Classic I've softrooted my Nook for 1.4

[bthoven]

Can't resist to wait for feedbacks from others. I decided to try the new softroot 1.4 on my Nook today. Here is my initial information:

1. Nookdevs Browser is not included in the softroot package?? because the icon missing from my home menu
2. After the softroot, I have to redo:
- set time zone
- patch Nook fonts with Thai fonts (replace Droid fonts and amarsis fonts with Thai fonts set)
- patch to work with my local SIM
- reconfirm my screensaver folder

Confirmed working new features:
- Goto menu now includes Goto Page which is by way of slider, not filling the page number
- Extra extra font size is there

Not working anymore: Wifi shortcut icon (no action after pressing)

Apart from the above, I have not seen any other changes in this new version.

[bthoven]

For font replacement (in order to display Thai text properly), in the previous version I have to replace two set of fonts. One set is Droid fonts which will allow me to see Thai display on website. The other set is to replace armasis fonts with Thai fonts which will allow me to see Thai text in ebook and chapters list.

It seems the new version will use Droid fonts for both web and ebook content. Anyone can confirm this?

[Sylver]

with v1.4 that has a basic browser and go to page number features, what specific benefits on top of that that you can get from a softroot? I am curious about what exactly would enhance the reading experience after you softroot the nook, and in case it does not work out well, can I revert back to the original official v1.4 firmware? I posted similar questions on other thread and no one seems bother to answer - or nobody seems to know the exact benefits themselves either :-)

[bthoven]

Originally Posted by Sylver

with v1.4 that has a basic browser and go to page number features, what specific benefits on top of that that you can get from a softroot?

Well..with the softroot, you can add some useful applications, e.g. RSS reader, FBReader, better book library management, etc.

Without softroot, I can't replace the stock fonts with Thai fonts which allow me to read Thai ebook, Thai websites. With softrooted Nook, I can set it up to use my local SIM card for internet access.

I am curious about what exactly would enhance the reading experience after you softroot the nook

Softroot will not enhance your reading experience; however it gives me more choices to read non-US language ebook/web. You can also sideload your saved webpages into Nook and it will appear in your book list which, when selected, will automatically use softrooted Nookbrowser to view it. In other words, it make your Nook support html documents.

, and in case it does not work out well, can I revert back to the original official v1.4 firmware?

...absolutely.

I posted similar questions on other thread and no one seems bother to answer - or nobody seems to know the exact benefits themselves either :-)

.. I hope my reply can give you some ideas why, at least for me, I decided to root my Nook.

[Sylver]

Thanks, bthoven, that is helpful.

The nook seems to support Chinese fonts well without softroot (I tried my own microSD in store with epub files that has font substitute .css) and the built in font looks much better than my other device that officially supports Chinese and I am very happily surprised on that.

However I may have ordered the wrong thing (I ordered a wifi only version yesterday) and would like to hear about this one that you mentioned:

With softrooted Nook, I can set it up to use my local SIM card for internet access.

With the wifi only version, they obviously removed the 3G module. I am quite a network dummy on that: so if the 3G module is removed, I can still use the wifi feature to connect to my U.S. based home wireless network to browse the internet/emails, but if I travel to China where I don't have such wireless network access and will need to use a prepaid SIM card or such, do I have to get a 3G version or does a wifi only nook also work?

Also, does RSS reader work on wifi only version with home wireless connection?

Thanks in advance.

[sherman]

I had a poke around in the softrooted 1.4 firmware, and I noticed that the ReaderEpub.apk file seems to include the fonts Amasis10, Amasis30 and Helvetica Neue with proper variants.

When reading epub files, is this indeed the case? Do the italics variants display properly (look at the 'f' using a serif font if you're unsure of what I mean - it should descend below the line)?

I also noticed there were stylesheets there. Is it possible to alter these, and have the changes reflected in the viewer? What about adding additional stylesheets?


I'm considering a Nook to replace my Sony PRS-505, but the epub reader MUST be able to display proper italics. Altered/additional stylesheets are a bonus.

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by bthoven

Not working anymore: Wifi shortcut icon (no action after pressing)

I've fixed that, you can download it from http://code.google.com/p/nookdevs/downloads/list. However, at the moment I believe you'll have to have the Google Android toolkit on your PC installed in order to uninstall the old version and install the new version.