When Barnes & Noble launched the NOOK Color, not many actually expected the device to be anything more than an also-ran. With more sophisticated devices like Samsung Galaxy Tab vying to be the iPad killer, the NOOK Color was just a NOOK with tablet benefits. But a recent snippet revealed by a company executive shows the NOOK Color does have something unique to itself that is not the case with any of the other tablets in the market. Click on the arrows on the top of this page to read on.
Tag: barnes noble
Barnes & Noble has announced that it has sold a record number of NOOKcolor eReader devices during the Christmas shopping season that has taken the device to become the hottest selling product on Barnes & Noble in its four decade history. While the media statement did not disclose the exact number of NOOKcolor units sold, it does note that “millions of NOOK eReading devices” have been sold.
Another interesting revelation from the company’s press statement is the fact that digital sales have overtaken sales of physical books on BN.com which is apparently the second largest online bookstore in the world.
Barnes & Noble launched the new NOOKcolor eReader back in November this year. The popularity of the device soon surged following a successful rooting of the device that brought Android market to NOOKcolor. Rooted NOOKcolor devices are now also capable to handling Kindle compatible ebooks which enhances the value of this eReader even further.
Categories
Hack NOOKcolor To Install Android 2.2 Now
If you own a Barnes & Noble NOOKcolor, it is now time to turn the eReader into a full fledged tablet device. Following the successful rooting of the NOOKcolor eReader late last month, hackers have now been able to successfully port Android 2.2 to the eReader. These developers have released a demo of the hacked NOOKcolor that you can find embedded below.
If you are looking to carry out the trick yourself, we must warn you that this procedure is still pretty raw. What this means is that there is still no one tap installation procedure available as yet. Those who want to install FroYo will have to compile the OS besides carrying out a number of complicated procedures before seeing Android 2.2 installed on your NOOKcolor. It should then go without saying that this is absolutely risky and not worth carrying out unless you are a geek yourself.
Look out for the instructions here and let us know if you hit on a roadblock somewhere during the process.
Barnes & Noble has announced the roll out of the SDK for the recently launched NOOKcolor eReader. The launch will mean developers can now start building applications specifically for the eReader. Interestingly, though the eReader has been built over the Android framework, it will not be possible for Android app developers to directly port their apps over the new platform. Instead, we hear that there will still be a significant amount of work required to make the apps NOOKcolor-compatible.
Nevertheless, with the device being rooted recently, a number of users should now be looking at NOOKcolor as a cheaper alternative for tablet. This increased interest should get more developers doing the extra work to bring applications for the platform.
We look forward to this spurt in activity on the Nook ecosystem. If you are a developer, you can find all the needed SDK tools here.
NOOKColor, the touchscreen eReader from Barnes & Noble that went on sale last month has now been successfully rooted. This is thanks to the good folks at XDA developers who have been able to install the popular Angry Birds game on the eReader as a “proof” of the hack being developed successfully.
According to the hackers who broke into the root of the NOOKcolor software, the rooted device is as “smooth as a Galaxy Tab” and that it has “potential to be an amazing device“.
There are no official guides or step-by-step instructions for the root as yet and we will stay on the lookout for the same to let you know once it is up on the XDA forums. Are you excited about the prospect of rooting your NOOKcolor? Write to us in the comments.
Barnes & Noble had unveiled their new NOOK Color last month. Like we had noted last month, the new color eReader will come with a 7″ touchscreen display built with IPS technology, an 8GB internal storage supplemented by a microSD card that can hold 32GB of data and a number of other features. Now, the popular book publisher has announced that this new eReader is now available for sale and can be purchased at a price of $249.
If you are eager to get hold of one, you can do some from Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Books-a-Million. Online orders are available too and these orders will apparently take close to ten days to be fulfilled. Of course, if you have already pre-ordered a unit, they must be hitting your door soon enough.
So looks like almost everything that we heard about the new eReader from Barnes & Noble was correct. The popular publisher has now officially unveiled the new NOOKcolor – the new eReader with a color touchscreen.
Like what the rumors had suggested, the new NOOKcolor will come with a 7″ screen with a touchscreen display made of In-Plane Switching technology, an 8GB internal storage, a microSD slot that can hold 32GB and features like Wi-Fi, micro USB port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The eReader will support a number of third party apps like Pandora, Chess and will come with a media player. These things surely make it more than just a ebook reading machine and can also be used to listen to music or watch videos.
As noted yesterday, the device will also include a NOOK kids app that will be targeted at kids. The eReader is noted to be available for $249 – just as it was earlier speculated.
Categories
Nook Kids App For iPad, Nook Color & More
The launch of the new Nook Color eReader is no longer a secret since Barnes & Noble had themselves given it away by accidentally revealing a related accessory in its stores. Now we are further hearing about a new application from the book publisher that will be targeted at kids.
Called the Nook Kids, the application is set to come with close to 12,000 titles that will appeal to the very young crowd. Most of these titles are said to be interactive and will contain instances like a page full of dropping blueberries that can be popped with a tap, etc. In short, this app also confirms that the new Nook Color will include a comprehensive color touchscreen.
Also, this application will not just be limited to the Nook Color eReader but will also be available for other devices including the Apple iPad from later this year.
Barnes & Noble is rumored to be getting all ready to launch a new variant of their Nook ebook reader – a color version that probably ditch the regular e-ink screen with a display made of either full LCD, Mirasol or possibly even PixelQi. From what we hear, the new eReader will be simply called Nook Color and will come with a 7″ screen and will run on the Android operating system. It is also expected to run the Nook app that is already available for devices with color display.
What might bother you if you are eager to get hold of one of these devices is the price. The price of this new Nook Color eReader is said to be in the range of $250 – that’s pretty expensive considering that there are way cheaper alternatives. Also, tablet computers that can do a lot more than just reading are available at just a $100 more.
Anyway, let us wait for a confirmation from Barnes & Noble about this.
Categories
B&N Nook eReader App For Android Released
The eReader war is turning out to be played more and more on the software front and not on the hardware side as it was earlier thought. In a bid to thwart competition from the likes of Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble has announced the launch of a Nook eReader app on the Android platform. As you already know, the company already has its eReader app available to iPhone and iPad users.
The new app will allow users to browse through the over one million titles available for purchase on the B&N eBookstore and books purchased from the online store shall be accessible from any device that is compatible with Nook. That’s either the Nook eReader or the several Nook apps available.
Companies like Amazon and Barnes & Noble have realized that the money to be made is in the purchase of ebooks and not on the hardware. Consequently, do not be surprised if these companies begin offering the hardware at next to nothing moving forward.