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Nook2Android Cards Offers Something B&N Won’t – Full Android on the Nook HD+

n2a cardsHere’s something fun to go along with that sale on the Nook HD+ which Staples started yesterday.

Nook2Android has just announced that they’ve ported a custom version of Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean to Barnes & Noble’s new 9″ ereader.

For a small fee, you can now get all the important features and useful apps which B&N’s locked down device does not provide, including access to Google Play, other reading apps, and more. According to the hype email, you can make Skype calls using the built in microphone and use BT keyboards.

I tried one of these cards on my NookColor back in June and things did not end well. My experience was that battery life was terrible, a complaint which several other readers shared. I also had trouble getting the modified Nook Color to work consistently; over the course of a single morning I had to reboot it several times because the touchscreen stopped working.

At that time I thought that a $99 Android tablet offered a better value than a NC using one of these cards and I still think that’s true.

Of course, that was an older version of the Nook2Android  card, and it was also a much weaker device. The Nook HD+ is a significantly more powerful ereader, with a better CPU and all around specs. Hopefully it will perform better than what I encountered.

Nook2Android

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Comments


Brad Linder December 17, 2012 um 8:50 am

You sure it’s Android 4.2? The website seems to say it’s Android 4.0… or maybe 4.1.2.

My best guess is they’re just piggybacking on verygreen’s build of CyanogenMod 10 for the NOOK HD+

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2032364

steve December 17, 2012 um 9:12 am

I use a NOOK Color with a N2A card running CM7. It works wonderfully.

I cannot vouch, however, for the newer cards running ICS or Jellybean. I wouldn’t be surprised if the battery life kind of sucked on those. Battery life sucked on NOOK Color running CM7 as well; but N2A gave you OS updates, added a real sleep mode, and did some other things to improve it gradually. (I didn’t upgrade because what I had worked fine for me, and I didn’t want to deal with these kinds of issues) Hopefully they’re going to do the same here.

Nate Hoffelder December 17, 2012 um 9:23 am

Whoops. That was a typo. It’s 4.1.

But if it were 4.0 that would be ICS, not JB.

And from what I can tell the older N2A cards also piggy-backed on the CyanogenMod project.


ucfgrad93 December 17, 2012 um 8:52 am

According to their website a version for the Nook HD will be available in the first quarter of 2013.


cookie December 17, 2012 um 9:13 am

4.1.2 according to the table you link to.


cookie December 17, 2012 um 9:15 am

And yes, if the battery life is reduced significantly using one of those cards we don’t want it.


Fbone December 17, 2012 um 2:00 pm

15% discount at N2A using coupon code F6Qvk2DD


Mizzbee December 17, 2012 um 2:06 pm

Mr. Nate, I have the 32GB N2A cards in both my Nook Color and My Nook Tablet. I have not encounted any problems with either of them. In fact I press the power bottons and put them to sleep and go about my business and they always have lots of battery left. I misplaced my Nook tablet for close to 2 months and when I found it, the battery still had more than half of its power. I had not turned it off. Another subject: I found a mailing from Marine Corps Exchange from Sept. 2012. It had an ad for a Sony P Tablet.for $344.99. It has a 5.5″ DualTouch Screen, Ice Cream Sandwich OS, NVIDIA Tegra 2, WiFi, Bluetooth and 5MP camera. Have you seen or played with one? I asked because I had not, and had not read about it anywhere until then. Sorry that this is long entry. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Nate Hoffelder December 17, 2012 um 2:18 pm

First, you’re being overcharged for the Sony P:
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SGPT211US-S-5-5-Inch-Tablet/dp/B007SPUSIE

I have not played with it, no.


Eric Welch December 18, 2012 um 8:53 am

First, thanks for the notice about the price drop for the Nook HD+. I have been a fan of N2A cards for some time and have both a Nook Color, tablet and now HD+. The color is running Jelly Bean and I downloaded the new Jelly Bean for the HD+ right away. I’ve done a lot of experimenting and there are several factors that affect performance: 1.) the brand and quality of the micro SD card can hugely affect performance since Android is running off the card. I had one off-brand that I tried (the advantage of downloading the N2A image is you can loading on multiple cards) that was sluggish, rebooted itself, battery life was terrible, etc. I changed cards and performance altered dramatically. N2A should require people to use only specific types and brands of cards.

2.) Leaving wireless on has a dramatic impact on battery life, especially if you have many apps and set them for automatic updating. So many apps go through iterations of updates, that leaving wireless on overnight can suck a battery down. I recommend creating a shortcut to the wireless setting and just disconnecting wireless when you are done using it. Having a short display sleep time also makes a difference.

I ran into this with my itouches. When Apple upgraded a couple of years ago to a new version it destroyed battery life. My older iTouch which I did not upgrade will go several weeks with wireless on and still have lots of battery life. My newer one that has iOS 5.1 (I won’t upgrade to 6) barely goes 24 hours before the battery is depleted and it’s a newer battery. Shutting off the wireless makes a huge difference. I suspect the newer software versions are constantly calling home or whatever using the wireless.

My Nook HD+ running Jelly Bean is operating flawlessly and thanks to you I got it for $200 plus the cost of a 32GB card and $19.95 for the N2A image. A great deal.


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