Nook HD+ - worth buying?

[Snoogy]

Hey,

Been looking into buying a tablet and the rcent price drop is making the Nook HD+ an attactive option. I want a stock android experience though, particularly looking for the functionality of multiple user accounts and HDMI outputing to a monitor. My big concern with the Nook is that it's not going to provide a fast, stable android experience (running from SD card must slow performance?).

I'm weighing this against the Sony Experia Z tablet, which is roughly twice the price... take away the great screen / price and I'm wondering if the Nook has anything else going for it? Thoughts?

My usage is mainly going to be watching Netflix, internet, using Evernote and other writing related apps (hence need to output to monitor for lengthy work / use a bluetooth keyboard). I'd have picked the Google Nexus 7 but no HDMI output kills it off, and the Nexus 10 doesn't seem to be widely available in the UK (I prefer to buy from places with exteneded warranties and the Nexus 10 only seems to be selling directly from Google).

Thanks.

 

[View92612]

Hey,
Been looking into buying a tablet and the rcent price drop is making the Nook HD+ an attactive option. I want a stock android experience though, particularly looking for the functionality of multiple user accounts and HDMI outputing to a monitor. My big concern with the Nook is that it's not going to provide a fast, stable android experience (running from SD card must slow performance?).

My usage is mainly going to be watching Netflix, internet, using Evernote and other writing related apps (hence need to output to monitor for lengthy work / use a bluetooth keyboard).
Thanks.

I am running CM10.1 on emmc and it is fast and 99% stable(no reboots so far but has some minor technical issues like random screen flickering in settings screen which does not always happen.) I would not pay full price for the device. However, if you can get it for around $145 to $179 USD it is hard to beat for the 1920x1280 display and reasonable amount of horsepower. I think for movies and simple apps--reading, writing and web browsing it's perfect. For gaming it is okay but still lag behind Nexus 7. HDMI is available but you need to buy a specialized adapter so it will add to your costs. I tried the CM10 and CM10.1 on an SD card as proof of concept but the web browsing performance sucked....
I did Vellamo HTML5 benchmark with CM10.1 on emmc and scored very impressive score of 1861.

I think I'll use Nexus 7 for my gaming needs (when it's not occupied by my kids) and Nook HD+ for web, movies, and books.
I have a free Kindle Fire HD for HDMI output...(when kids not using it...) The KFHD HDMI cable is cheaper..
But it's much harder to get "stock Android experience" with Kindle Fire HD.

Hope the above info helps.

 

[chaosm2011]

I am running CM10.1 on emmc and it is fast and 99% stable(no reboots so far but has some minor technical issues like random screen flickering in settings screen which does not always happen.) I would not pay full price for the device. However, if you can get it for around $145 to $179 USD it is hard to beat for the 1920x1280 display and reasonable amount of horsepower. I think for movies and simple apps--reading, writing and web browsing it's perfect. For gaming it is okay but still lag behind Nexus 7. HDMI is available but you need to buy a specialized adapter so it will add to your costs. I tried the CM10 and CM10.1 on an SD card as proof of concept but the web browsing performance sucked....

...to add to the above, the build quality is good, appears to be similar to my nook color which has held up very well. The stock rom is usable now that gApps and the play store is on it. The stock rom also has very good battery standby, like in the multiple days range. The negatives are no cameras or GPS but I've never really seen the utility in those if you already have a smart phone. The other negative is that stock rom is pretty customized towards being an E-reader and media consumption device with the B&N store baked into the UI. The big + is the uSD slot for expansion and the ability to boot off it & install CM

 

[fantomv50]

I have just got my second Nook HD+ 32GB from Game in the UK for £130 Used with 12 months warranty ( if they last that long Game that is )

Great tablet scores just over 3000 in quadrant the nexus 7 32gb is around 3600.

I have the Google Play store update and I have installed the Free version of the Apex Launcher, that makes it look like stock Android.

Only returned my Brand new one as had charging problem.

its not the fastest at loading web pages but it does work and I feel the screen size @ 9" is very good at Full HD res.

Around 28 GB left on the storage. but MicroSD slot so films etc can go on that. As it still will not allow apps to SD.

Some Popular Games do not install.

But for Web browsering its great and in the UK its only £189 at PC World with a £20 store credit

Games look great films do to.


I have used the N2A and I found it very buggy and slow, I installed in onto a Sd card make and speed they said and it kept slowing right down and hanging for a while.

Just install Apex and you should find it like most other Android Tablets.

CEX in the UK do the 32gb version around 120-145 still with 12 months warranty plus you can trade in too.

For the Money its a Very good by. The closest to it brand new for the money here is a Galaxy tab 2 7, which only has 4gb free memory. to what I payed for it used

 

[Snoogy]

Thanks for the info. So, in short, running Android from SD card won't provide smooth performance but installing to emmc (which will void warranty) turns it into a fine android tablet... alternatively, use a launcher app to make the stock rom look more android like (but some apps won't work with the nook os).

Went in store to look at one yesterday and the screen was great, but looking at the 10.1 inch tablets I think I'm going to get one of them instead. Either the Asus Memo Pad, Galaxy Note or Sony Experia. The Asus and Samsung screens are not as sharp but I didn't find the lower pixels per inch to be as obvious as I expected.

Still, the Nook price still makes it a really strong consideration...!

 

[fantomv50]

Now nook has google play and chrome etc in lastest update it is a andriod tablet, the nook default front end not good. But with apex it seem to work better.

I have had a number of tablets and not all of them can install all apps etc from google play.

I had the tegra 3 based memo 10.1 and the screen is only same res as the nexus 7 and its slower for some strange reason. Mine went back as it would not charge while turned off. As the makers said it should.

But the Nook hd + needs to be on while charging lol.

Like I said the 9" is a nice size to hold and its not that heavy.

But if you want to play high end games then get tegra 3 based tablet.

You cannot go wrong for the money.

Sent from my BNTV600 using xda app-developers app.

---------- Post added at 01:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:02 PM ----------

Also gta 3 and vice city do install

Sent from my BNTV600 using xda app-developers app

---------- Post added at 01:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:18 PM ----------

I have a review channel on youtube under atc9000 I can do a nook hd+ review in the next few days if that helps you ?

Sent from my BNTV600 using xda app-developers app

 

[View92612]

Now nook has google play and chrome etc in lastest update it is a andriod tablet, the nook default front end not good. But with apex it seem to work better.

But if you want to play high end games then get tegra 3 based tablet.

You cannot go wrong for the money.

I tried a different launcher with stock which helped a bit but still a few annoying things -- library syncing message while playing game, no standard 3 buttons,...,etc. Also system settings are very limited. CM10.1 RC1 and RC2 both ran very well on emmc...for warranty, it is good to have a backup to restore to stock if needed, or an image of stock rom will do.

Gaming performance - per Epic Citadel 3D benchmark it's about 20% FPS reduction from Nexus 7. But to be fair, Nexus 7 has a much lower resolution so it's not completely apple to apple comparison. Unfortunately the FPS is even worse if you lower the resolution on Nook HD+.
So gaming experience is definitely better on N7.

For web browsing I used Vellamo HTML5 benchmark. Stock has almost identical performance as Nexus 7. But with CM10.1, surprisingly out performed Nexus 7 stock by about 40%. Web browsing with CM10.1 works really well actually.

Finally, the deciding factor---#1 is the price. #2, I checked a few 10" tablets at Best Buy including iPad and Transformer Infinity, they are nice but noticeably heavier than Nook HD+. For the primary purpose I want to use a 10" tablet for---web, reading, movies, and light gaming, it is the right one for the right price. So it really depends on the use cases.

One difference using CM10.1 with Nook HD+ vs CM10.1 on a phone is that Nook HD+ has much less functionalities therefore easier to run a custom rom with. On a phone there are so many more functionalities and usually there is always a feature or two that you need to give up or may have issues when running a custom rom. (FM radio, Wi-Fi calling...,etc.)

Of course, that's also thanks to verygreen and other xda developers who did a tremendous job porting CM10.1 to Nook HD+.

 

[rushless]

Nook HD+ overall rocks for the price. I use it more now than my way more expensive iPad 4.....

Plays all of my media as good as my other tablets, Flash plays great and ditto for most games, beyond a few like Asphalt 7 and NFSMW that load unusually super slow (makes no sense, since no others tested seem to be as bad).

Plays all my emulators better than my other tablets and blue tooth gamepads work great as well. IMO, even at $300 this is a better buy than the TF700.

 

[View92612]

Nook HD+ overall rocks for the price. I use it more now than my way more expensive iPad 4.....

Plays all my emulators better than my other tablets and blue tooth gamepads work great as well. IMO, even at $300 this is a better buy than the TF700.

tf700 has stronger cpus but it's plagued by poor io. Xda members have reported Nook HD+ having as much as 3x better ios(on emmc) than tf700...Nook HD+ still has minor glitches once in a while(likely hardware related) but can be fixed by turning off and turning on the display.
But I agree it's better than tf700 because tf700 is somewhat buggy to the same extent. And the price is less than half of tf700.
There is just one thing other than the CPU that the tf700 is much better than Nook....that's the availability of official updates.
(less camera and gps which I don't need)
Asus is providing software updates much more often than B&N for sure and will likely continue to do so.
That's another good reason to use CM10.1 because stock almost has 0 possibility of getting even 4.1 update...

 

[dbrickg]

Hey,
Been looking into buying a tablet and the rcent price drop is making the Nook HD+ an attactive option. I want a stock android experience though, particularly looking for the functionality of multiple user accounts and HDMI outputing to a monitor.... My usage is mainly going to be watching Netflix....

I'm not quite clear from your post if you want HDMI output for watching Netflix. If so, the video out is great, but, at least running CM10.1 on emmc, there is no audio out on the HDMI. So if you want to watch movies on your home theater system, the only sound you'll get is from the tiny nook speaker. That'll probably get cleared up as the Devs have time to figure it out, but, if you're still considering the nook, I wanted to point that out, since I hadn't seen in mentioned in any of the other replies.

 

[rushless]

tf700 has stronger cpus but it's plagued by poor io. Xda members have reported Nook HD+ having as much as 3x better ios(on emmc) than tf700...Nook HD+ still has minor glitches once in a while(likely hardware related) but can be fixed by turning off and turning on the display.
But I agree it's better than tf700 because tf700 is somewhat buggy to the same extent. And the price is less than half of tf700.
There is just one thing other than the CPU that the tf700 is much better than Nook....that's the availability of official updates.
(less camera and gps which I don't need)
Asus is providing software updates much more often than B&N for sure and will likely continue to do so.
That's another good reason to use CM10.1 because stock almost has 0 possibility of getting even 4.1 update...

TF300 has the same issue, though not as burdened due to half the pixels for the GPU to push. I always thought it was the Tegra 3, but the Excite 7.7 has a Tegra 3 and is not laggy like the TF300 and is very fast. There is a Quake emulator called "Quake Touch" that was released and is great, BTW. The Open GL game plays perfectly & fast on the Excite, S3 and HD+, but is SLOOOOW on the TF300.

There is also a new app called Quake 2 Touch which is also great and works fine on the TF300 as well. The issue though is how the data is pulled for Quake 1. Very old school in that is pulls data bits and pieces. This would stick out on a device with i/o issues.

The HD+ plus though is not out of the woods, since the game loads up in two seconds or less on the Excite and S3, but a little slower on the TF300 and a LOT slower on the HD+. The slow file load issues like Quake 2, Asphalt 7 and NFSMW make no apparent sense. None the less, Quake 1 and 2 play better on the HD+ than the TF300.