Quote:
Originally Posted by gforgiraffe39935
I should mention that I recently bought a couple of these online and Google Services no longer connects as of July 2022. Google Support documentation states the NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ are still supported for their versions of Android, but I haven't been able to connect to any Google Services using the native B&N apps as they were from the NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ Android 4.0.4.
Some people may consider it a boon to be almost entirely Google-free in 2022.
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The Google sign-in problem is something of a mystery but, hey, it's Google. I guess it's possible that the very old custom GApps package on the device (you can be sure B&N didn't update it) can't negotiate the recently mandatory 2-factor verification now required for all account sign-ins.
IMO, the hardware is wasted on the stock OS. People who are big fans of the HD (and HD+) love the screen, not the crippleware Android system. The colors are exceptionally vivid and the images gorgeous. It's a waste as a reader.
Back in the day when my husband bought his, he wasn't interested in any of the "cool" stuff I was learning to do with an old Nook Tablet I had picked up. You could side-load apps on the HD, so he was content for awhile. He loved being able to use the HDMI out to pick up where he left off on a movie when changing from his workroom downstairs to the living room.
And then...he kept running out of space. So much bloatware on the device (not B&N system stuff, just junk apps) and no way to get rid of it. He eventually let me root it so we could (hopefully) get rid of some of that stuff. And that worked. For awhile.
Any time the device was connected to WiFi. B&N would begin replacing all the stuff we'd deleted. None of the "schemes" people had devised to prevent this worked. Finally, finally he accepted the fact that if he wanted a usable tablet (for the way he used it), it would need a custom ROM.
I initially flashed CM12 and then eventually CM13 (Marshmallow) with GApps. The tablet was an actual device, finally, one that he could arrange the way he wanted.
I recently revisited the old HD (he has since moved on to another tablet) and redid it without GApps. I used microG instead. The old hardware sings. Oh, there may be faster devices out there, but that screen......