Nook Tablet rooted for Android Market support

If you were thinking about getting the Nook Tablet, but were put off by the fact that it lacked Android Market access by default the fix is in. The Nook Tablet has been rooted to give the little 7-inch tablet unofficial access to the Android Market. Before this hack, the apps had to be sideloaded so a direct access hack to the Market is welcome. The root is a bit more complex than some Android hacks we have seen in the past where you only need to make a click to do the deed. The hack requires that the owner of the tablet install the Android Software Developer Kit and the Java developer kit. After that is installed, the user has to enable adb on the Nook Tablet then copy and mod the Android Market app itself. Those steps will add access...

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Barnes & Noble reveals Microsoft’s Android patents in detail

Last week Barnes & Noble lobbied United States regulators to investigate Microsoft, on the basis that its lawsuits and licensing agreements with Android OEMs constituted monopolistic behavior. The first fruit of this effort is a detailed look at the patents that Microsoft has been using to pressure manufacturers into licensing deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Barnes & Noble seems determined to keep from paying Microsoft for its Nook line of e-readers and tablets. Barnes & Noble contends that the patents are frivolous and trivial, most of them containing considerable prior art that existed long before the patents were awarded. There’s nothing to say that the six patents outlined in the case against Barnes &...

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Barnes & Noble fires back at Microsoft, calls for investigation

At least one manufacturer isn’t kowtowing to Microsoft’s Android licensing push: Barnes & Noble is actively fighting Microsoft’s patent litigation in court. As an added bonus, the bookseller has urged US regulators to investigate Microsoft’s patents and the claims therein. B&N asserts that Microsoft is trying to drive up the price of the Android devices it competes with, thereby making its own Windows Phone 7 more attractive to manufacturers and consumers. The claims seem valid enough. 53% of Android devices sold already pay some sort of royalty or kickback to Microsoft, the result of some extremely aggressive court battles and the resultant licensing deals. HTC and Samsung are among the biggest players affected, and tellingly,...

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NOOK Color officially drops to $199, goes head to head with Kindle Fire

Just like the leaked internal deck predicted, the venerable Nook Color is getting a price drop now that the Nook Tablet is official. The original will cost just $199, going head-to-head with the Amazon Kindle Fire while the Nook Tablet competes with some superior specs at $249. The price has already dropped on Barnes & Noble’s NOOK website. Also included is a major update to the Nook Color software, which is still getting some impressive support a year after its initial release. Netflix support is coming in the next firmware update, with Hulu Plus support scheduled in the next few months – both of which the Kindle Fire lacks, relying instead on Amazon Instant Video.  The ebook and app libraries already on offer will be streamlined...

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NOOK Tablet vs Kindle Fire: what will you buy?

Today at an event in NYC Barnes & Noble announced the new NOOK Tablet and most of the event they were quick to point out how much better it was compared to the Kindle Fire tablet from Amazon. We saw most of the specs leak late last week on the new NOOK Tablet so nothing was a huge surprise today, either way head down past the break for the details and comparison on these two tablets.First off lets start with the NOOK Tablet, announced this morning with a slew of top tier specs all for a great price. We have a 7″ LG IPS diplay with a 1024 x 600 resolution powered by a TI OMAP 1.0 GHz dual-core processor. Being very similar here with the Fire, this is where things take a change. The NOOK has 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage...

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Kobo Vox available now, beats Kindle Fire and Nook Color 2 to market

The e-reader tablet market that the original Nook Color opened up last year is about to explode, and dark horse Kobo doesn’t intend to linger around the starting gate. The company’s Kobo Vox reader, with a form factor and specs that fall roughly in line with Barnes & Noble and Amazon’s offerings, is available online at retailers across the U.S. and Canada. The Android Gingerbread based tablet is tied into the Kobo bookstore, and costs $199.99 – almost exactly the same price as the upcoming Kindle Fire.Like its competitors, the Vox isn’t designed to light the world on fire with powerhouse specifications. A 7-inch, 1024 x 600 screen is optimized for book and periodical reading, while a modest 800Mhz processor and 512MB of RAM should...

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