I normally don’t brag on my toys, but I’m having so much fun with this one I thought I’d share.
A while back a friend of mine bought their daughter a Nook Color and she (their daughter) has been loving it. We heard about it enough that my wife started to want one for herself. I broke down and bought it, then discovered the best part: A Nook is an android device.
BUT: it’s totally crippled by Barnes ‘n Noble’s software.
BUT: GIYF --> they made it EASY to uncripple. If you put a bootable SD card in the back, it boots off the SD card not the main memory. This means if you can find someone who has compiled real android software for the Nook, you’re home free. Again: GIYF!
So … I got one for myself, too. Then, I followed these instructions, created a bootable SD card … pure bliss!
Now my Nook color can watch movies from netflix, keep track of my calendar, play a crud-ton of free games, be an MP3 player, play music from pandora, read facebook, be a calculator, take notes, browse the web, read my gmail, function as an alarm clock, watch TV shows on my internal network via MythTV, keep track of characters and other data for my tabletop role playing games, or even post blogs (really … blogger has an android app). Most of the above requires wireless, but hey … I rooted my phone, too, so it can be a wireless hotspot.
OH … by the way … it also reads books. From Barnes ‘n Noble (android Nook app) … or from Amazon (android Kindle app) … or from free sources (several other apps, my favorite of which is Aldiko). And, if anything ever goes wrong, I can eject my SD card, and it looks just like everyone else’s Nook (i.e. I haven’t voided my warranty!).
It doesn’t have a camera, so it can’t TAKE pictures (but it can get them from my phone via wireless or bluetooth). It doesn’t have a mic, so I can’t skype … but I have a phone. It’s not the fastest tablet on the market … but at under $200, it’s more than adequate.
I’m pretty sure I can survive those shortcomings …
aka: goofdad
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