Rooted Nook Color Delivers Android Experience on a Cheap $250 Tablet

From its onset, Barnes & Noble had intended for the Nook Color to be a completely curated experience with nary a visible trace of the underlying Android operating system; the device is heavily skinned to run the Nook user interface, which gives a great e-reading experience. However, that curated experience means that traditional Android apps cannot be loaded onto the device, and users will have to wait for an update to the device and for Barnes & Noble to launch its own curated applications storefront. Some users found that not quite acceptable and have resorted to the process of rooting to bring the full Android experience to the tablet, making it one of the cheapest Android tablets in the U.S. market at $250. With a strong build quality and low price, early pictures of the device’s rooting process seem to indicate that Angry Birds is playable and installable from the trials and triumphs of hackers on XDA-Developers. It’s unclear if you lose the Nook Color UI as part of the hack at this time, but if you do, you can probably sideload the Nook Android app to take care of your e-reading.

Casey Pham
Categories: Gadgets
Tags: Android, android tablet, barnes & noble, nook, nook color, rooting