Thoughts on NOOKcolor after purchase

[Dizmatic]

Hi all, this is my first post here although I've been visiting now and then for a while.

My story: I first purchased a 3g and loved it; this was just before the NC was introduced.
Reading is why I bought it and when my son told me about the NC I think I said something
like "that's ridiculous, why would I want that."

But as a few days past, there was this little voice in my head that kept nagging me to go
look at it. You, the reader, might remember this little voice from your early cartoon days.
He's the little guy on your shoulder with the horns, pointed tail, and pitchfork that always
got you in trouble.

Well, I did go look at it but I still wasn't convinced I needed it. But with time, and Christmas around the corner, I told my wife if she wanted to, I would like one. My son
was gloating now.

Fast forward a bit and my son tells me I can hack it and have some fun...yep, you
guessed it. "Why on earth would I want to screw up my new Nook!"

Enter the little guy on the shoulder again!

I swore I would never root my nook, but that little SOB on my shoulder would not leave
me alone. I read all the stuff I could find and decided to try it. Yes, I am rooted and
loving it.

Good: Everything.
Bad: My son often reminds me of my oath.

Great story. Giving in to temptation and it wasn't even sinful.

 

[evoNC]

I was one of the few people who wanted a tablet in my group of friends. I was sort of a anti-tablet/e-reader person. I thought I didnt need another gadget since I'm always with my smartphone or near a notebook anyway. Plus, I didn't want to pay hundreds of dollars for something that [sort of] duplicated the functionality of my existing technology. That is, until a month ago (before Christmas). Me and my girlfriend walked into a B&N to look for Networking/Linux books (both of us are system admins in training). After about half an hour of reading a few books, we decide to head out. I see the Nook station and (without warning) the light up there turns on. I thought, "Wouldn't it be great to NOT have to carry around so many books while working?" We stopped at the station and were amazed with size, price and flexibility. We especially like the read-aloud books since we have many nieces and nephews to read too.

The deciding factor was the fact that its rootable, but now I doubt I'll root for another month. I'll have fun just reading from this thing.

So after scouring the net for deals (I'm that cheap), I decided to buy using my Amex because of the cash back offer for BN.com. Now, I have to wait another 2 weeks before it gets here! I seriously can't wait. I already have 14 books in my BN.com account, 13 of which were part of the Kaplan deal that ended few days ago.

 

[rico2001]

I'm with you evoNC; just brought the Nookcolor to play with and have another device for android development. Turns out I actually find myself using it more than my phone these days. Go figure.

 

[evoNC]

^ Now I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to use the NC more than my notebook. I figure I can bring my phone and the NC to study at a cafe and have the NC tether wirelessly to the phone. I'll have all my books and podcasts on the NC. I'll have to think of a way to record my thoughts on the material I read/listen.

 

[gadgetrants]

^ Funny, I just learned that I can use Connectify to tether the Nook to my notebook's WAN...so now I can use my Nook as a remote control while I'm lecturing!

-Matt

 

[evoNC]

I'll definitely look into that.

 

[gadgetrants]

Did I say "WAN"??? I meant to say wifi! The point is that when I'm in the lecture hall, my notebook already has wifi (with VPN) and ethernet. Can't get either on the Nook, so Connectify allows the notebook to broadcast and share its signal.

-Matt

 

[markiej]

The point is that when I'm in the lecture hall, my notebook already has wifi (with VPN) and ethernet. Can't get either on the Nook, so Connectify allows the notebook to broadcast and share its signal.

So, do you "remote desktop" to your laptop and control the presentation?

I assume you encrypt/secure your Connectify access point with WPA. Be sure to check the IT website at your org, so you get a sense of which rules you may be breaking, and what your retort might be if approached by IT.

My company has very strict policies, though I don't think they look for stray access points. But if they ever asked me questions I'd be like "Look, I secure it with industry standard WPA, and only allow this one device to connect, which increases my productivity". Which is mostly true, though I only really use it so I can browse around and amuse myself while my laptop's full screen is occupied in some process or other.

 

[gadgetrants]

So, do you "remote desktop" to your laptop and control the presentation?

I assume you encrypt/secure your Connectify access point with WPA. Be sure to check the IT website at your org, so you get a sense of which rules you may be breaking, and what your retort might be if approached by IT.

My company has very strict policies, though I don't think they look for stray access points. But if they ever asked me questions I'd be like "Look, I secure it with industry standard WPA, and only allow this one device to connect, which increases my productivity". Which is mostly true, though I only really use it so I can browse around and amuse myself while my laptop's full screen is occupied in some process or other.

Ah, I was hoping you'd chime in!

I haven't tried it yet while teaching...just proof of concept in my office with laptop and Droid. I'm using androidVNC as the client on the phone...you've got me excited, guess I'll install on the Nook today and see how it performs.

But yep, using WPA. No worries about IT though...it's a state university, and our budget is stretched so thin I wonder if there are more than 2 people on staff right now. They've done a good job eliminating personal routers and hubs in the dorms, but the rest of campus is still pretty much the wild west. The exception to the rule--which intrigues me--is instead of an open wifi network, we have one that not only requires a campus username and password, but also VPN. I've seen other campuses with open networks, but ours is pretty well managed.

-Matt

 

[rico2001]

Any new NC owners what to chime in?

 

[faceman]

reserved for comment (i will have to read and catch up first)

 

[caulktel]

I love mine now that all the CWR problems are over. I bought a Coby Kyros MID7015 a couple of weeks ago and was totally disappointed with that, so I sent it back and bought the NC, man what a difference, about a $100.00 better, but worth every penny of it. I would like to get more comfortable with rooting as I know I will be doing it again someday. All in all, a great device that I will enjoy a long time. Do look forward to 2.2 running on it though.

 

[rico2001]

I love mine now that all the CWR problems are over. I bought a Coby Kyros MID7015 a couple of weeks ago and was totally disappointed with that, so I sent it back and bought the NC, man what a difference, about a $100.00 better, but worth every penny of it. I would like to get more comfortable with rooting as I know I will be doing it again someday. All in all, a great device that I will enjoy a long time. Do look forward to 2.2 running on it though.

Very cool caulktel, glad you got your NC worked out and hopefully either CWR revisions will smooth the bugs out to run happily with all autonooters and NC users in general as well. Sit tight, 2.2 is right around the corners. As many owners discover, everyday you will find yourself using the NC more and more.