WOHOO! Nook color finally being updated to Android!

[fightinkraut]

Although the wiki guide is pretty good, I'd suggest taking a look here as well, last night I decided to jump ship 100% and install to the NC instead of an SD card, very pleased with results, overclocking very stable! The linked guide is more in depth than the wiki guide IMO.

Good luck with whatever route you choose!

Also, for a case that doesn't cover speaker, check out Otterbox, it's what I'm looking at.

 

[darien87]

Although the wiki guide is pretty good, I'd suggest taking a look here as well, last night I decided to jump ship 100% and install to the NC instead of an SD card, very pleased with results, overclocking very stable! The linked guide is more in depth than the wiki guide IMO.

Good luck with whatever route you choose!

Also, for a case that doesn't cover speaker, check out Otterbox, it's what I'm looking at.

Last night I downloaded the CyanogenMod 7 zip file and the Google Apps file. I tried to download the Titanium backup program but it told me that I couldn't because I didn't have an Android phone attached to my Google account. So now I can't even download the program because I don't have a phone??? Lame.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Last night I downloaded the CyanogenMod 7 zip file and the Google Apps file. I tried to download the Titanium backup program but it told me that I couldn't because I didn't have an Android phone attached to my Google account. So now I can't even download the program because I don't have a phone??? Lame.

you don't need phone, you need google account - aka Gmail

 

[darien87]

you don't need phone, you need google account - aka Gmail

I thought I had but I guess I didn't fully complete the set up process. The fact that I am having all these issues and I haven't even tried to root the thing shows me that this is not the task for me. Guess I'll be contacting Krzy.

 

[darien87]

Also, for a case that doesn't cover speaker, check out Otterbox, it's what I'm looking at.

That's a cool case, but I'm looking for something leather with a flap that opens and closes.

 

[fightinkraut]

That's a cool case, but I'm looking for something leather with a flap that opens and closes.

Gotcha...check out this, says it has "A small recess has been engineered into the lining of the back panel to enhance the sound of the NOOKcolor's speaker".

 

[darien87]

Got it rooted with Gingerbread. Now I just gotta figure out what all these buttons do.

I have no knowledge of Android, but it seems pretty sweet so far. The guy that did the root for me seemed pretty impressed.

 

[krzywica]

Got it rooted with Gingerbread. Now I just gotta figure out what all these buttons do.

I have no knowledge of Android, but it seems pretty sweet so far. The guy that did the root for me seemed pretty impressed.

Glad to hear your got it sorted. But just so you know there's Android, then there's Cyanogenmod, its a whole nother level of Android.

 

[krzywica]

Also I just did a dump of all my apps and thought you might find it useful to see what I use...

adbWireless
AdFree
Adobe Flash Player 10.2
Aldiko
Angry Birds
Angry Birds Rio
Appstore
BLUE BIONIC
Bluetooth GPS
BobClockD3
Button Savior
Chrome to Phone
Droid-Life IRC
Dropbox
eFile
Facebook
File Expert
Firefox
FPse
Fruit Ninja
GameBoid
Gensoid
Gmail
Gmote
Google Voice
GPS Test
GPS Test
GuerrillaBob
Gun Bros
Hextacy Lite
Honeybread
LCDDensity
Linpack for Android
Maps
Movies
N64oid
Nesoid
Newegg
nook
OfficeSuite
OreoSlice Wallpapers
Photobucket
Pyxidis
Quadrant Standard
RockPlayer Lite
Rom Manager Janitor
ROM Manager Premium License
ShareMyApps
Skype
SNesoid
Subsonic
Task Manager
Tiger Arcade
Video Player J
WiimoteController
Wordsmith Free
X Construct
XBMC Remote
YouTube

Other tweaks that I would do right away is change some launcher options for ADW. Options->ADW Settings->UI Settings->Main Dock Style Change this to "5 Icons", and from the same screen go to "AB Size" and set to the max of 10. Android will take a while to get used to....

The other thing I would do right away is set the CPU speed to 925, it makes the OS run a bit snappier.

There are obviously many, many other ins and outs, but hopefully you will learn them over time.

Oh BUTTON SAVIOR!! Almost forgot...make sure you grab that from the market right away!

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Also I just did a dump

I just did a dump too. It felt much better afterward. Darn, that Indian cuisine is spicy !

Thou I'm sure you'd find anything useful there....

 

[krzywica]

I just did a dump too. It felt much better afterward. Darn, that Indian cuisine is spicy !

Thou I'm sure you'd find anything useful there....

Lol.....I know I typed that out and for some reason hit "Submit Reply" before finishing typing the rest of my info.....ahhh....TGIF!

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Lol.....I know I typed that out and for some reason hit "Submit Reply" before finishing typing the rest of my info.....ahhh....TGIF!

Amen, TGIF !

 

[darien87]

Well I'm already screwing things up.

When I first got the nook back the home screen had the launcher icon in the middle, (the square with the little boxes in it). Well somehow I deleted that icon, because it was replaced with a star and I couldn't find my apps. I somehow stumbled across swiping across that star and it brought up the launcher icon. So I ended up longpressing each of the apps and it put an icon on the desktop so I made an App folder on the desktop and dragged them all there. Probably a round-about and clunky way to do it but it worked.

I downloade Angry Birds and Frogger last night. There are SO MANY apps in the market it's crazy!

I downloaded Windows Media Player and some videos from my computer, but it won't play them. It said to use a video converter to change the video files to MP4 but I haven't found a free one yet.

What does "Button Savior" do?

 

[KEW]

Well, I am obviously a Luddite among you, but I did do my homework on finding a great case I can recommend!

http://www.javoedge.com/reflexeshop/productCatalog/viewByBrandModel.do?brandId=63&modelId=1026&category=1001

Personally, I think the "tweed" case is the best, as the spine of the fabric case tends to show wear after a bit of use (though, I'm sure the "leather?" reinforcement will show wear in time).

These provide a perfect fit with a cut out for the speaker. The spine is not stiff, so the cover folds flat against the back for easy one handed holding while reading. They are much better than what B&N had. You can find them with reviews to read on Amazon (but the tweed case is out of stock at Amazon, which is why I linked to the Javoedge direct site).

Although people seem very happy with them, I did not really look at the flip style cases - I did not like the idea of having the fold out support in the way of having a flat back/bottom.

 

[darien87]

Pretty cool looking cases, though $35 is a bit steep IMO. I have also discovered that I don't like cases that have the leather strip that goes all around the edges of the Nook. There have been quite a few times that I have needed to press a button that is on the very edge of the screen and the case edge actually gets in the way of that.

So the case I am looking for is getting harder and harder to find. It needs to only hold the Nook from the corners or from the bottom and the upper corners and it needs to not cover the speaker. Something like this...

This one still covers the speaker, but it holds the Nook the way that I want.

I found a couple on eBay that were about $15. I'll give them a try and see how they work out.

 

[KEW]

Pretty cool looking cases, though $35 is a bit steep IMO. I have also discovered that I don't like cases that have the leather strip that goes all around the edges of the Nook. There have been quite a few times that I have needed to press a button that is on the very edge of the screen and the case edge actually gets in the way of that.

That is a valid concern. I had problems when I first got the case and have learned just how to hit those spots at the edge (crossword puzzle is a good example). I had adapted and forgotten!

FWIW, the speaker slot looks like it was done by gluing the cover material to the hardboard underneath then cutting the slot.

If you get a leather or faux leather cover, you can probably get a decent looking "sound port" by punching a row of holes using one of these, glue it down, clamp together with wax paper over the clamp surfaces, then clean up the squeeze out (glue) with a xacto knife.

http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/CTGY/hollow-punch

 

[darien87]

If you get a leather or faux leather cover, you can probably get a decent looking "sound port" by punching a row of holes using one of these, glue it down, clamp together with wax paper over the clamp surfaces, then clean up the squeeze out (glue) with a xacto knife.

http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/CTGY/hollow-punch

That's a pretty fancy solution. I was just going to cut a hole in the back of my case with a knife.

 

[KEW]

That's a pretty fancy solution. I was just going to cut a hole in the back of my case with a knife.

I'm what you might call "anal" that way.

A cool effect might be to pop a 22 caliber hole back there (if you are a good shot)! That would certainly save some time.

 

[krzywica]

Well I'm already screwing things up.

When I first got the nook back the home screen had the launcher icon in the middle, (the square with the little boxes in it). Well somehow I deleted that icon, because it was replaced with a star and I couldn't find my apps. I somehow stumbled across swiping across that star and it brought up the launcher icon. So I ended up longpressing each of the apps and it put an icon on the desktop so I made an App folder on the desktop and dragged them all there. Probably a round-about and clunky way to do it but it worked.

To fix this you need to follow these instructions...I don't have my nook with me so you may have to transpose these a bit...
Long press on a blank area of the desktop->Create Custom shortcut->Launcher Action->App Launcher-> then drag that onto the place where the launcher is supposed to be. Also I usually disable the dockbar in ADW.

I downloade Angry Birds and Frogger last night. There are SO MANY apps in the market it's crazy!

I downloaded Windows Media Player and some videos from my computer, but it won't play them. It said to use a video converter to change the video files to MP4 but I haven't found a free one yet.

A good free encoder is Handbrake. Only thing you need to do is Import the profile that I attached to this post, and go into settings and disable the option for "save files to iphone/ipod compatible format".

What does "Button Savior" do?

Button savior is a persistent icon that stays on all the time for situations that you want to use the back, menu, ect buttons that are not installed on a device like the nook color, this would be for a situation where a full screen app is running and you cannot get to the control bar built into the OS. Just download it and try it out and you will see what I mean, its free anyway.

 

[darien87]

Button savior is a persistent icon that stays on all the time for situations that you want to use the back, menu, ect buttons that are not installed on a device like the nook color, this would be for a situation where a full screen app is running and you cannot get to the control bar built into the OS. Just download it and try it out and you will see what I mean, its free anyway.

I think I finally figured that out. I kept wondering what that tiny arrow at the right edge of the screen was. I must have finally pressed it once because then I got all those icons on the right for home, power button, etc.

What do you use for an app killer? I've noticed that there a lot of things running in the background that I don't need. Also is there a way to delete the phone apps? I'm never going to make a call from this thing and when I look at battery usage, by far the app that is using the most power is phone idle.

I watched a video tutorial for Launcher Pro that looked pretty cool. What do you think of that app?

That's the biggest issue I have with this thing, I have NO idea what most of the settings do. But so far it's awesome as an e-reader, browser and Angry Bird playing machine.