By The NOOKcolor was rooted not long after it got into the hands of eager developers and hackers, turning the eReader into more of a tablet than you probably thought it could be. Now the whole thing has gone a step beyond simple root, as a build of Android 2.2 (Froyo) has been compiled to run on the Barnes & Noble device.
The process isn’t for the faint of heart, but after compiling your own build of Froyo and shutting off the battery heat monitor, you too can be running a Wi-Fi-less, Bluetooth-less, and a lot of other-less version of Android 2.2. See the source link for instructions, but be warned you may net yourself a $250 paperweight.
[James Vincent via AndroidCommunity]
nice actually played with one, was very user friendly, and right out of the box ready to play with. oh btw first!
One it gets one click root/froyo install and wifi working, I might buy one.
Things seem to take a while to load (especially noticable when sliding to unlock took a couple seconds). That said, this can still be a nice budget tablet which would probably do just fine for web browsing and light app use.
Hey. My name is Jesse Vincent, not James Vincent. I’d love it if you guys could fix the article text. (And that video isn’t mine.)
The device is actually gorgeous hardware. TI publishes drivers for everything we could possibly want. (WiFi, hardware accelerated audio and video codecs, and quite possibly bluetooth and an FM radio according to someone who’s been poring over spec sheets.)
The fact that I haven’t been Awesome and dealt with all that before telling people how to get started shouldn’t be taken to suggest that it can’t be done. It just hasn’t been done _yet_.
I mean, c’mon, I’ve only had the hardware since Wednesday night.
Jesse – much Kudos and thanks. This one is high up on my list for an Xmas purchase…
I read in the local paper today that the Nookcolor will officially get upgraded to Froyo in the near future, and you’ll have access to the standard Android desktop (as well as the marketplace) with this release.
tom the market place isnt true… they are making there own not giving you standard market. So who knows what that entails