there was stability issues the real issue for me was that over that time the performance degraded the more I stored data on the nook. I also realized I never booted to stock nook during that time. So when I decided to upgrade I went for CM7 in the eMMC . The result is a fast more stable platform and no performance issues over the long run. Also I have read freed up my SD card to use it as it was intended, as extras storage.

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