color Software Update 1.2 released

Originally Posted by SCION

If you (or someone you know) are in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and want a NOOKcolor:

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/ele/2348157910.html

Don't forget about the MR Flea Market. I've had really good experiences using it. Of course you'll probably have to ship it. I plan to sell mine after I get this darn move out of the way.

@afv011, What else but idiots can you call B&N when they piddle on themselves with such a pathetic upgrade that doesn't even improve the core reader app? All that B&N BS about the NC is a READER not a tablet, then they make us wait 5+ months for a zero reader app upgrade! MEH!!!!

[aagstn]

Originally Posted by jswinden

1.2 seems excrutiatingly slow and the WiFi is gulping down my battery charge. And yes I did a couple extra complete restarts to ward off any gremlins. Web browsing is clunky and Youtube videos are way to jerky and choppy. I personally cannot justify keeping this POS when the only thing it is good for is reading and the stock reader is garbage. It is a shame as the screen is the best LCD I've seen in the 6+ inch range. I'm going to stick with the iPad and Sony PRS-350.

The only saving grace in this 5+ month experiment is that I only bought one B&N overpriced book. All the rest were bought from Sony and Amazon, stripped of DRM, converted if necessary, and enjoyed without allowing the jerks at B&N the satisfaction of recouping any of their underwriting for the NC!

I thought I would be kicking myself for selling my nookcolor and getting an iPad, but the more I read about the big 1.2 update the more I don't feel like I missed out on much. Still use my original nook a lot, but I will stick with the iPad for my tablet and night time reading device.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by aagstn

I thought I would be kicking myself for selling my nookcolor and getting an iPad, but the more I read about the big 1.2 update the more I don't feel like I missed out on much. Still use my original nook a lot, but I will stick with the iPad for my tablet and night time reading device.

Hate iTunes, hate Apple's business model, but damm... the iPad just works! Everything else is just getting there, but not better, at least no yet. I guess that you get what you pay for, at least when talking about iPad.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by jhempel24

Why des every one hate the stock reader? I've found it better than adequate. And the the browsing is fast, youtube plays just fine.

And book pricing for the most part is the same evertywhere so that's not a big deal.

I can only speak for myself, but I strongly dislike the highlighting implementation. I highlight a LOT and the NC stock app is very very VERY fussy. I always had to hold'n'swipe a minimum of four times before I captured what I wanted to.

Once you've used Moon+ highlighting (with slider bars! WHY DOES NO ONE ELSE SEE THE GENIUS OF THE SLIDER BARS??) there is NO going back.

Other things I don't like about the stock reader... no landscape mode (I like having the option), very limited font options, OMG 'NIGHT' MODE IS BLINDINGLY BRIGHT , highlights and bookmarks can't be exported or backed up (I once lost 200+ pages of highlights when my NC crashed - I literally cried in frustration), and the TOC could be implemented better, in my opinion.

The PDF stock reader we've already gone over - for reading anything longer than 20 pages, it's the purest of garbage. (Just the facts, ma'am. )

I also don't like how sideloaded books on the device are basically second class citizens, and you're lucky if they have a cover at all.

I like my rooted NC, but IMHO the reason "every one hate[s] the stock reader" is because anyone with an android phone / tablet has experienced much better in terms of flexibility and options.

I only rooted because of the above issues - reading on my phone was better than reading on my NC and that seemed... backward.

[jhempel24]

Hmmm...I guess I must be in the minority here. I don't have any reason to highlight. I never had a cover issue, and dont read pdfs or text books.

I have triec moon+ but it was terrible on my android phone. I use Alldiko for that. And even with that there are errant characters that dont appear on the nook reader. If there was away to add fonts to Aldiko I might consider that more.

[belden]

Originally Posted by jhempel24

If there was away to add fonts to Aldiko I might consider that more.

I may be completely wrong here but I was using Aldiko a few weeks ago and thought there was a "fonts" folder where the various fonts were held. I copied some of the fonts from another reader program and pasted them there and they showed up in the program. Maybe I'm thinking of a different reader program I was trying.

[bkomer]

After lurking (mostly) on this site for at least 6-9 months...time to weigh in. I am a gadget junkie, having used various versions of Palm devices (I have read many, many ebooks on the Palm TX), and an HP Ipaq 110, among others. I currently have a Blackberry 9650 (work), an Ipod Touch 4, Nook Classic (rooted), Nook Color (rooted), and a brand new Ipad 2.

Ipad 2...awesome device. BUT...the Nook Color is also an awesome device! Designed to do different things. My wife, daughter, and co-worker all have Nook Colors, and they all love 'em. As a pure Ebook reader, you simply cannot beat it. My Ipad 2 does ebooks...but the resolution is a bit superior, I must admit, on the Nook Color (it has an absolutely beautiful display). Photos? Movies? Web surfing? Ipad 2, all the way. Overall user experience on a tablet? Ipad 2, hands down. BUT: Hours spent reading? Gimme my Nook Color. Reading outdoors, or a Florida beach vacation coming, plus time in the car? Gimme my Classic Nook.

Granted, most do not have the luxury of maintaining multiple devices. But each device has their strengths.

Scion: Sorry to hear you are leaving the fold. Your insight through multiple postings helped inspire me to root my Color Nook a few months ago. What a great experience. You will surely be missed here.

I almost bought a Motorola Xoom. Superior hardware. But, for those of you who have been around for a while, the Betamax technology was superior to VHS...another reason I went with the Ipad.

Isn't it great to have so many good choices?

[thecdn]

I did the cm7 install just now. Wow, this is slick. Was pretty easy following the instructions - http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.ph...l_Update_Guide

Installed all my apps from a backup I had from Titanium, no problems. Then installed the Nook app. The reader is much nicer than the standard nc reader.

Haven't had much time to play with things yet, but so far it looks like I'll be very happy with this move.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by belden

I may be completely wrong here but I was using Aldiko a few weeks ago and thought there was a "fonts" folder where the various fonts were held. I copied some of the fonts from another reader program and pasted them there and they showed up in the program. Maybe I'm thinking of a different reader program I was trying.

It may have been a different program. I remember moaning about the app not being able to see fonts in the folder you mention. I use that folder with Moon+.

[jhempel24]

Ah, I know why I didn't like Moon+, I couldn't access my dropbox cloud, it wouldn't recognize it....maybe I will be able to. I'm going to install the CM7 to the Micro SD Card and try it from there before going all the way with it on my 1.2

Is there anyone that can upload the CM7 to a hotfile or something....I can't access the download at work, it's blocked.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by jswinden

To be honest, the only good thing about the NC is its terrific LCD screen, though it is a widescreen which is bad for reading. A reader is better off with a 4:3 screen like most of the eInk readers. The only thing a widescreen is good for is video.

And its price, web access, and app access. That's all I need a tablet for.

When the latest versions of Galaxy Tabs, Xooms, iPads, and PlayBooks start selling for $250~300 without contracts and data plans, I'll gladly ditch my Color for one of them. Until then...

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by jhempel24

Ah, I know why I didn't like Moon+, I couldn't access my dropbox cloud, it wouldn't recognize it....maybe I will be able to. I'm going to install the CM7 to the Micro SD Card and try it from there before going all the way with it on my 1.2

Is there anyone that can upload the CM7 to a hotfile or something....I can't access the download at work, it's blocked.

I use Moon+ to access my dropbox library all the time now, but it did take me a little while to figure out the trick. I assume you're using Calibre2opds - the trick is to choose the "Stanza" option in Calibre2opds and to point Moon+ to the XML index file instead of the HTML index file.

Post here: http://www.anamardoll.com/2011/03/er...-in-cloud.html

PM me if you need any help.

Also, since I use Aldiko AND Moon+ and since Aldiko reads my PDF files and Moon+ doesn't have a PDF reader yet (it's on the to-do list), I usually just download my books via Aldiko and then bulk import all the epubs when I'm in Moon+. That works too.

[jersysman]

[QUOTE=jhempel24;1512351]Hmmm...I guess I must be in the minority here. I don't have any reason to highlight. I never had a cover issue, and dont read pdfs or text books.

You are not alone here. I too enjoy the Nook the way it is. I wish the stock Nook would do more, but it does allow one to "enhance" the machine if they want to. That in itself is a good point for the machine. I bought the NC because I wanted to use it to read books and it does that quite well. The additional stuff that it can do with a little help is gravy to me.

This update goes a long way into making the Nook a much better device. Remember, it has only been in existence less than 6 months.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by jswinden

You obviously don't know me or you would know that I'm no Apple fan. I have an iPad because it works, but I generally hate Apple and their arrogance, and I definitely hate Steve Jobs. And I hate when friends call me on their iPhones because I cannot hear much of what they say--terrible phone. I'm more of a Windows and BlackBerry kind of guy.

If I criticize the NC it is because it deserves to be criticized, as does Google for producing a lackluster Android OS. Even Scion who used to be the loudest proponet of the NC has given up on it. To be honest, the only good thing about the NC is its terrific LCD screen, though it is a widescreen which is bad for reading. A reader is better off with a 4:3 screen like most of the eInk readers. The only thing a widescreen is good for is video.

If you read the red, italics portion of my signature you will see I have no loyalties to any hardware or OS vender.

whatever, your opinon is not fact. you like 4:3 but I think widescreen 7 inch is the perfect form factor for reading, more content to the page.

web browser? what exactly are looking for in a browser, I'm confused? My pages load up pretty fast, even such content heavy pages as Engadget. Scrolling through the sites has been fairly smooth, and AND the actual webpage display and not mobile webpages. Which to me is fantastic, So my webpages load up reasonably fast, scrolling is pretty smooth and I get the PC website not the mobile website, not sure what more you want from a small 7 inch ereader, to be honest with you.

The stock reader OS? Well that is purely subjectable. I, like most people, are general readers. I buy a book, read said book, shelf the book when done. I love the stock reader, I think it's very intuative, offers functions that though I may never use, that aren't available or aren't as effective on eink devices. I find the organziton of my collections very nice. I like the whole "My shelfs"

Now I don't take notes, I don't read technical PDF, I don't annotate ect. I know the Nook color offers features for these, but to the extent of how advanced they are I don't know. But judging by some of the comments around here, they seem to be very basic. So basically what I'm getting at is that the stock reader may not be the best for "Technical ereaders, note takers etc" for the vast majority of people who are general readers, the stock reader UI is wonderful. So again you base opininons as fact.

As far as your battery running down quicker, it's more than likely due to flash, I havent noticed any major declination of my battery usage when just reading and doing other ereading related tasks.

And as far as your comment about Android not being a good OS, well this isn't the place to debate that, but I couldn't disagree anymore. My Droid X runs just as smooth as my friends iPhone 4 and I have a pluthra of features, customizations and functinality my iPhone freinds only dream they can have on their phone.

What ever happen to the art of posting "IMHO" or "I think" or "Not for MY needs"

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by boswd

The stock reader OS? Well that is purely subjectable. I, like most people, are general readers. I buy a book, read said book, shelf the book when done. I love the stock reader, I think it's very intuative, offers functions that though I may never use, that aren't available or aren't as effective on eink devices. I find the organziton of my collections very nice. I like the whole "My shelfs"

Now I don't take notes, I don't read technical PDF, I don't annotate ect. I know the Nook color offers features for these, but to the extent of how advanced they are I don't know. But judging by some of the contents they seem to be very basic. So basically what I'm getting at is that the stock reader may not be the best for "Technical ereaders, note takers etc" for the vast majority of people who are general readers, the stock reader UI is wonderful. So again you base opininons as fact.

I don't have a dog in this fight, but if you don't mind, I'll weigh in here as someone else slamming the NC stock reader.

I agree with you that the NC stock reader is adequate and functional for "basic" reading, where we define "basic" as:

1. Not taking notes.
2. Not making bookmarks that you want to export later.
3. Not wanting to easily "reset" book data (last page read), etc.
4. Not reading in "night mode".
5. Not reading in landscape mode.

So, basically, pick up the NC, buy the latest Dresden novel or whatever, and read it to completion, and the NC stock app will probably treat you well. And that's great.

But the thing is: under those circumstances, every reader I've ever tried (Nook, Nook Color, PocketBook 360, Aldiko, Moon+, Cool Reader, etc.) fulfills those criteria. And that's great, too, but it does undermine this meme that the NC stock reader is "wonderful".

Now, you didn't call the NC stock reader "wonderful", but other people have thrown those superlatives around in this thread, and I would ask: If it only does the bare minimum that every other reader does, what's 'wonderful' about it? It's adequate for a very basic set of needs. If that meets your needs, great - but if it doesn't, it's very frustrating.

It's especially frustrating because B&N can't seem to decide if they want this to be a "serious" reading device (which would necessitate major upgrades to their stock readers) or a "tablet" device (which would necessitate a much more robust app store, and - really - SD card installation to the device since they're coming to the app store concept so late in the game).

Now having said all that, here are things that the stock readers don't do well:

1. Library organization. I have 200+ books from B&N alone; 700+ in my Calibre library. The "shelves" feature is bulky and unmanageable - you can only browse the shelves (IIRC) by "swiping" sideways through the covers. I have 100+ books on my "childrens' lit" shelf - I don't want to swipe sideways through 100 books. Compare shelf management to something like the Calibre2opds output - B&N could have done something like that, but didn't.

2. Book resets. Your husband read on your NC and now you'd like all the "last read" pages reset? I still don't know how to do this on the NC. I think there's a way to delete all the bookmarks and highlights, but you have to do that individually for each book. Compare to my PocketBook 360 that has a "clear device" option that resets all books to an unread/un-annotated state.

3. Custom options in the reader: Landscape mode. More controls over the look and feel of the "night" mode. Ability to load custom fonts. Ability to designate "touch areas" where the user can customize commands (i.e., touching the upper right quadrant will skip ahead 10 pages) (Cool Reader does this, IIRC.) Heck, even just the ability to keep the screen on the book cover after the initial zoom-and-load so that you can show off your pretty color reader table to your friends!

There are other things we can (and have) complained about with regards to the NC stock reader, but I think these things are all pretty major, even for casual readers. I'm not trying to slam on B&N - I really WANT to love them because I *am* fond of my Nook and NC - but these issues are present and it's... frustrating for me and others.

I get that you don't want these features, and that's great too. But I think the person you were responding to was frustrated by all the "What you talking about, Willis, the stock reader is GREAT!" posts. I agree that it's functional. For certain needs. But "great"? To me, "great" indicates that you get something from this reader that you can't get elsewhere - and I can't think of a single thing the B&N stock reader does that the other comparable readers (LCD, touch screen readers) don't do just as well or better.

That's my opinion.