New Toy!

[ladysprite]

Okay - so a little while ago I mentioned that my e-reader was getting a little older, and I was lamenting my inability to read graphic novels on it, and I was thinking about getting a tablet, or a color e-reader of some sort. But I didn't NEED one, and so I decided to hold off on the purchase for the time being.

Until Barnes & Noble decided to make up my mind for me. They're having a promotion this week, and if you buy a Nook HD+ Tablet you apparently get a new Nook Simple Touch free. Which... kind of gets me both of the things I wanted. And I convinced myself that it wasn't a waste of money, or frivolous, or being a spendthrift, and that I really, *really* wanted to be able to read Sandman at work.

So now I have a tablet. Well, technically WE have one - this was bought for umbran and I to share, since it's better for him to read his comics on than the little tablet he's already got, and it'll generally be good to have around the house for gaming books and recipes and all sorts of stuff like that. But it's on my account, and it's shiny and new and exciting and at least half-mine.

Now all I need to do is figure out how to use it.... any suggestions for fun apps or other cool stuff?

Comments

[droewyn.livejournal.com]

Make sure you follow their Free Fridays blog -- there is a free book and a fee app every week.

http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/The-NOOK-Blog/bg-p/Unbound/label-name/free%20fridays

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow - that is crazy-awesome! Thank you for sharing!

[laurion]

Besides eBooks, I get a lot of mileage out of mine as an RSS reader, an alarm clock, and a todo list/notepad. And an interface to my digital calendar world. Live and die by the calendar.

Gaming books and recipes too, but those are a little more tied to specific activities rather than general purposes.

Oh, and of course, you could use it as a way to post to LJ from the couch.

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

If you find any neat Android apps, I'd love to know about them too.

Oh, and, trying to be mysterious and failing: "I hope you like bubble wrap".

(Maybe I should have tried for nefarious. Then I could try out my evil laugh....)

[droewyn.livejournal.com]

If you're at all interested in rooting your HD+, there are instructions here:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2169544

The directions are more than a little obtuse, but I finally got it working on mine.

The reason you may wish to do this is because B&N ties you to their app store, which is sadly limited. You can't sideload apps from other sources. As a result, I can't use my bank's app or a number of other apps from Google Play that I find indispensable on my phone.

This isn't a true "root" -- you're not replacing the stock OS. You're creating a bootable micro SD card which will run Android Ice Cream Sandwich. Take out the card and reboot, and you're back to Nook. Put it back in and reboot for Android ICS. You can't brick your tablet by doing this, because all the changes are external, and this will also not void your warranty.

Oh, and if you want to be my Nook Friend, I'm droewyn AT gmail DOT com. You can borrow books from my library. :)

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

Very cool - thank you! (And a thank-you from umbran as well, who plans to use this on his Nook tablet, too.)

And absolutely on the friends thing - I think my ID is becky *at* drbecky *dot* net; feel free to reciprocate! I even have the Shadow Unit books as lendable....