Nook Color...Or Nook tablet? Which is better for hacking/rooting?

Locklear308 · Feb 6, 2012

Well... I know the nook tablet has better specs, but I am just doing this from a tinkering perspective. I heard the nook color can be easily rooted and changed to use cm7 and even ice cream sandwich. Those of you who have it, is it decent? like web browsing, youtube, UI navigating smoothly. Overclocked? Bluetooth?

I'm trying to decide, because at my work I can get a nook color for 180$ bucks. I did buy a nook tablet for 230 bucks. But I am just wondering, if it's easier to use the nook color, and easier to root it to mess around with it. Is it worth the extra money for the Nook tab?

What do you guys think?

bobstro · Feb 6, 2012

I've got two NC and a single NT in the family. The NC is definitely more hackable. Solutions are coming for the NT, but there's nowhere near the selection yet. The NC is also almost unbrickable. It's a great device to make mistakes on.

Performance is very good. I won't say "buttery smooth" because things are definitely faster on the NT. Even browsing seems to benefit greatly from the dual cores. However, with my NC overclocked to 1.2 GHz, Netflix and video are perfectly watchable. Battery life is also pretty good, better than any other device I own.

I'm running B&N 1.4.1 rooted because I want the B&N content, but I would suggest CM 7.2 RC0 Mirage if you don't care about B&N stuff. ICS is also nearly viable for day-to-day use (depending on your day, of course.)

Bluetooth is hit-and-miss depending on what you want to do. I've read of people having success with BT keyboards and GPS, but I've only tried the latter myself. It worked well enough that I could have a GPS receiver up on the dash, but I haven't done much actual field testing with it. BT audio is definitely out on the NC, and from what I've read, the NT as well.

The NT does provide a mic, so that might be important.

I considered upgrading to the NT, but now I'm waiting for the $250 quad-core devices that are supposed to hit this year, so I'm keeping my NC and trying hard to save my money. At $180, the NC is a decent deal, but you might find refurbs for even less with a bit of looking. I'd suggest a NC.

psiphi · Feb 6, 2012

When and where to dive in....

The answer today would be to use the Nook Color... You will get a decent device with a mature OS (CM7) and limited peer support for ICS (CM9)... In a month or 3, the Nook Tablet may be the better choice, but as of today it isn't . (There is a copy of CM7 running on it in alpha now tho.)

Both devices will disappoint if you are worried about ICS support, because some driver source is unreleased, and ICS versions of the drivers may never come out at all. (You might prefer to wait for the 7" ASUS in this case.)

Hope this helps...

smarcin · Feb 6, 2012

I was trying to make the same decision back before Christmas. I asked my sons to get me a NC. I could still have returned it til the end of January, but decided to keep it. (Although I actually had to exchange it because the wifi had intermittent problems connecting.) The NC is way more hackable at this point. I agree with bobstro. For now, the NC does it for me. If the 7" Asus does come out with quad cores and is only $249, I'll probably jump on that.

As for what you can do with a NC, lots! Some people root, some don't. I didn't because I wanted some of the features you get with the native OS, like reading Nook ebooks in B & N stores. I made my own dual boot card from Racks' directions here. I really like the flexibility of booting into either the native Nook OS, MiRaGe (CM 7.2) or ICS (CM 9). Using some advice in the USB host threads here and here, I was able to kluge together a working headset and make calls through Skype last night.

I also made another SD card that has Miui 2.1.20 on it. You can find the files here. I used verygreen's instructions for a size-agnostic card here.

I'm using a SanDisk class 6 16GB uSD card from Costco for the dual boot card. I have Miui on a SanDisk class 4 8GB uSD card. If you decide to boot from uSD cards, read a little in the several threads about the cards. The faster class cards generally do not work well for booting an OS. And SanDisk cards seem to work better than others. The threads are here and here.

You can also find NC's on ebay from Barnes and Noble refurbished for around $149 shipped. They have the same one year warranty as the new ones...

MrColdbird · Feb 7, 2012

smarcin said:
I was trying to make the same decision back before Christmas. I asked my sons to get me a NC. I could still have returned it til the end of January, but decided to keep it. (Although I actually had to exchange it because the wifi had intermittent problems connecting.) The NC is way more hackable at this point. I agree with bobstro. For now, the NC does it for me. If the 7" Asus does come out with quad cores and is only $249, I'll probably jump on that.

As for what you can do with a NC, lots! Some people root, some don't. I didn't because I wanted some of the features you get with the native OS, like reading Nook ebooks in B & N stores. I made my own dual boot card from Racks' directions here. I really like the flexibility of booting into either the native Nook OS, MiRaGe (CM 7.2) or ICS (CM 9). Using some advice in the USB host threads here and here, I was able to kluge together a working headset and make calls through Skype last night.

I also made another SD card that has Miui 2.1.20 on it. You can find the files here. I used verygreen's instructions for a size-agnostic card here.

I'm using a SanDisk class 6 16GB uSD card from Costco for the dual boot card. I have Miui on a SanDisk class 4 8GB uSD card. If you decide to boot from uSD cards, read a little in the several threads about the cards. The faster class cards generally do not work well for booting an OS. And SanDisk cards seem to work better than others. The threads are here and here.

You can also find NC's on ebay from Barnes and Noble refurbished for around $149 shipped. They have the same one year warranty as the new ones...

Now I want to know exactly how you got Skype calls working...
I've been looking for a solution to this forever.

Gesendet von meinem NookColor mit Tapatalk

smarcin · Feb 7, 2012

MrColdbird said:
Now I want to know exactly how you got Skype calls working...
I've been looking for a solution to this forever.

Gesendet von meinem NookColor mit Tapatalk

I'm about to leave, but will post my solution a bit later. Hopefully I can post a picture as well.

psiphi · Feb 9, 2012

Skype

smarcin said:
I'm about to leave, but will post my solution a bit later. Hopefully I can post a picture as well.

Please put it in its own thread.... (But I would like to see it too!)

koopakid08 · Feb 10, 2012

smarcin said:
I'm about to leave, but will post my solution a bit later. Hopefully I can post a picture as well.

I am also interested on how you set this up.

Sent from space

nickcv · Feb 10, 2012

They're both good. The custom ROMs based on GB for the NC have been around longer and are more stable. The ROMs for the NT aren't as refined, but the device is faster. Depends on if you want fast or stable.

You may be better served buying neither and getting an HP TouchPad on Craigslist. I just bought one the other day. There isn't a stable version of CM for it, but you can dual-boot the alpha builds with WebOS.

acollinsjr · Feb 18, 2012

The Nook Color All the Way...

I would suggest buying the Nook Color, as everyone else before me stated. Roms are stable as hell and it can be overclocked to move pretty damn fast and smooth. While the Nook Tablets specs are superior, there doesn't seem to be much available for it as yet. In time though, I'm sure there will be!

Current Devices
HTC Vision/G2-Virtuous Quattro beta8
Samsung Vibrant-ICS Passion v10.5
HTC Espresso/MyTouch 3G Slide-Cyanogenmod 7.1.0
Motorola Cliq/DEXT-Cyanogenmod 7.1.0
HTC Dream/G1-Super Froyo v8.4
Barnes & Noble Nook Color/Encore-Phiremod v7.1

Samiam303 · Feb 19, 2012

For what it's worth, the $180 nook color isn't necessarily the best deal, as you can get refurbished ones from B&N on Ebay for $150.
Edit: and nook tablets for 200 apparently.

Ranger666 · Feb 20, 2012

I opted for the NT

Samiam303 said:
For what it's worth, the $180 nook color isn't necessarily the best deal, as you can get refurbished ones from B&N on Ebay for $150.
Edit: and nook tablets for 200 apparently.

I got the NT for $199 from the B&N Store on ebay. I should have it in a couple of days. Like everyone says, it is faster and stuff is becoming more readily available as time passes by.

Chinpokomon · Feb 24, 2012

nickcv said:
There isn't a stable version of CM for it, but you can dual-boot the alpha builds with WebOS.

CM7 is stable for the TouchPad. CM9 Alpha2 was just released, and despite the Alpha branding, it is incredibly stable as well. The only real complaint for using it as a daily device is that the front-facing camera isn't supported, but then again, the front-facing camera was pretty low resolution to begin with. It'd be nice to see it working for video conferencing, but that is hardly a deal breaker, and you wouldn't get that on the Nook Color anyway.

Having both a Nook Color and a TouchPad, and despite the device being unpocketable, the TouchPad has easily replaced my Nook Color. The Nook Color has been a great device for me. As has been mentioned it is extremely hacker friendly and nearly impossible to brick, but it has a limited future for me. The Nook Tablet seems like it would be a nice improvement over the Nook Color, but as has also been mentioned, it isn't as flexible as the Nook Color right now.

If you can find the TouchPad for the ~$99 price (arguably anything less than the Nook Color), and/or if having a smaller and more portable device is more important to you, those are the considerations I'd make. With either choice, you should be very happy.

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Nook Color...Or Nook tablet? Which is better for hacking/rooting?

Locklear308

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bobstro

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psiphi

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smarcin

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MrColdbird

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smarcin

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psiphi

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koopakid08

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nickcv

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acollinsjr

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Samiam303

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Ranger666

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Chinpokomon

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