Thoughts on NOOKcolor after purchase

[gintn]

I've had my Nook Color since the first day they were officially on sale. It has worked well and has more than met my expectations, one being that it is much faster at home than in the store which is apparently because the stores' routers are over-loaded. I am looking forward to the Android 2.2 up date and hope that the updated operating system gives us access to apps for Gmail and other useful sites! These apps will make reading email much easier and lessen the manual effort required. I'm too blond to root the machine and will have to use it like it is. Does anyone know when the official update to the operating system is scheduled?

Does anyone have any thoughts on their NC purchase now that it's almost mid January and new devices have come out. Any buyers remorse? Praise or disappointment? Any features you really like or still wish the NC had?

Myself, I'm still happy with my purchase and the NC has turned out the be more than I thought it was. I would have to say, I was hoping for a working bluetooth for all by now but patience is a virtue. Most apps are working more than fine and the big issue of softkeys has been resolved.

So far most problems, if any, can be fixed fairly quickly, thanks to the long history of Android and forums and people that have been working with it. I have no issues with build quality; my NC is solid and I'm still on my first one.

I still don't really see another tablet out there for the money that beats the NC. With Clockwork recovery working better now, it won't be long we can look past the B&N software and run full 2.2 or the upcoming 2.3 Honeycomb.

 

[darmeen]

... hope that B&N give us apps for Gmail and other useful sites! These apps will make reading email much easier and lessen the manual effort required.

You do realize you can get Gmail and pretty much the entire android market right now?

 

[rico2001]

What a great thread! I love positive energy, and this forum has had a lot in the last 30 days. Maybe the biggest surprise has been meeting so many wonderful, gracious, and funny Nook owners.

Where can I start??? Like many other owners here, I bought it as a XMAS present for my wife so she could have a new eReader with a few extra goodies like email and web access. But HEY on the way to learning more about it, I discovered it ran Android 2.1 under the hood, and could easily be rooted. The moment I ran Zeam on the Nook, I knew I was hooked (nooked?...ack, terrible pun!).

The bad is that it's spent far more time in my hands than in my wife's. Put quite a strain on our marriage! I've also returned two now, with admittedly not-huge hardware issues. But BestBuy has been OK about it, and hopefully we'll have our third and final unit soon.

The good...ah, I'd need a week for that. Let me try and explain it this way (doctoral dissertation begins here!): it just FEELS awesome. I'm a (rooted) Droid owner, and though I haven't handled a half-dozen Android devices, I feel like I know the user interface well, as well as the rooting process and how to modify system apps. And so this is a strange way of saying it but I think the NookColor wants to be a full-blown Android tablet! It just enjoys running apps...it switches screens and moves between windows so smoothly. Everything just looks so gorgeous on it. I am all but certain that Froyo will push us over the edge into the valley of ecstasy. Or maybe I should say ecstatic-ownership.

There's speculation on xda that B&N is selling the NookColor at a razor-thin margin, in order to hook users with beautiful hardware and then sell them digital content. If so, I think they messed up in the same sense that Motorola "messed up" the original Droid: they created a fabulous product that easily reaches beyond its original design intent (I do lots of things with the Droid that neither Motorola nor Verizon anticipated). I have no plans to use the NookColor as B&N intended...I hope to go far, far beyond what they expected the typical user to do. And that makes it very near and dear to me.

OK, 'nuff said.

-Matt

Well said Matt.

I've had my Nook Color since the first day they were officially on sale. It has worked well and has more than met my expectations, one being that it is much faster at home than in the store which is apparently because the stores' routers are over-loaded. I am looking forward to the Android 2.2 up date and hope that the updated operating system gives us access to apps for Gmail and other useful sites! These apps will make reading email much easier and lessen the manual effort required. I'm too blond to root the machine and will have to use it like it is. Does anyone know when the official update to the operating system is scheduled?

Rumor for now: Update 1.1 which will be more bug fixes, possible modified app market, and more development freedom is said to be released this month and and update to Android 2.2 sometime in March. (Hopefully will be sooner)

You do realize you can get Gmail and pretty much the entire android market right now?

She is not rooted, and sounds like she doesn't plan to.

 

[thel8elvis]

I guess I'll be the outlier, here.

First, let me say, for the cost - NC is well built and nicely designed. Spec-wise, it will be difficult for low-end tablets to beat for a while - very nice IPS capacitive screen and 512 MB of ram, CPU and GPU are decent, accelerometer works well, and battery life is reasonable.

All that being said - I have two (very) subjective issues that will in all likelihood lead to me returning the NC shortly. (keep in mind also - this is for NC as a *tablet*, not as an BN ereader - I think most people here are not just using it for an ereader

1) Screen size - As I said - very nice screen - but I have learned I don't care for the 7" screen. I put up with a small screen on the phone - because - well - it's a phone. It fits in my pocket, it makes calls. It's good for light surfing when I have no other options. 7" is still a bit small for comfortable surfing, and doesn't really fit in my pocket. I find myself trying to use it - but when I am sitting on the couch surfing - I reach for the ipad, not the NC. (There, OMG , I said it ! Yes, I own apple products. I realize many of you may stop reading at this point, having jumped to certain conclusions )

2) Android - (dons flame-proof suit) - I enjoy tinkering/hacking/problem solving. I have all kinds of modded nonsense, and things re-purposed to do other things. But android just isn't doing it for me. It still feels disjointed and cobbled together (to me). It's turned into as much fun as continually tinkering with linux to make it work right - and it the end of the day, it's still only 95% of the way there. Things like lack of system-wide proxy support, and the best kludge out there is to run a transparent proxy locally (on systems that have iptables in the kernel).Where is my system wide copy and paste ??? I understand I didn't buy an android tablet - but aside from the lack of 3 more buttons, I kinda did. And did I mention - this is me subjectively not being thrilled with android more than anything to do with the NC , per se.

So yeah, I have a little buyers remorse that a smaller tablet and the current state of android aren't quite what I would like them to be. I have no doubt I will be in the minority, and I'm not NOT looking for a flame war on the android -vs- anything else, but I thought I would try to take a little time to express my thoughts on the matter.

I think most everyone will be happy with their NC, from a cost and functionality perspective, and here and XDA there are a lot very helpful and bright people to keep the updates and cool tricks coming. Just not sure it's the thing for me right now :-(

 

[rico2001]

@thel8elvis

Funny read and I did get through it. Sounds like Android devices are not your cup of tea. Perhaps the NC is not for you and a return would be warranted.

 

[AnimaTechnica]

i started with a Droid phone, then a Haipad Tablet and now with a rooted NC and never looked back - like others my intent was email, a little news reading but soon it became my constant companion, i peruse the news, watch youtube, listen to music read magazines (pulse is a godsend) and of course books. I am now contemplating downgrading my phone to a phone - yes imagine that, back to a simple device that makes phone calls - i have a mifi from verizon and i can have access anywhere and have a pleasurable experience reading email, news on a bigger screen. The size if perfect, not obstrusive as i can carry it like a pocket book - so not only no regrets, looking to get another one for my wife

 

[gadgetrants]

@thel8elvis: the good news is that we have a friendly community, so no worries about being critical. I'm sure--like many of us--you've taken serious heat for being honest on other forums, but I haven't witnessed that kind of venom here. Hopefully it won't happen anytime soon.

I agree 100% with your concerns. The comparison to tinkering with linux is an especially good one. I really wish I knew why those issues become a burden to one user, but not to another. I know in my case I voiced similar complaints about the Pandigital Novel, so maybe having experience with other devices is a part of how our expectations and preferences get set. In other words, I've NEVER owned a product that JUST WORKED (that's code for "never owned an Apple product") so when I buy a device, I pretty much price in the time and effort it will take to get it working the way I want.

As I've started to read more on a tablet screen, I've also wondered what a 10" device will feel like. Who knows...I might love a 10" tablet, or I might feel like 7" or 8" is the sweet spot for me. I really can't predict yet. One thing I know for sure: for portability and productivity, give me my notebook. For media consumption, give me a tablet.

My primary concern, if you return the Nook, is that we'll lose you as a community member. You've been helpful and supportive and a generally pleasant person. I'd be sorry to see you move on to another forum. Whichever way you go, please keep us posted.

-Matt

 

[gadgetrants]

Well said Matt.

I tried and tried to be concise! Next time I'll cut my speech down to 3 paragraphs. If that doesn't work, every 4th word it is.

-Matt

 

[darmeen]

She is not rooted, and sounds like she doesn't plan to.

Oh I knew I should have added some sort of emoticon in that post...lol

and she deftly snuck in the 'too blonde to root' after I made my comment...

I also couldn't discount since it was her first post that perhaps she didn't know that such a thing as 'rooting' existed.

Well gintn, if you lived closer, I would help you find the true potential of your NC...and honestly, rooting isn't THAT hard, hell I did it with a Samsung Impression and a 1GB MicroSD card.

Anyway, glad your here.

 

[Stelv]

I am a now proud Nookie owner! Got it today and rooted it. We'll see how it goes. I imagine it will run great in the future as it is running like a champ right now! I have had a rooted droid 1 for a while now and it is great to finally have a rooted tablet too. This has got to be one of the better tabs on the market once rooted. It was even nice before rooting. I look forward to using this forum as a valuable resource as I do with droidforums for my phone. And yes I think this tab will hold strong in the future and has a lot to offer.

 

[thel8elvis]

I really wish I knew why those issues become a burden to one user, but not to another. I know in my case I voiced similar complaints about the Pandigital Novel, so maybe having experience with other devices is a part of how our expectations and preferences get set. In other words, I've NEVER owned a product that JUST WORKED (that's code for "never owned an Apple product") so when I buy a device, I pretty much price in the time and effort it will take to get it working the way I want.

Heh. I bought the PDN last month. Played with it for about a week before my youngest dropped it about 2 feet from the floor and the screen shattered. Of course, on the plus side, that gave me an excuse to buy a new android device

As I've started to read more on a tablet screen, I've also wondered what a 10" device will feel like. Who knows...I might love a 10" tablet, or I might feel like 7" or 8" is the sweet spot for me. I really can't predict yet. One thing I know for sure: for portability and productivity, give me my notebook. For media consumption, give me a tablet.

My primary concern, if you return the Nook, is that we'll lose you as a community member. You've been helpful and supportive and a generally pleasant person. I'd be sorry to see you move on to another forum. Whichever way you go, please keep us posted.

-Matt

Only generally pleasant ? You are so effusive, I guess most of the rest of us pale in comparison

As I said, I've no doubt the NC is going to have a good run - with a very active and helpful community. Even if/when I return it, I'll probably keep tabs (hehe I made a bad pun) on the state of the NC hacking.

 

[gadgetrants]

Only generally pleasant ? You are so effusive, I guess most of the rest of us pale in comparison

As I said, I've no doubt the NC is going to have a good run - with a very active and helpful community. Even if/when I return it, I'll probably keep tabs (hehe I made a bad pun) on the state of the NC hacking.

You know, I struggled for a while over that last choice of words. "Pleasant" is so...bland. I'm sorry I didn't throw my weight behind it, and really swing for the fences. If I get a chance I'll go back and try to pick something more vivid and concrete!

Sorry to hear about your PDN. I kept mine in high places where my youngest couldn't reach it...she's already spilled juice all over her netbook, but that managed to get salvaged.

Glad to hear you'll stop in from time to time! Please do tell us what you end up buying next.

-Matt

 

[Abb0nz]

...I'll probably keep tabs (hehe I made a bad pun)...

Yes it was a very bad pun... but still, I laughed so it was worth it

 

[SUPERMOM50]

My experience with the nookcolor: I bought one for the sole intention of trying it out and returning it before the time runs out, but find I too am on it more and more each day,.. If I didn't want flash for videos and movies I definately would keep it,.. it's a wonderful device to surf the net, do email and read books, play music,.. I even put my pics on as wallpapers. This is absolutely perfect for kids of any age, it reads books to the youngest readers until they can read themselves, but is flexible enough for older kids and teens. I put my computer ebooks on a micro sd card and import them into the nookcolor and can access all on there. As long as I don't do anything that needs 'flash' I'm good. But think about how nice it is to be in a recliner doing your usual pc stuff or email and going back to watching something on tv ... or taking time out no matter where you are, as long as you have a wifi spot-you're good to go. It's simple , easy and for the price you can't beat getting the color screen. I can read in the dark and won't wake anyone up too! or surf in the dark when I can't sleep!! lol If they don't come out with a comparable android tablet I'm going to keep the nookcolor. Yeah, I'll root it and get even more to do on it and enjoy it, but I also am waiting for a 10 inch screen as my eyes are lacking more and more as I get older and right now that's the only thing that holds me back. Hope this helps on your decisions thinking about the nookcolor.

 

[APHawki]

Bought a regular Nook wifi black and white with the idea that I was going to just use it to read. Actually my wife said that I should get the color cause that's what I am going to end up with anyways...didn't listen...bought the black and white and kept it for 4 days...liked it so much that I went and returned it, then headed right over to Barnes and Noble to pick up a Nook color...said that I wouldn't root it and would just wait for the update. Yeah that didn't really work out...ended up rooting...best decision ever! Went to Barnes and Noble and was looking at hard covers for my color and my wife said..."This is the one I am going to get when I get my Nook"...well long story short...I asked her if she would go and start the car to warm it up...picked up the cover she wanted and her new Nook color from behind the counter. So...do I like the Nook? Yep...very much!