Database Develop

[Q] In the military looking at getting NC

Hello everyone, I have recently enlisted in the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman and I ship out in a few months. I have been looking at buying a e-reader for sometime now because I have recently become a big bookworm. I love to read, something I never did earlier in my life until now. From what I have heard from people in the Navy you need to have at least one of 3 things when deployed at sea. Either be a people person, love music, or love books. The aspect of having a e-reader seems great because you only get a small space in your berthing racks for personal items. Having a small device that can hold LOTS of books is great. I am also a very big android fan. I had the original grandfather of android devices the T-mobile G1 (rooted with CM 6.1) and now a T-mobile G2 (rooted with Vitourious) . So i been trying to do my research before buying one. I have a few questions that I haven't been able to find CLEAR answers for.
1. I have been finding a mixed answers on battery life. How long will it last with say moderate reading?
2. Video play back? I read that it can and cant play back avi files and such.... i believe it needs to be rooted to do so? I would love to be able to watch movies on this that I can pre-load on sd cards and bring a nice library of movies with me.
3. In-store access with rooted NC, I read that yes you can get on, and that you cant. I have 6 months before I leave and have a BN store nearby, would like to access free content before I leave.
4. Will rooting the phone take away from any of the original e-reader functions? Will i still be able to buy BN books from the device? This will be mostly a e-reader that can be used for movies, music and photo viewing.
5. Not as important just thought of it, but are there any cases for the NC that hold extra sd cards? A small pocket that can be used for this?
Basically im looking to use this device almost as a laptop replacement. I will not be able to access any wifi networks on ship with a personal laptop or device. They provide Department of Defense computers to access your DOD email and and limited internet. I could possibly get wifi access in some ports but its not gonna be common. So if I can use the device to do the things I mentioned above and maybe some games IE angry birds, and take up a minimal space in my rack. This device for the price it is I don't think i can find something better. If you know of a device that could be better, such as a ipad (hate apple) or the galaxy tab, if its worth the upgrade in price let me know. But I want to use it as a E-reader first.
Thanks for any help.
Ben

1. I have been finding a mixed answers on battery life. How long will it last with say moderate reading?
I would guestimate about 6-8 hours of reading
2. Video play back? I read that it can and cant play back avi files and such.... i believe it needs to be rooted to do so? I would love to be able to watch movies on this that I can pre-load on sd cards and bring a nice library of movies with me.
Even rooted some videos are choppy. If you format the videos into one more suited for the NC, it'll play them very well. You could do this before you leave, but doubtful you'll be able to once you ship out. In 6 months time though, a lot can happen, likely a stable Froyo that will play most videos.
3. In-store access with rooted NC, I read that yes you can get on, and that you cant. I have 6 months before I leave and have a BN store nearby, would like to access free content before I leave.
There currently is no Android market on any nook color, rooted or not. You can side-load applications with a rooted one, but until someone gets the setup wizard working or a stock android version, you likely won't have the market. The guy at B&N told me that the Android market was going to be available in a future patch, sometime early next year, but take that with a grain of salt since it's from someone in a retail store.
Also, since you've already got an android phone, you can download applications from your phone and load them onto your NC, so it's almost the entire app store with just a little more hassle of moving them over. Of course, there are plenty of apps that don't work yet, but that should change with future modding
4. Will rooting the phone take away from any of the original e-reader functions? Will i still be able to buy BN books from the device? This will be mostly a e-reader that can be used for movies, music and photo viewing.
You still have access to the B&N app post-root, but even better you've got access to the Amazon Kindle app.
5. Not as important just thought of it, but are there any cases for the NC that hold extra sd cards? A small pocket that can be used for this?
No idea, might want to have a look around to see what's available. You can always glue an envelope of some kind to the inside of a case. The Micro SD cards are tiny, so you'll want to store them safely.
Basically im looking to use this device almost as a laptop replacement. I will not be able to access any wifi networks on ship with a personal laptop or device. They provide Department of Defense computers to access your DOD email and and limited internet. I could possibly get wifi access in some ports but its not gonna be common. So if I can use the device to do the things I mentioned above and maybe some games IE angry birds, and take up a minimal space in my rack. This device for the price it is I don't think i can find something better. If you know of a device that could be better, such as a ipad (hate apple) or the galaxy tab, if its worth the upgrade in price let me know. But I want to use it as a E-reader first.
It's far from a laptop replacement. With "hacking" anything you are at the mercy of the device if you don't have a computer to hook it up to if something goes wrong. The iPad is going to be much more stable, as well as have more apps made for it. Of course, it's 2-3 times the price. The Galaxy Tab is going to be the same thing I think. Since you've got time to wait, you might want to see where the modding goes with the NC. If a stock Froyo build comes out for it, it'll probably be the best tablet on the market for the price, with only some missing features of the Tab (that you likely wouldn't use anyway.

BKOben said:
Hello everyone, I have recently enlisted in the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman and I ship out in a few months.
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First of all, thank you. I'm a former Force Recon Marine and there are very few who are willing to follow a Recon Marine into battle - Corpsman being the first in line.
BKOben said:
I have been looking at buying a e-reader for sometime now because I have recently become a big bookworm. I love to read, something I never did earlier in my life until now. From what I have heard from people in the Navy you need to have at least one of 3 things when deployed at sea. Either be a people person, love music, or love books.
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When I was on float, it was eat, sleep and work out. Not much more. Depending on what boat you are on though, there are lots of opportunities if you avail yourself.
BKOben said:
The aspect of having a e-reader seems great because you only get a small space in your berthing racks for personal items. Having a small device that can hold LOTS of books is great. I am also a very big android fan.
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I've only had my NC for less than a week but, I can tell you that it's my favorite Android device to date. There are lots of things to keep you occupied during your down time. The NC and a small netbook (I use an eeePC running Ubuntu) take up less space than most laptops but the combination gives you all you need to tinker with the NC and Android in general.
BKOben said:
1. I have been finding a mixed answers on battery life. How long will it last with say moderate reading?
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I'm seeing 6-7 hrs and that includes wifi on, surfing, tinkering, playing games, etc. I would imagine that with the backlight turned down and reading in your rack, you can expect the same or more.
BKOben said:
2. Video play back? I read that it can and cant play back avi files and such.... i believe it needs to be rooted to do so? I would love to be able to watch movies on this that I can pre-load on sd cards and bring a nice library of movies with me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You simply have to make sure that the videos have video resolution that is compatible with the NC as well as audio that is compatible. There is a thread here on xda-devs that addresses the exact settings that have worked well for others. I've not run into any issues personally.
BKOben said:
3. In-store access with rooted NC, I read that yes you can get on, and that you cant. I have 6 months before I leave and have a BN store nearby, would like to access free content before I leave.
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My rooted NC worked fine with in-store features todayy.
BKOben said:
4. Will rooting the phone take away from any of the original e-reader functions? Will i still be able to buy BN books from the device? This will be mostly a e-reader that can be used for movies, music and photo viewing.
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Click to collapse
No. At least not the methods that are available today. Once custom ROMs roll, you'll need to make sure that you install the proprietary B&N Apks on top of the custom ROM since that proprietary SW can't be bundled into the ROMs. My currently rooted (original method) NC maintains all of the original features. Rooting it simply allowed me to unlock the capabilities of the hardware.
BKOben said:
5. Not as important just thought of it, but are there any cases for the NC that hold extra sd cards? A small pocket that can be used for this?
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There are a ton of cases for the NC available at B&N. The ones I looked at had "pockets" in them as well. Do you really anticipate reading several hundred books during a 6-month deployment on float? You can get enough storage to put several thousand books on for very cheap. Why carry multiple little SD's when you can simply use one large one?
BKOben said:
Basically im looking to use this device almost as a laptop replacement. I will not be able to access any wifi networks on ship with a personal laptop or device.
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Get a netbook as well as the Nook Color. You're gonna want a keyboard (a real one) at times. You can pick up an eeePC for very close to the same price as the Nook Color. For just over $500, you now have a netbook and a tablet. Your bases are covered.
BKOben said:
They provide Department of Defense computers to access your DOD email and and limited internet. I could possibly get wifi access in some ports but its not gonna be common.
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Don't count on internet access of any sort.
BKOben said:
So if I can use the device to do the things I mentioned above and maybe some games IE angry birds, and take up a minimal space in my rack. This device for the price it is I don't think i can find something better. If you know of a device that could be better, such as a ipad (hate apple) or the galaxy tab, if its worth the upgrade in price let me know. But I want to use it as a E-reader first.
BKOben said:
Get the Nook Color and a Netbook (I recommend the ASUS eeePC personally) and you'll be covered.
Semper Fi,
John
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B&N Shop resets nook color... ouch!!!

So I am not sure what just happened to my NC. It was rooted, market enabled, apps installed etc.
I (by accident) hit the B&N shop icon in my apps drawer. There was a brief message and then the nook factory reset itself. So I am back to square one, need to re-root and re-enable everything.
Is there a way to avoid this happening again? Are there others out there brave enough to try the shop app and see if it happens? I am not sure if it was just a fluke or if I should really watch out for the B&N shop, etc.
Any wisdom on the matter would be appreciated!!!

Shop works for me (Fully rooted, market, gmail, etc). Not sure why yours reset itself.

Same here, Shop has been working now for over a week rooted

OK, so I rerooted and re enabled market, etc... shop works now, loaded with no problems.
Not sure what happened before, I had enabled market the first time using an earlier method, pehaps that had something to do with it?

I had the same issue happen Monday evening. I was presented with an error message and then forced to reset. It has not reoccured and I have tried to replicate the error.
Sent from my Nook Color using XDA App.

Same thing happened to me two days ago, so I hope someone posts an answer in this thread as to how to prevent it, or recover from it!

Given the number of rooted nooks that are likely to be out here, it would be unfortunate for B&N if NONE of them could actually buy books from them.

I had this happen to me, but I was running from and external sdcard, so the reset failed. My theory was that I re-authorized the internal version and and external sdcard was still using the previous authorization.

Withfeeling said:
Given the number of rooted nooks that are likely to be out here, it would be unfortunate for B&N if NONE of them could actually buy books from them.
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Their book is way over priced. And they have tax at every states, while Amazon has no tax for most of the states. Even if they are able to match Amazon, the buyers still have to pay tax.
Another thing, their search engine sucks. Cannot find anything there.

I rooted my NC within minutes of purchase and have not had this issue. It would be flat-out nefarious for them to be doing this intentionally so, I'm hoping this is just a fluke that some have run into.

I just run the Kindle app, FBReader, Miren browser, Pulse Reader, and Google Reader for all my reading needs. I have ADW Launcher installed, so I don't bother with the Nooks built in apps.
Hopefully, that is enough to prevent me from having this problem.

thecalip said:
Their book is way over priced. And they have tax at every states, while Amazon has no tax for most of the states. Even if they are able to match Amazon, the buyers still have to pay tax.
Another thing, their search engine sucks. Cannot find anything there.
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Exactly. When are B&N and Amazon going to realize that customers know that it doesnt cost them the same to sell an ebook that it does a paper book. There is no printing, storing, transporting, manual labor to put it on the shelf so how the hell can they justify charging the same price for an ebook as a paper one? Their magazines are priced well, why not the books? Im hoping that with the competition that the prices will drop. Sorry BS&N, I love the tablet, but Im not buying squat from you. as soon as a complete rom is available this puppy is getting wiped!

I've had this happen after screwing with the Nook. If I'm using it normally after it's been rooted, and not poking around, it's fine.
Specifically, I was able to recreate it by adding a shortcut via Desktop Visualizer that pointed to one of the accounts and sync manager intents(can't recall which one). Trying to launch that shortcut failed, but after doing so and trying to return to my B&N library, the nook said the account had an issue authorizing and was resetting.

zappaziz said:
Exactly. When are B&N and Amazon going to realize that customers know that it doesnt cost them the same to sell an ebook that it does a paper book. There is no printing, storing, transporting, manual labor to put it on the shelf so how the hell can they justify charging the same price for an ebook as a paper one? Their magazines are priced well, why not the books? Im hoping that with the competition that the prices will drop. Sorry BS&N, I love the tablet, but Im not buying squat from you. as soon as a complete rom is available this puppy is getting wiped!
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it'll probably happen when ever the general consumer complains. as long as people are fine with overpaying for services, they'll continue inflating the prices. plus i think there's some kind of conflict where they don't want to hurt hard copy sales.

The costs to the publisher are reduced, but the AUTHOR does not get any of the extra margin... this is why a lot of authors are re-negotiating with publishers if they can (stephen King, for example) Just like any "new media" the price point will eventually come down.

this sudden reset has happened to myself and others on the forum. in my case, it was triggered by opening the BN library. however, after rerooting and reinstalling my apps, i haven't been able to replicate the problem.
i have one book that i'm reading from BN, but after that, i'll just stay away from the BN apps, and use the Kindle software instead. sorry BN, i hope you learn a lesson from this

Please do remember folks that we are tlking about a v1.0 device with v1.0 software that has been just recently hacked to do stuf that wasn't intended. And the hacks are 0.x ! Bound to be a few little quirks.

Chalk up another one for a "spontaneous reset" ! Not sure what happened exactly, I tried to recharge it with a standard USB adapter and since I'd read it took longer I just let it sit...a few minutes later I noticed it had restarted and upon restart I was presented with the "Robot sign-up", not sure if it was from autonook or the script since I had run both a couple of days ago, but it's timing out...looks I'm good for a full reset, fortunately I did a Titanium backup ealier today.
Oh, I had a notification saying "updated to 1.0.0" ! Thanks B&N ;-)
I thought I'd seen a thread called "Prevent NC from calling home and updating itself" but can't see it right now.

Dang, another spontaneous hard reset! This time I saw the whole process:
1. YouTube stops working, no video
2. A little later : authorization problem, your device needs to be reset!
3. Back to square one...
Either B&N are onto something or the market/gmail/youtube scripts are creating some problems. I'm going back to nooter to see if it's as rock solid as it was last week.

thecalip said:
Their book is way over priced. And they have tax at every states, while Amazon has no tax for most of the states. Even if they are able to match Amazon, the buyers still have to pay tax.
Another thing, their search engine sucks. Cannot find anything there.
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Click to collapse
They have to add tax because they have a physical presence. Amazon exists only in the cloud (and Washington State, where it does add tax). It's not BN's fault.

took my nook into b&n today

I was looking for screen protectors and shot the ****e with the nook chicks....I showed them my unit...fully modded out..."whoh"
I just showed them my jome screen.....opened the app drawer....."wow"
Showed them birds......*jaws drop*
"But it voids your warrantee".......factory reset
"How long would kt take you to do Mine?" ........ 30 minutes
They were torally floored....They did not know aboit the comimg ipdate....
There is more...but my wife needs my attention
Cheers

First classic post of the Nook-ie season... Applause!!!

Nice work, I suspect your wife will now have banned you from going to B&N ;-)

I did the same thing today. Took it in to get a screen protector put on, and the people there freaked when they saw my screen. They absolutely loved it and couldn't believe how much it could do when I showed them all my apps. The guy said he knew it was possible, but mine was the first he had actually seen with it done.
I explained how easy it was to root and gave a quick rundown of the process. Showed him that it kept all it's original functionality as well as everything else it can now do. The guy was really excited.
Also, I had no problem connecting to the the in store WiFi. I thought I read somewhere of people saying that a rooted NC wouldn't connect, but not only did mine connect, but it did so automatically. No troubles at all, but I didn't try to use the free hour of reading, so can't confirm/deny anything with that.

I went into a BN today and had no problems connecting in store. I could not seem to get the free hour of reading though. Looked all over the online store. All I could do was the normal sampling of books I can do at home. There is also no 'In Store' feature like the regular B&W Nook.
Doesn't look like I'll be going to stores with it. Not a big deal as I have enough ePub books to last 10 lifetimes.
Sent from my Nook Color

Are you a shy bookworm with big glasses and a checkered sweater vest? Can't talk to a girl if your life depended on it? The only woman who's seen your undies is your mother? Well head over to B&N and buy yourself a brand new shiny NookColor. Then head back home and log on to XDA Developers for the latest lady impressing NookColor rooting techniques. Once you've had your Nook nootered and gobs of apps downloaded (including of course that popular game about unfit bird parents and their pesky green pig neighbors) head back over to B&N with the pretext of wanting to try on a screen protector. Casually pull out your Nook (oooh boy!) and ask if they got something to cover it with! With you being socially awkward and all, I would avoid using expressions such as "I'm looking for some protection for my Nook" or "got anything to slip my Nook inside for warmth?" and please do not under any circumstance say "My Nook needs a jimmy hat!" Instead, ask politely about a screen protector or a carrying case. And while they oooooohhh and aaaaahhhh at your live wallpaper scrolling the Matrix code, you click on that game we were talking about earlier and let them play... For maximum effectiveness use the pool technique. Get behind the girl and direct her finger in the right spot. Pull gently... tap when needed.
And i'm off!

sudermatt said:
I was looking for screen protectors and shot the ****e with the nook chicks....I showed them my unit...fully modded out.
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Uh huh... I bet you did

Bahnzo said:
...
Also, I had no problem connecting to the the in store WiFi. I thought I read somewhere of people saying that a rooted NC wouldn't connect, but not only did mine connect, but it did so automatically. .
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It's not connecting to store WiFi that's a problem. They all connect. It's accessing the Browse In Store features (read a book for an hour).

devis said:
[Moronic rambling deleted...]
And i'm off!
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That much is clear...

khaytsus said:
That much is clear...
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(Insert rolleyes emoticon here)
Sent from my LogicPD Zoom2 using Tapatalk

same here
SCIONTX said:
It's not connecting to store WiFi that's a problem. They all connect. It's accessing the Browse In Store features (read a book for an hour).
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Same here. Connects to wifi at b&n but read in store doesn't work. Was wondering how to get rid of the 1 hour limit...not exactly this way though

B&N to block rooting on future devices?

Was browsing through and saw this thread.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=939589
Went to it and just saw an update at CNET.
"Update: The latest rumor, once again courtesy of Good E-Reader, is that the reason for the temporary unavailability is that Barnes & Noble is in the process of installing an anti-rooting "fix" for the Nook Color because people have been hacking the device to run a custom version of the Android-based firmware. That custom firmware allows users to access and download apps from the Android Marketplace, including competing e-reading apps such as Kindle and Kobo. If a significant percentage of Nook Color buyers are doing this, it presents a problem for Barnes & Noble (Sony doesn't like to talk about it but it had major issues with the PSP being hacked). Good E-Reader cites a "Barnes & Noble source" in mentioning the rumor, but to be clear, we don't know if there's any truth to it or not, and we're not sure how Barnes & Noble would truly be able to lock the device down."
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20030475-1.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Watcha think? Fact or Fiction?

Fiction. The NOOKcolor has WAY too many hardware issues. I went through 4 NC's to get a good screen. My latest works but the USB is near impossible to plug-in. I have to maneuver it so it's plugged in at an angle and then it finally slips in and begins charging. I really believe this is a quiet hardware recall. Even the BN Associate at store told me they rushed these things out because they knew how great the demand was.
Besides, what could they possibly do to stop the rooting of these devices? That would involve a hardware modification. And why would they shoot their golden goose? It's not like it's costing them 3G data, the fact this thing can be a Android Tablet is THEE reason so many are selling. It's not like we're all avid readers.

racks11479 said:
Was browsing through and saw this thread.
Watcha think? Fact or Fiction?
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Click to collapse
Are you really this stupid?
The Nook Color can be rooted and Kindle reader can be installed. So let's say a random dude is deciding between a Kindle and a Nook Color. He can get a Kindle and read Kindle books or get a Nook Color, root it, read BN books AND Kindle books. Guess what, BN just got another $249.
AYRTS?

I was thinkin' along the same lines. And from what I've read through the forums. Most people that root their devices end up downloading the B&N Nook Shop app to use anyways.

I gotta admit that it would be really silly for them to lock it down. They have probably made more sales in the fact that it makes such a great inexpensive android tablet alone. To lock it down would kill sales in one major area where they are most likely racking in the most money.

redking79 said:
Are you really this stupid?
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Wow, God forbid he ask other people's opinions. I guess he should rely on the clear headed logical thinking of corporate America. Why don't we all have that level of faith in businesses to do the right thing?
Go take a cold shower.

redking79 said:
Are you really this stupid?
The Nook Color can be rooted and Kindle reader can be installed. So let's say a random dude is deciding between a Kindle and a Nook Color. He can get a Kindle and read Kindle books or get a Nook Color, root it, read BN books AND Kindle books. Guess what, BN just got another $249.
AYRTS?
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Really? If I am coming off as "AYRTS"
Then let me apologize for trying to start a conversation amongst the wonderful community that we have here at XDA. No need to go that route.
But I do appreciate your input. Thank you.

Realistically, how many generic end users, the ACTUAL target audience for an e-reader, is going to root and screw around with the device..? Way less than 1%, probably not even 1/10th of that.......
The people who DO probably bought the device BECAUSE it can be played with which means B+N got more hardware sales.
B+N sells books, they don't have an "App Store" or it's ilk so no revenue stream there and consequently no real financial incentive for the ever futile attempts to stop jail breaking as performed by a certain fruit themed company.
I have rooted and played with my NC AND bought books from B+N and will continue to do so. F*king people like me off is all downside for them.
Now that doesn't mean some suit in Marketing and Sales at B+N with an MBA and a serious coke habit wouldn't get a stiffie by screwing over the buying public.......

everalm said:
B+N sells books, they don't have an "App Store" or it's ilk so no revenue stream there and consequently no real financial incentive for the ever futile attempts to stop jail breaking as performed by a certain fruit themed company.
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B&N actually has plans to start an App Store. So maybe they are concerned about the competition. But still, like you mentioned the number of people who root it are far less than the people who bought an eReader. Hell, I bought the eReader and found out about it's potential later. 95% of people are never going to do anything to it but get the B&N updates.
Source: http://techpinger.com/2010/12/barnes-and-noble-nook-color-app-store-coming-in-early-2011/
Yes, it's a terrible source but I've read it elsewhere too.

On top of that, there's also the question of how much profit they make by selling the eBook reader by itself. And they also don't have to support rooted users.

My whole family pretty much has a nook color. And we all purchased it without knowing the fact that it could be rooted. But after I rooted mine. Everyone wanted theirs rooted as well. I have mine running Nookie Froyo. And I still buy my books from B&N. The rest of my family is on the stock rooted and they love the device that much more. And they too use the B&N shop. They just enjoy the extra features this little device is capable of performing.
As "everalm" put it. "F*king people like me off is all downside for them."
I'll second that notion.

How hard would it be to strap us with eFuze?
Homer

Honestly, it would be in BN's best interest to do this. Having Kindle, Kobo, Amazon, etc.... all on one device with a 7 inch screen is awesome for the consumer and terrible for BN. Plus, when they roll out their app store, they'd have to compete with the Google Marketplace plus any 3rd party sources. They don't want to do this and I can't blame them. Why would you want Amazon competing with you on your own (supposedly proprietary) device?

@ anon
Simple cost/benefit analysis
How many sales are B+N ACTUALLY losing when less than 1% of NC's are rooted AND most of those people are still buying from B+N..?
How much time, effort and energy will B+N have to buy from OTHER people to try and block rooting etc.....?
How often will they then have to do it AGAIN when their blocking gets broken AGAIN...?
Rinse and repeat
Remember B+N make money ON BOOK SALES, their profit on that is waaaaaay higher than some poxy App Store that would never compete with Google Market
All downside, no upside

As I posted in another thread, B&N has a huge problem with NookColor microUSB's and I suspect the factory has made a 'running change' to the microUSB and now has a temporary parts shortage .. eating all those microUSB returns has gotta hurt plus it is creating a potentially large 'refurb' market that will drain new unit sales ... as others have said and other device suppliers have learned, blocking root consumes lots of resources but always fails ... but really who knows what they are doing ..

I want to say this -
For one, i think people are downplaying the "XDA Effect". The rooted NC booting honeycomb didn't just make "geek" news, it made mainstream news, and got ALOT of people interested. I suspect it is easily more than 1%. And of that new interest, very little of it will be in the actual "eReader" portion. Which brings me to my second point..
The hardware in our nook is not cheap people, and we need to understand that. Yes, there are build issues, but lets put that aside, and look at just the hardware. We have:
A 7" 1024x600 IPS screen - This is NOT cheap; can you think of any other device this cheap that has such a high quality screen?
A Ti OMAP3621 CPU
PowerVR SGX530 GPU
8GB Flash ROM
512MB RAM
4000mAh battery
802.11 b/g/n wifi
Quite honestly, this thing easily matches consumer cell phones in specs (Droid incredible, Droid X/2). That may not sound good at first, but keep in mind, the retail on those cell phones is $450-500+... There are very few devices with these specs for this cheap.
Which all of this leads me to think - the hardware itself is a loss leader. B&N is expecting users to buy these, and then buy plenty of books to make their profit. If the numbers of these devices sold keep rising, but no associated B&N book sales come in, i would not be surprised if they feel that they have to do something.
Now, i think they will be making the biggest mistake they could possibly be making IF they did lock it down with an eFuse, as word of mouth from disgruntled buyers is hard to kill. It is easy to look past some build quality issues BECAUSE of just how versatile the device is otherwise. If you take that away, you might find bigger problems....

For some reason I don't see the inventory nor engineering available to fix this issue in 2 weeks.
Do you really think this company has the resources to design / build / deploy and retrofit a hardware solution? With little to no internal or beta testing? In a 2 week timespan? "Hey Mr. chip supplier, I need 2 million of these efuses made for my hardware overnight, I'll pay the additional shipping, kthnx".
Lets say they go the hardware lockout way and they make one tiny mistake this next 2 weeks, suddenly ALL the nooks are dead.
If anything it will be a software solution, making sure they are updating all nooks to a "unrootable" OS that will be promptly hacked by XDA in less then a week.
If anything they will design better hardware lockouts (ala Motorola) for the next generation Nook.
I'm hoping at least, I was waiting on a paycheck at the end of this week to free up enough money to run down to my local B+N and pick up a NC for the explicit reason of running 3.0.

So I've been putting off getting the NC for a while, but if there is ANY chance this could lead to serious setbacks in the rooting process I might be motivated to go get one immediately. And I realize the rationale behind B&N NOT trying to block root access, but I know first hand how little rationality goes into some of these major corporate decisions.
I might at least grab one, then keep an eye out for news during the 14-day return period. If there's a major fix or break that might help me decide whether or not to exchange or keep.
Thoughts?

Re: BN blocking rooting - This is a good thought but i'd say people who root probably make up < 5% of nc buyers
As to whether they will fix the hw - very unlikely they will physically change 100k let alone 500k units located in mmany different locations
I think the hold is to wait until some sotware is ready they can push as people turn on their nc for the first time
Miht it be some tie in between the market and the bn shop? Would make sense they get a cut of items sold on the market usin their device rooted or not

You do realize that nothing says they have to retrofit all the old devices in two weeks right? ***IF*** they were planning on something like this, it is possible it has been in the pipes for longer, and that NEW hardware is just replacing the old.
No, i don't believe they are doing this at all, but to say it is impossible is also foolish..

[Q] Are the new Nook Color's hackable?

http://www.androidcentral.com/barnes-noble-pulling-nook-color-ready-anti-root-measures
My friend recently broke my Nook hacked to all hell, but he has a friend that works at Wal-mart. We can get it replaced with a new nook color, but according to that article, the new ones may not be hackable. Is this true? Please help.

Bogus rumor is bogus.

Theowb4 said:
http://www.androidcentral.com/barnes-noble-pulling-nook-color-ready-anti-root-measures
My friend recently broke my Nook hacked to all hell, but he has a friend that works at Wal-mart. We can get it replaced with a new nook color, but according to that article, the new ones may not be hackable. Is this true? Please help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A) Check the date on the article: Thursday, Feb 3, 2011. If this was true, you'd see plenty of threads discussing rooting post-Feb 3rd Nooks.
B) It clearly explains at the very top of the article that any anti-hacking measures were totally false:
Update: sources from Barnes & Noble have stated (unofficially) that this was merely due to a brief supply shortage of Nook Colors. It looks like this was most likely a false alarm and they'll keep happily selling you Nook Colors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thank goodness. I wasn't sure either; and I'm still fearful of the upcoming upgrade. It would stink if they disabled the SD boot.

I could be wrong, but it is my understanding that the ability to boot from SD first is a hardware setting, not a software option. No amount of B&N firmare/OS updates or changes can take that option away - it would require cracking open the machine and changing some hardware configuration. That was the basis for some of the rumors regarding the supply shortage some months agao - that they were pulling all of their floor stock to make this change and re-supply with non-SD-bootable devices. This obviously did not come to pass. So unless they start quietly producing machines with a new hardware configuration there is nothing to worry about.
Besides, if you just install one of the custom ROMs available then all of the updates become a non-issue. CM7 is coming along nicely - I was a firm backer of rooted stock 2.1 until the past week or so. Flashed CM7 and am quite happy with it so far.
Cheers

That's all totally untrue. Ibjust bought. NC two days ago and rooted it with AN 3.0. When i was talking to the girl who sold me it she asked if i had any questions or wanted to play around with it and i politely replied "no i just want to root it", to which she responded with "they've made some changes so that people might not be able to root these" and i just laughed and said yeah i have more faith inbthe android dev community than some dev who works at B&N.
Sent from my NC using XDA Premium App

cigarsnscotch said:
That's all totally untrue. Ibjust bought. NC two days ago and rooted it with AN 3.0. When i was talking to the girl who sold me it she asked if i had any questions or wanted to play around with it and i politely replied "no i just want to root it", to which she responded with "they've made some changes so that people might not be able to root these" and i just laughed and said yeah i have more faith inbthe android dev community than some dev who works at B&N.
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Just goes to show how retail people are always so uninformed about technology.

Paul22000 said:
Just goes to show how retail people are always so uninformed about technology.
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Yea. Until they make the unit stop booting off the SDcard first the sky is the limit.

B&N has no reason to not want root. I bet they made the SD card boot first so that it was easy to root. Think about it this way...the more people that want to hack it, the more people that will buy it...if it was just a pure e-reader, I doubt they would have had the sales numbers they have. Also, it is most likely possible for them to send a OTA update and stop SD boot (as it is imprinted on the hardware, but can still be changed by software) but again, I doubt they'd ever want to do that.

JLCollier2005 said:
B&N has no reason to not want root. I bet they made the SD card boot first so that it was easy to root. Think about it this way...the more people that want to hack it, the more people that will buy it...if it was just a pure e-reader, I doubt they would have had the sales numbers they have. Also, it is most likely possible for them to send a OTA update and stop SD boot (as it is imprinted on the hardware, but can still be changed by software) but again, I doubt they'd ever want to do that.
Click to expand...
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I tend to agree with you on that. I and several I know would have never considered a Nook Color if it weren't easily rooted. I picked one up a new one last week and rooted it with AN 3 the minute I got home (so to the OP, there's another confirmation for you that they're still rootable).
I think B&N's intention is primarily to sell these cheaply to get you to buy digital books (which are seriously over-priced) ala the give away the razor and make money off the replacement blades model. It's working somewhat with me...I never would have bought an digital book or magazine from B&N, but I've got my eye on a few when I have a chance to actually read a book..

distortedloop said:
I tend to agree with you on that. I and several I know would have never considered a Nook Color if it weren't easily rooted. I picked one up a new one last week and rooted it with AN 3 the minute I got home (so to the OP, there's another confirmation for you that they're still rootable).
I think B&N's intention is primarily to sell these cheaply to get you to buy digital books (which are seriously over-priced) ala the give away the razor and make money off the replacement blades model. It's working somewhat with me...I never would have bought an digital book or magazine from B&N, but I've got my eye on a few when I have a chance to actually read a book..
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I am also one of these people that would have never bought the nook if it wasn't rootable, but it's not helping BN any cause I don't buy their books either

hxh103 said:
I am also one of these people that would have never bought the nook if it wasn't rootable, but it's not helping BN any cause I don't buy their books either
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Well that is still helping B&N in two ways:
1 - What is called "economy of scale". It costs less per processor to buy 100,000 than to buy 10,000. So, if they break even on all the rooted Nooks, they save money on all the rest, or lower their selling price on all the rest, making more attractive to book readers.
2 - It raises the visibility of the Nook Color and B&N ereaders in general. Note that WSJ article about how rooting the NC gets you a bargain tablet. No doubt that that article also ended up selling some NC's to people who just want to read books bought from B&N.
The Nook rooting community is a big publicity machine for B&N, and e-books are still so new that any market share gained now is worth a lot in the future.

But the thing is, assuming they ARE at least breaking even on these "razors", then WHY has no one else been able to bring out a 7" capacitive tablet in anything like this price point?
I still feel (without any evidence) that they may be close to losing money on these and are really counting on the book sales, and that therefore future anti-rooting measures are still a possibility. Just fear and speculation on my part though...

xdabr said:
But the thing is, assuming they ARE at least breaking even on these "razors", then WHY has no one else been able to bring out a 7" capacitive tablet in anything like this price point?
I still feel (without any evidence) that they may be close to losing money on these and are really counting on the book sales, and that therefore future anti-rooting measures are still a possibility. Just fear and speculation on my part though...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They can bring it out, but don't, because unlike B&N, have no further revenue after the purchase. B&N can afford to be lower, because they know that even if not all of them buy books, a good majority will buy some, now and in the future. Other tablet makers are SOL; once their device is sold, they are out of it, unless they can get some good accessories, etc...

Yeah, I'm almost surprised they let you leave the store without registering the device, like when buying a cell phone. I think we even paid cash. It's great for the consumer though! (I guess it's kind of sad that today a store letting you buy something without strings and gotchas is a source of unexpected joy.)

xdabr said:
Yeah, I'm almost surprised they let you leave the store without registering the device, like when buying a cell phone. I think we even paid cash. It's great for the consumer though! (I guess it's kind of sad that today a store letting you buy something without strings and gotchas is a source of unexpected joy.)
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That's mainly for the cellular aspect. You can actually buy a Xoom with cash and walk out without registering it. Might not be as easy as the Nook was (fastest I'd ever spent 250 bucks on a piece of electronics), but still possible.
Blocking Root is still possible, but not probable. Like one person said, they are making good money on their ebook sales AND the sales of the device so that's why the price point can be lower.

hxh103 said:
I am also one of these people that would have never bought the nook if it wasn't rootable, but it's not helping BN any cause I don't buy their books either
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Likewise. Ironically enough, I don't really read books much anymore. But it was because I got the Nook Color to hack as a tablet, that I was curious about downloading a book from the Nook store. Both me and B&N are happy. They make the money they need to offset the price of the NC, and I get the tablet I wanted.