There are two
well-defined strains of the tablet at present. The first of these is the true
‘tablet’ style tablet – your Nexuses (Nexi?) and the realm of Jelly Bean toting
devices from the likes of HP and AUS. The other is the ‘eBook reader’ style
tablet – Kindle Fire, Nook HD – devices that look like tablets but in reality
function as color versions of their e-Ink siblings, with a few bells and whistles
thrown in such as apps, video and browsing. The latter devices are often cheaper
than the former as their use is more limited and they’ll use is more limited
and they’ll tie you into proprietary content provision platform. But what if
you could get one of the cheaper eBook reader type devices and turn it into a
fully-fledged Android tablet? All the flexibility of the tablet with the cost
of an eBook reader – surely, like world peace, this is an impossible dream?
The 7” Nook HD
Long term our readers
with sharp memories may remember a couple of years ago we turned the US-ago we
turned the US-only Barnes & Noble Nook (yes, we know they like the smaller
‘n’, but we don’t’) color eBook reader into one of the first Android 3.0 Honeycomb
tablets by simply running Android from a microSD card. It wasn’t perfect, but
it turned this eBook reader into a ‘proper’ tablet at price that undercut many
actual tablets at the time.
9” Nook HD+
Well, the nook is back
in the form of two impressive devices, the 7” Nook HD and the 9” Nook HD+. Both
are dual core and both are around as powerful as a Nexus, but the headline news
here are the screens. The Nook HD packs 1440 x 900 into its 7”, 16:9 screen,
while the nook HD+ bumps the specs even higher with a full 1920 x 1080 pixels
in its 9”, 16:9 screen. That means the Nook HD series in a similar PPI zone as
Apple’s Retina screens, meaning you have to look hard to see any pixels at all.
Compare them to any similarly priced tablet and you’ll find the Nook HD will
beat them down. One thing to note is that neither Nook has any form of camera
or GPS, so there will be no Skypeing or sat nav here.
“The Nook HD series is in a similar PPI
zone as Apple’s Retina screens”
An impressive screen
is one thing, but just how easy is it to convert these devices to fully
functional Android tablets? You’ll be glad to know that, if you’re prepared to
spend a few pounds, then it is literally as simple as writing to a microSD
card. Barnes & Noble have, for whatever reason, left in the ability to boot
to an OS from a microSD card, meaning to run Android, you just need a Nook HD-
friendly version on a card inserted into the device.
Currently the nook HD and HD+ are around
$179.69/$285.39
Sites such as
rootmynookcolor.como and n2acards.com offer downloads of nook HD and HD+
compatible versions of the Cyanogenmod 10 Android fork. Rootmynook offers the
latest version of Android – 4.2 – but is only available on a card direct from
themselves, meaning you’ll by paying around $37.75 for an 8GB card and then
have to wait for it to be sent form the US. If you already have a class 4
Sandisk card though, n2acards offers a download – so for around $18.12 – 22.65
you can have it written to the card in under a couple of hours. There’s also
the hardcore method – for those who are happy with the Android ADB drivers, odd
formatting and Linux VMs – and XDA is your friend there.
Currently the nook HD
and HD+ are around $179.69/$285.39, but search on eBay or CEX and you’ll find
them for as little as $105.7/$158.55, which for an Android tablet with a decent
spec and superb screen, is practically a steal.
