Doubts about buying Nook color

[GemenZ]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

Flash is nice - but it wouldn't be the determining feature.

Anyone who really wants flash can get it by running what's called "Nookie Froyo" which supports it natively.

The real question for rooted people is whether the update will unroot existing devices or not - and if so, whether it will be forced through automatically or not. People have guesses but no one knows for sure. What we are pretty sure of is that people will still be able to root after the update because the key factor enabling root is in hardware not software.

I wouldn't let that be a determining factor.

Thanks for the answer.

Again, I guess my doubts come from not having enough understanding about the NC. Let's say update comes out w/ whatever new features. Would this update be more like a firmware update, where the software of internal components would be upgraded? Or, would it be more of a software update?

I am trying to understand why flash, which is a software, cannot run on a current NC OS. I assume this being a software issue, BUT I do not have enough knowledge to be certain of my assumption.

Now, if this is related to hardware, meaning, that until the hardware "knows" how to "eat" a flash coming from the software it won't be possible to play flash, then I can understand why the flash is not running.

All this is a grey area for me as I cannot completely understand where the limitation lies.

If this is really more of "until the update is released, flash will not run - PERIOD", then I don't mind waiting another 2 weeks and see what happens. The reason for that is that BN gives you 14-day no questions asked return policy. So, in case something is not working as I am expecting it to - I can always return the item.

I apologize for rambling up here my scattered thoughts, but hopefully it all explains my struggles.

Back to the point.

Let's say, you are me and you have the experience with NC and have used the rooted NC - would you buy or wait till end of March?

[Lemurion]

I would buy now.

The thing with Flash is that the Nook Color is currently running a version of Android 2.1 (Eclair) and Flash needs Android 2.2 (Froyo) or higher.

[GemenZ]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

I would buy now.

The thing with Flash is that the Nook Color is currently running a version of Android 2.1 (Eclair) and Flash needs Android 2.2 (Froyo) or higher.

BN! Here I come!

[GemenZ]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

I would buy now.

The thing with Flash is that the Nook Color is currently running a version of Android 2.1 (Eclair) and Flash needs Android 2.2 (Froyo) or higher.

Oh, btw, quick last question. Just to be sure. I guess that update means that the higher version of OS will be released for NC, right?

[Lemurion]

I believe they're planning to release it, but it can't be guaranteed beforeb it's even announced.

[cutterjohn42]

Originally Posted by Noah98

I wouldn't compare the Pandigital Novel to the Nook Color. The devices are like night and day. If you can get a Pandigital Novel for around $60 (what I paid for my latest one--I bought my original one for $130), then it might be worth looking into. Also, installing custom firmware or even the open platform makes it much more useful.

The main problem with the Pandigital Novel is that it is slow, the screen is not very responsive (although not the worst resistive screen I've used), and it is running on an older version of Android.

IMHO a hacked Nook Color is the best value right now. It's certainly not the best tablet on the market, but it does enough well at the price that I think it is the best option for the general user. With that in mind, I wouldn't spend a lot of money on a tablet right now. This year should offer an exponential jump in technology at (hopefully) more reasonable prices. For me to upgrade, I want a flash enabled Xoom tablet (or something comparable) at $500 or preferably less, off contract.

Gotta second all the Pandigital Novel (white) comments. I own a v2 WPDN and after getting a Viewsonic gTablet(Tegra 2 goodness) using custom fw TnT lite 2.4.5 it just makes the WPDN feel so ssssssssssssslllllllllllllloooooooooooowwwwwwwwww (the switch to the open platform fw DID make it a bit snappier but...), and the resistive touch screen isn't all that responsive to boot even compared to my Archos 32 which also has a resistive touch screen, but the a32 is just so much better. (Useless for reading much as the screen is so tiny and low res 400x240.)

(Even my NC feels pretty slow v. the gTablet as does the a32 but they're both MUCH better than the WPDN...)

An Archos 43 might do, but again the screen size may just be too small and I don't have any direct experience with it's touch screen(yet), but I'm hoping that it's similar to the a32's(both are resistive -- only the Archos 70 & 101 have capacitive screens). (Thinking about picking up the a43 as getting the a32 for music/video mainly and playing around with android on it made me realize how an even smaller traditional PDA size device would just be so much more portable than even a 7", plus the 32 and above all support bluetooth 2.1 edr so I could also use bt gps dongle with them.... 16GB a43 can be had for c. $210 from Amazon, a70 16GB is c. $270, and a101 8GB is c. $300 downers are that they all only have 256MB of RAM)

eInk: NEVER had a GOOD PDF experience with an eInk device UNLESS it was simply formatted text primarily. Zoom features are usually next to useless as the display refresh rates are so sssslllloooowwww that it's painful to pan, etc.

Android PDF viewers: better than eInk but many of them miss things like bookmarks, go to page, etc. Some of them are also relatively slow to render even on tablets with higher end CPUs. Adobe's own android viewer seems to be the fastest but is woefully lacking in features...

now back to the Nook color(NC): This will NEED to be rooted and some form of market setup installed as the shipped PDF reader in the stock fw is pretty much crap. I had difficulties writing bootable uSDs for mine under Ubuntu 10.04 x86-64(readers: 2x USB, 1x builtin tried) BUT did successfully(well once) write one under Windows Vista 32b, however I had problems since then(using my notebook's builtin reader w/SD card adapter for uSD) but this seems to be an uncommon problem, or I never found anyone else having this difficulty and I haven't had time to waste investigating it further ATM. (I'm using my NC w/stock fw and as a reader ATM, as I have a plethora of tablets now and am not spending much time outdoors yet(winter) but had been planning to root, etc. in the spring but IF I get the a43 this will likely not happen esp if B&N stock fw goes to an open platform(I'm REALLY hoping for this) similar to what Pandigital did.)

Archos(again): again you'd most likely want to root and add Google market(you'll have to do this with most tablets anyways as very few have official access) or another market with more apps(for PDF readers) as the Archos market isn't very extensive and I find many of my preferred apps missing. (An alternative is to use Titanium Backup on another android device with the desired apps and move them to the Archos, NC, etc. that way... getting market access is just better IMO though...)

Other possibilities: I'd stick with color tablets w/at least a Cortex-a8 based CPU... If possible I'd try one BEFORE buying, or try to buy from somewhere with a reasonable return policy. You might find yourself better off with a netbook and Windows or something...

That a32 is kind of neat for $130ish... no uSD slot kind of sucks though as does the 3.2" 400x240 screen... really too small for much web browsing/reading, but fine for music playback and OK for video-on-the-go... might be good for GPS too but I've yet to pick up a bluetooth GPS dongle...