“What!” you say. “How is that possible?”
Well, the Barnes and Noble Nook Color e-reader runs Google’s open-source Android operating system under the hood. That’s how Barnes and Noble made the Nook; they took the programming code to Android, which was freely available on the web, and turned it into the Nook’s sleek user experience. It saved them a lot of time and effort, and made the Nook Color possible.
The Nook Color’s default user interface, though, while shiny, doesn’t lend itself to much besides reading and web browsing. And the few apps it has in its market pale in comparison to the Android Market’s selection. If you want to turn your Nook Color into a real Android tablet, there are two ways to go about it:
Method One: Do it yourself
The-ebook-reader.com has a step-by-step guide that will show you how to take the tablet version of Android, called Honeycomb, and load it into a MicroSD memory card. Then you just plug it in, and voila! Restart your Nook Color, and it’s an Android tablet. If you want to go back to normal, just turn it off and pull out the memory card.
There are a couple of downsides to this method, though. First, you’re using what is essentially a preview version of Honeycomb, which probably still has all the bugs that have been worked out since (and there were a lot). That’s because Google hasn’t made Honeycomb open-source yet, even though it’s been out for months.
Second, you have to do it yourself. This may not be much of a problem for those of you who like to get your hands dirty, so to speak. The rest of us, though, who can barely tell a USB port from a VGA cable, may not feel quite so adventurous.
Method Two: N2A (formerly known as Nook2Android)
A business called N2A sells custom-made memory cards that have Android already installed. Just buy one from their online store, and you’re good to go!
So what are the downsides? First, it can cost as much as $50. Second, the cards only have Android 2.3 Gingerbread on them, the most recent version of Android that is open-source … and since it’s designed for smartphones, that rules out running the few Android apps that were made for tablets on your Nook Color.
Finally, N2A is kind of operating under the radar. Its Amazon product pages include legal disclaimers that say that you are not paying for Android, but for the memory card and the labor. It’s already had to change its name at least once, presumably to avoid trademark infringement, and it’s bundling Google apps like the Android Marketplace, which aren’t open-source.
If you don’t feel confident enough to try it out on your own, you could always go this route! A “real” Android tablet can cost $299-$399, though, depending on what sales and promotions you get. So spending too much more money on top of the Nook Color’s $249 price tag doesn’t seem to make sense.