WARNING Nook Color BLOCKS installation of downloaded .apks

[polishnookguy]

The nookC was never intended to operate as a Droid tab, and that information is not only clear on the BN site, but on every review of this device.    So if I were to get this device, I would do so with the full knowledge that I would not be able to download just any android app.    I saw that from the day after the news that the nookC came out.

[deemure]

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g0tr00t wrote:

Android Root Club Rules

1st RULE: You do not talk about ROOTING the Color Nook.

2nd RULE: You DO NOT talk about ROOTING the Color Nook.

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Can we talk about Fight Club in the Root Club and vice versa?  Iksnay on the ootingray.

[donc13]

It's mentioned in the press announcement, on the developer's site and has been noted in all the news stories and reviews from the announcement event.

Apps WILL be available, via the Nook app store, not the Android Marketplace.   There IS a reason for this.   This is NOT an Android tablet.    It is an eReader and B&N has a vested interest in not allowing just any old app to be loaded on it.    Just as Apple won't allow any old app be loaded in their products.

[RHWright]

Imply: to indicate by association or consequence, rather than direct statement.

Infer: to derive a conclusion

Manufacturers tend to shy away from implying things about the specs of their products. They may do so with general marketing ideas—"the ultimate reading experience", "fun social features"—but cold hard facts, such as dowloading apps from the Android marketplace, they are usually smart enough to spell out explicitly.

On the other hand, you are free to infer—incorrectly—that as an Android-based device that the NOOKColor e-reader should be able to do this out of the box. Even though no such feature is mentioned in the marketing or specs of the product.

It seems to me, that the store handled your issues, such as they are, quickly and professionally. If you'ld like an Android tablet, there are several out there or and many soon-to-come. NOOKcolor is not one of them, nor (I think) should it be.

[atlongster]

The NC is never billed as a fully functioning andriod tablet, its billed as an android based ereader with light tablet functions.  No where in the lit does it ever mention the android app market or the ability to run andriod apps.  In fact you can easily find the NookDeveloper stuff on the NookColor site on B&N that makes that clear as day.

But apparently you bought the NC without reading reviews, without researching it completely. 

[duzit]

I'm a newbie, could you please send me a PM explaining what r__t or r__ting is. Thanks...

[morgman]

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rafalweb wrote:

The nookC was never intended to operate as a Droid tab, and that information is not only clear on the BN site, but on every review of this device.

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I disagree, the minute you add a web browser and wifi to the device it becomes much more. Also, its my understanding that B&N is moving to add Android 2.2 with their own market place for NC early in 2011.  

As Droid 3.0 optimized for tablet comes out we'll see an explosion of 7 inch and larger tablets, probably with both Nook and Kindle reading apps.  With the competition in this area they will be priced around where the nook is today.  The only way the Nook Color will survive / compete in this space is to expand functionality making this a full 7" tablet.  

So they didn't do it with version 1.0, but they did give us an awesome tablet-like reader in time for the holiday shopping season.  Here's hoping that they do move as quickly as possible to deliver well-tested updates. 

[ThePCTech]

I could be wrong but Calibre "http://calibre-ebook.com/" converts almost any format to epub which the NOOKcolor does support.  The software is on Windows, Mac, and Linux, that should cover 99% of the users on this forum.

Note: with the NOOKcolor you must turn on the device while plugged into the computer for Calibre to see it.

Other then that it works great with the color.

Brian

[cbtengr]

Calibre will not convert DRM protected books.

[Robertjm]

The problem is that you're refering to the Nook Color as a "tablet" when B/N is not marketing it as such.

Granted, I can't wait for the first report of this puppy being hacked so we can possibly use it to its fullest potential. However, I'm not going to ignore the fact that as of right now, it's primary function is as a proprietary format eBook reader that happens to support "some" other formats, but not all, as well as other neat features, like surfing the web (albeit without Flash support :-(  ).

[duzit]

Will somebody please send me a PM explaining what rooting is? Please...

[atlongster]

Rooting your phone means you've hacked it to gain access to files that are normally read only, think of it as like having super admin status on a computer.  It allows you to alter anything about the system because it gives you access to the system files and every other file on there.  And example is someone rooting a device (like the NC) and installing flash and a new User Interface.  

It strips down all limitations put on my a manufacturer.  It turns the device mostly into hardware to be used and altered to make something new. 

[Ya_Ya]

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atlongster wrote:

Rooting...strips down all limitations put on my a manufacturer.  It turns the device mostly into hardware to be used and altered to make something new. 

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I think it goes without saying that doing this voids the manufacturer's warranty.

(I figure that's obvious but you never know.)

[Rutter9]

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duzit wrote:

Will somebody please send me a PM explaining what rooting is? Please...

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http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+rooting

[atlongster]

Absolutely.  I'd never root a device, I don't see the point.  I guess for some tinkerers and the like its fun times.  But I spend my money on an NC to get an NC. 

[MadMikeSS]

While I see everyone's point about B&N making the NC a customized tablet, I think people are missing the point that people can't read their drm'd pdb files from a B&N owned bookseller (ereader and fictionwise) and the point of trying to install ereader's app was to try and return that ability to a device that should have retained that reading ability in the first place. B&N should either add pdb support back in for the next software release or provide an app when the app store opens.

[DPManwell]

Well, many devices that run Android are crippled in some way by restrictions placed on them by wireless carriers, etc. You bought something sold as a color e-book reader, expected it to function as an open Android tablet despite knowing that B&N planned to offer a "curated experience" on it, and didn't do your research. Either you're not as tech-savvy as you think you are, or you just like to complain.

[DPManwell]

@MadMikeSS: Philosophically, you have a point there. Should B&N remove compatibility with files they sell? Maybe not. There are three options here.

1. Figure out how to make it work.

2. Don't buy products when you disagree with the business practices of the seller/manufacturer.

3. Buy something you know doesn't meet your needs/wants and complain about what you already knew afterward.

Two of these options would solve the philosophical problem the OP has with the nookColor, one will not. Care to guess which ones are which?

By the way, this happens with every tech product. Whatever comes after Blu-ray players probably won't play DVDs anymore, even though Sony will probably make the first one and still sell a large quantity of content for it. "You mean I have to re-buy all of my movies in this new format, from you, when I already paid you for them before?"

"Well, only if you want to watch them on this new player."

[MadMikeSS]

Your points are valid but your analogy is poor. Even current blu-ray players/drives are backward compatible all the way back to regular cds. It's very unlikely that the next version of video disc will somehow lose all backward compatibility with previous format unless there is a fundamental shift in the technology of the hardware say from a reflective disk as is used now to some kind of 3d matrix cube storage. But that's beside the point. If pdbs were a dead format and not still sold on ereader.com then you would have a point, but it's not a dead format. That's the problem, and I don't think it would destroy B&N's business to add pdb support or at the least allow the installation of the ereader app for android to be installed. If they want to eradicate the pdb format then stop using it on ereader.com or fictionwise that they own. That's my 2 cents for what it's worth. I don't own any books from ereader or fictionwise and I don't own a nook yet. But I agree with some of the users who do who feel like they are being abandoned by B&N or forced to re-purchase books just so they can read them on the new device. This isn't a limitation of the hardware (like your analogy) it's a forced limitation of the software that can be easily rectified.

[Ya_Ya]

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MadMikeSS wrote:

I don't think it would destroy B&N's business to add pdb support or at the least allow the installation of the ereader app for android to be installed. If they want to eradicate the pdb format then stop using it on ereader.com or fictionwise that they own. 

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I don't disagree.  It makes no sense that .pdbs don't work on NOOKColor.  They should and I'd like to see B&N update it somehow make them work.

That said, anyone who read the documentation before purchasing knew that .pdbs weren't supported and should have been able to surmise that since apks were not listed as being supported they wouldn't be.  Posting a rant that it couldn't do what its documentation said it couldn't do - or never implied it could do - is what most of us are objecting to.