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Topic: Tablets

Barnes & Noble beefs up Nook Color's tablet status with more apps

Summary: Barnes & Noble continues to blur the line between e-book reader and tablet on the Nook Color with the addition of new third-party apps and interactive content.

Rachel King

By for Between the Lines |

Barnes & Noble continues to blur the line between e-book reader and tablet on the Nook Color with the addition of new third-party apps and interactive content.

Some of the better-known apps set to hit the Nook Color's 7-inch color touch screen come from Fandango, Evernote and Seesmic, the last one of which won't even be supported on BlackBerry OS much longer. And although Angry Birds is likely to reign supreme, there are some new casual gaming apps coming to Nook Apps, including that time old classic, Hangman.

Additionally, the Nook Color is already quite popular for its interactive books and content available for children, and the younger demographic will likely be delighted by upcoming interactive books based on Disney's Cars franchise as well as more from Dr. Seuss.

It's still questionable whether or not these new features can give Apple's iPad a run for its money. After all, the iPad is still the global tablet leader. But for consumers who only want a tablet for reading books and magazines with some app features available, the $249 price point is nearly unbeatable.

The Nook Color has been a big hit for B&N, expectedly or unexpectedly amongst female consumers, mainly for its aforementioned low price point and relatively good support for Android. Its status as a tablet continued to solidify with the upgrade to Android 2.2 (Froyo) and the launch of the Nook Apps store in April.

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13 comments
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  • "Amongst female customers"

    I bought a Nook Color for my wife several months ago and upgraded the OS. She says it's the best thing I ever bought her, and my kids love it as well. I like that the browser can be set for mobile or regular mode because she doesn't like the mobile Facebook interface.
    davidr69
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Barnes & Noble beefs up Nook Color's tablet status with more apps

    I am running Cyanogen Mod 7 and love it. It is a must have travel tool. I still use it to read books too!
    peter.goyer@...
    Reply Vote

  • Why would one want to buy a nook?

    The Nook Color is nothing more than an inexpensive tablet. Why would one want to buy a Nook Color other than price point? One can always download a nook app to a tablet and have a perfectly capable e-reader so the idea of the color nook being a unique device isn't valid. For the nook color to stay relevant, B&N needs to open up the device. Now, if they could produce a useable color e-ink display and a device with an uber-long battery life...
    ajrmd
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Barnes & Noble beefs up Nook Color's tablet status with more apps

      @ajrmd The Nook supports more file formats than does the Kindle. I am a true ABA--anything but apple

      FREE FRIDAYS
      d.j.elliott@...
      Reply Vote

  • Barnes & noble worthless tech support.

    The support at BN is right off outsourced, a group of third string hacks. Check the IPAD nook app. Epic failure!
    phillips.networks@...
    Reply Vote

  • Why are most Android apps restricted?

    I do ask other readers to educate me if I am being clueless.<br><br>It has Android 2.2. But it will only run apps approved by B&N. That can only occur if B&N purposely cripples its version of Android. I talked to B&N customer support, and I was told that even an app that I wrote for myself would not run on Nook unless I submitted it for their approval.<br><br>I think I should control what I run on a piece of hardware that I own. It is exactly this arrogant nanny mindset that has caused me to avoid all Apple products.
    mregets@...
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Barnes & Noble beefs up Nook Color's tablet status with more apps

      @mregets@...
      The main issue is probably that an unauthorized app could break the copy protection on the books and other content, share content with others wirelessly, and share malware wirelessly. Also, many apps need tweaking to run on the nook color to fit the screen size, lack of available buttons, low processor power etc.
      kevinrs1
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Barnes & Noble beefs up Nook Color's tablet status with more apps

      @mregets@...
      Install CyanogenMod on an SD card, and you will be "in control" (as much as anyone can be with Android - being a developer would help there). Running from the card does not alter the stock installation, so no risk to that. That makes it "full" Android.
      aroc
      Reply Vote

  • Genealogy applications

    If B&N adds genealogy apps like the one from Ancestry and Families for Android, we will need a second color Nook. The combination of book/magazine reader AND genealogy tools would be unbeatable for some of us in that customer population.
    cestrauss
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Barnes & Noble beefs up Nook Color's tablet status with more apps

    based on the first couple of comments I was going to investigate this reader with a view to purchasing one, however after seeing @mregets@... comments, this reader has been dropped from my list. Total manufacturer arrogance, that's like buying a car and being told when, where and under what conditions I could use it!! get a grip?
    ashmann
    Reply Vote

  • BN & NColor as a tablet - not

    The BN APPs are lame, NO ENG/HAM/technical/DWG viewer APPS. Most seem to be for kids not the technical/legal world - cannot open up more than one book/file at a time.

    Nooks Music OS will not allow playing by folder just one big play-list.

    I'm considering rooting my NookColor so it can be used as a tablet or I'll forget APPS and just use it for what it was intended one eBook reading at a time.

    But then another NColor issue - the battery design does not allow user battery swapping, then the charge plug is on the bottom so you cannot rest the Nook on your chest to read - NOT well thought-out design!
    Kuby
    Reply Vote

    • Some solutions

      @Kuby BN does limit things a lot - so change it!
      Get a micro SD card (because of random write speeds, stick with a class 4 Sandisk. More info on why can be found on the xda-developers nook color forums).
      Install Cyanogen mod7 and google apps on the card. Boot and enjoy full android 2.3.4. With Google Market, and you can access Amazons market as well (with the free paid app of the day). So you can choose your ereader and music player. And since it is running off the sd card, the original Nookcolor system remains untouched, and can be accessed just by rebooting without the card installed.
      Cyanogen mod has a setting that allows you to use the device upside-down - so the power plug is at the top. :)
      So, for the cost of an microsd card (cheap!) you can have a pretty capable little tablet.

      The directions for installing CM7 are here (along with a link to the other forum post on why you should use Sandisk class 4 cards):
      http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1000957

      It really is quite simple to do. Summary of steps:
      1. write a boot image to the card (using a pc)
      2. copy CM7 file to the boot area
      3. insert card and start up Nookcolor
      4. turn on wifi and connect, then shut down
      5. copy google apps file to boot area (using a pc)
      6. insert card and start up the Nookcolor, then reboot into recovery mode (this allows the system to install packages in the boot directory)
      7. sign on to google apps.

      You're good to go! And for a bonus, you can easily install an overclocked kernal as well. (search the forum for dalingrin cm7). Again, just a matter of copying the package to the boot directory in a pc and then starting up and using the reboot into recovery mode to have it install.

      Works like a charm for me. :)
      tkeller@...
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Barnes & Noble beefs up Nook Color's tablet status with more apps

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    talih
    Reply Vote
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