Nook Color General Discussion Thread

[rico2001]

Very nice! First impressions:

(1) Did he say GPS???? Bad boy...
(2) What was that weather widget??? WANT IT!!!
(3) *Sigh* Why does EVERYONE think Angry Birds is the premier Android game?
(4) Did you know you can pinch-zoom in Angry Birds? That way you can see your bird and the target/pigs at the same time!
(5) Interesting...he hacked the volume keys. I ended up not liking that solution on the Pandigital Novel. Always freaked me out when I went from the PDN to the Droid.
(6) Wow the pool game looks tight!

-Matt

1. Yes I hear that one too, I dnon't believe the HC has a gps radio. I think he misspoke when talking about the power strip widget he was pointing at.
2. There are many.
3. It's the new kid (game) on the block, I guess.
4. Yes, and you can also double tap zoom.
5. Not sure how he did that one.

Hmmm, that's a bummer. I was so thrilled to see my wife's Droid Eris uses a funky-shaped microUSB cable, but it happily accepts a conventional cable. I wish they hadn't done that with the NC!

-Matt

Yea, the Evo is a little odd shaped as well but still accepts all normal spec micro usb cables. A bit disappointing new on the NC port and cable but livable. Once we get bluetooth working, all will be forgiven.


Post your Nook Color screens! - xda-developers
Cool thread over on xda to look at.

 

[gadgetrants]

Mine is charging ATM. I'll commence playing this afternoon!

One observation: the mico usb port and cable seem to be proprietary, physically my other 2 micro usb cables are the same size but the internal connections of the NC's micro usb is larger than normal specs. This makes connecting to most normal spec micro usb devices and cables difficult if not impossible.

On the bright side, I've now rooted my NC. Was a piece of cake.

Hey, how did I miss the rooting comment??? I'll give it a try too.

FWIW my Motorola (Droid) microUSB cable fits with no fuss. I'll see if it has the correct pins to make a PC connection later today.

-Matt

 

[rico2001]

Update: I successfully side loaded a launcher app to my NC and set 5 home screens like stock android. Pretty cool. Now I can see all my installed apps. I'll try to post pic later on tonight.

 

[rico2001]

Installed a number of apps on the NC so far:

Adobe Reader
Advanced task killer
Angry Birds (lol)
Astro
Craigslist
Kindle
Google Latitude
Google Maps
Quadrant Standard
Skyfire
Superuser

My Nook Color @ stock 800mhz (not too shabby)

 

[gadgetrants]

A couple of observations:

- I'm SUPER happy to see that many apps enable the "back" and "menu" soft buttons. I didn't even know those were there...very nice.
- Don't laugh...I have Angry Birds on my Droid, but I can't figure out what the APK is called. Any suggestions?
- I had an earlier version of Maps that had pinch-zoom. I've upgraded to the latest, and it's gone.
- I've rooted (obviously) but don't seem to have superuser access. Did I miss a step?

EDIT: found it: http://nookdevs.com/NookColor_Installing_su_and_the_Superuser_app

-Matt

 

[rico2001]

A couple of observations:

- I'm SUPER happy to see that many apps enable the "back" and "menu" soft buttons. I didn't even know those were there...very nice.
- Don't laugh...I have Angry Birds on my Droid, but I can't figure out what the APK is called. Any suggestions?
- I had an earlier version of Maps that had pinch-zoom. I've upgraded to the latest, and it's gone.
- I've rooted (obviously) but don't seem to have superuser access. Did I miss a step?

EDIT: found it: NookColor Installing su and the Superuser app - nookDevs

-Matt

com.rovio.angrybirds.apk

 

[gadgetrants]

com.rovio.angrybirds.apk

Thanks!

After installing the su binaries last night (which was WHY superuser wasn't working!), I thought I noticed that my Quadrant score increased from 850's to 950's. Does that make sense?

My main method of transferring apk's from the Droid is to first make a backup of everything with Astro. But for some reason, it seems like some of the apps don't show up in the backup folder (I realize many have names with no resemblance to the app). I wonder why I couldn't find Angry Birds...or SetCPU...or a few others. Guess I'll hook up the Droid with ADB and do some exploring.

-Matt

 

[rico2001]

Thanks!

After installing the su binaries last night (which was WHY superuser wasn't working!), I thought I noticed that my Quadrant score increased from 850's to 950's. Does that make sense?

My main method of transferring apk's from the Droid is to first make a backup of everything with Astro. But for some reason, it seems like some of the apps don't show up in the backup folder (I realize many have names with no resemblance to the app). I wonder why I couldn't find Angry Birds...or SetCPU...or a few others. Guess I'll hook up the Droid with ADB and do some exploring.

-Matt

SU only gives you the permission to run and change certain apps and system files but doesn’t have anything to do with performance. Opening and running Quadrant doesn’t require SU permission and if you open up SU, you will see Quadrant is not an app on its list. Not sure why you are not seeing all of your apk files from your phone but any app’s apk file is easy to find on the net.

I need to find a Youtube apk next.

 

[gadgetrants]

Of course you're right, which means the performance bump was a fluke. But since I'm returning to stock and then rooting again today, I'll try to check more systematically.

Regarding downloading apk's that's what I did with the Pandigital Novel. But I also discovered that I'm very sloppy and didn't take good notes! After a few iterations of wipe/install I totally lost track (thank god for the Market!). Trying to be more organized with the NC!

-Matt

 

[rico2001]

Are you installing the Market, (vending.apk) to your NC? I'm cautious at this early stage of the NC and going to stick to side loading. Also I'm only installing confirmed working apps; keeping it simple and slow.

 

[gadgetrants]

Are you installing the Market, (vending.apk) to your NC? I'm cautious at this early stage of the NC and going to stick to side loading. Also I'm only installing confirmed working apps; keeping it simple and slow.

Nonnonono...sorry for the misunderstanding. I meant for my Droid. In particular, the automatic update feature makes life a lot simpler. I also rely heavily on Appbrain, which seems to run fine on the NC. But of course when you try to open the Market from Appbrain (on the NC)...no joy.

FYI, I think we're in a similar place. Like I noted, I'm returning to stock today so that I'm 100% comfortable with the process of going back and forth (there were a few bumps on the first attempt). The only issue I haven't decided on yet is how to deal with apps where the NC soft "menu" button is not available (e.g., our beloved Angry Birds). I noticed you installed a task killer...I'm using SystemPanel Lite to see if there are any tasks that seem to misbehave in the background (since many have no means of exiting). I'd normally let the Android memory manager take care of things, but I understand that 2.2 is quite a bit better at it than 2.1.

-Matt

 

[rico2001]

IMO 2.2 is actually worst than 2.1 for memory management and having ATK is even more important when running 2.2. Android 2.2 does allow the use of 512 mb of ram (2.1 only allowing 256mb) but has a nasty bad habit of allowing many apps to open and run in the background. Even after you kill them, they pop right back up. So much so, I have my ATK set to "crazy" and a auto kill frequency of every half hour.

Have you tried to install an app from your sd card using Asto or ES file explorer?

 

[gadgetrants]

IMO 2.2 is actually worst than 2.1 for memory management and having ATK is even more important when running 2.2. Android 2.2 does allow the use of 512 mb of ram (2.1 only allowing 256mb) but has a nasty bad habit of allowing many apps to open and run in the background. Even after you kill them, they pop right back up. So much so, I have my ATK set to "crazy" and a auto kill frequency of every half hour.

Have you tried to install an app from your sd card using Asto or ES file explorer?

Don't know if you've had a chance to view the thread below, but it includes some Google video tutorials that gave me a much better understanding of how Android manages memory. It also explains why apps reappear after you kill them. If you have some time, I'd encourage you to check it out:

Task Killers... The Answer from Google & Developers. - Droid Forum - Verizon Droid & the Motorola Droid Forum



I'm sorry if this is old info for you...my sense is that your belt color is a few notches above mine!

Regarding Astro, installation of apps works beautifully. So others can follow our trail, I'm pasting below the link for how to enable installation via file manager:

NookColor Enable App install from on-device installers - nookDevs

Oh, btw I located SetCPU and installed. Stock kernel fixes the clockspeeds at 300, 600, and 800 MHz. Clever me, I thought "I'll overclock" and of course I couldn't without a new kernel!!! I bet we'll have one by January:

NookColor: Build the Original Kernel - nookDevs

For the record, I really, really, really love this beast. Wonderful touchscreen. It sucks that BJ's is now listing the Elocity A7 for $299 (jerks), but after taking a closer look at the specs (e.g., screen resolution) and the uncertainty of a no-name vendor, I'm sticking with the NC.

eLocity 7" Android Internet Tablet with NVIDIA Tegra 2 Dual Core CPU, 512MB DDR2 - Black - BJ's Wholesale Club

Oh wait, it's showing OOS. Nevermind.

-Matt

 

[rico2001]

No, I’m no android expert. Just a guy who’s flashed a rom or two. My knowledge is in PC and windows, and I’ve only been messing with Android for the past 8 months. (2.1 & 2.2)

You seem to be way ahead of me with the NC, and have been all over the Nook dev site. Reason I asked about Astro is after the commands from the dev site, I’m still unable to install apks from Astro. The apks are fine b/c I’m able to side load them without issue. I’ve been on Appbrain but never downloaded any apps from them. Mainly, I stick to the market or xda.

Thanks for the video post, looks interesting. I’ll have to take a look at the video later since I don’t have the time here at work.

That eLocity looks pretty nice, although I’d still take the NC over it. Our screen is a good bit better and we will ultimately have a better development future than that device.

 

[gadgetrants]

Reason I asked about Astro is after the commands from the dev site, I’m still unable to install apks from Astro. The apks are fine b/c I’m able to side load them without issue. I’ve been on Appbrain but never downloaded any apps from them. Mainly, I stick to the market or xda.

Can you describe what happens when you try to install with Astro? I haven't had a chance to wipe and re-root today, but I can take some screen shots of the mod that permits it.

-Matt