Nook Color

TheIrishGrover

While on holiday in the US I bought myself one of these since I heard it was hacked. Nice piece of kit. It's got no GPS/webcam (Apparently there is bluetooth hardware that has not been activated... yet but not 100% sure on this) but it's a nice machine once hacked. (Dead easy hack). The video/media playback is fantastic and the 7in screen is great. Not the cheapest out there ($250) but the build quality's excellent and the battery life's great. It's rated at about 8-9 hours prehack. I haven't given it a full battery test but watching about 2 1/2 of movie playback, 1 hour browsing and 1/2 hour e-reading with the screen illumination on high and wi-fi on for about 2 1/2 hours I still had about 55% on the meter ('course I don't know how accurate the battery meter is)

00sully

what does the hack offer extra? Also what version of Android does it run on?

I'd say this would be the equivalent of the Archos 7i but it has a better screen resolution and more ram which makes it appealing to me (> pixel density while I have the eyes for it!)

how are the screen viewing angles? battery sounds good to me and also the price tbh

TheIrishGrover

Well the hack offers the full android marketplace etc. I mean obviously phone, GPS and video camera functions don't work on apps but other than that it's pretty much fully functional.
It's currently running 2.1 but there's a 2.2 and 2.3 hack in the works. The viewing angle is very good. About what you'd expect from a good quality LCD screen. Not sure exactly but I found it perfectly good while watcing video on a bus and, at times, having to tilt it away from direct sunlight. (Although I did find the screen was much more visible than, say, my phone, in direct sunlight)
Yeah, apart from the lack of GPS and webcam it would seem to be a decent equivalent. It's pretty bare on the ports front though. Only a micro USB for charging, headphone jack and microSD slot. No USB, HDMI etc.

00sully

cool thanks for that, can you access the barnes and noble book store or is it geo restricted? tried to buy an ebook from diesel books last night and couldn't

TheIrishGrover

00sully wrote: »

cool thanks for that, can you access the barnes and noble book store or is it geo restricted? tried to buy an ebook from diesel books last night and couldn't

I'm not sure but you can install Kindle from the marketplace and download books from Amazon.

spideog7

00sully wrote: »

can you access the barnes and noble book store or is it geo restricted?

It's restricted, you'll have to use a US IP address to order books directly from Barnes and Noble. Once they are on your account you can download them though, so you can buy them through a proxy or get a friend in the US to do it for you online then they'll automatically appear on your Nook regardless of the where it is.

00sully

hmmm well going through a proxy should be handy enough if I just want to spoof my IP address. will give this a bash at diesel books.

I see the amazon books are for sale only in the UK too - damn it! guess they don't want other regions buying books!?

cheers guys.

Chrizfitz

TheIrishGrover wrote: »

While on holiday in the US I bought myself one of these since I heard it was hacked.

How is it after 2 months, hows the battery? Im thinking of getting 1 as it seems perfect for what I need. Are you on 2.3 yet?

TheIrishGrover

Oh it's still a great machine. Great battery life. Takes a little bit of tweaking (I installed xeam and softkeys to control the device: back, home, menu etc) The video playback quality is fantastic and the viewing angle is great. Not too sure how it compares pricewise with tablets like the archos 7incher since it has no GPS or webcam. The batterylife still seems top notch.

It hasn't gone to 2.3 yet but that's due anyday now. (I may install 2.3 and then lash hack back on again. Can still use Flash video using the skyfire browser.