The Barnes & Patrician Corner Color stairs into the big time today with the release of its 1.2 software update, which finally delivers apps, email, and Web browsing to the versatile e-reader.
With the Nook People of color priced at $249 with no service contract, the added functionality is bound to catapult the device to the psyche of the bargain-tablet sort out.
The update is available today for sideloading onto the Nook Color via the Corner Color Site; information technology bequeath roll out as an o'er-the-air update via Wi-Fi in the coming weeks.
The Corner Vividness is migrating to Android 2.2, now with tolerate for Adobe Flash and AIR. Although the tablet retains the fully customized skin and user interface that pull round look not at all like Android, the update makes just about critical changes to high spot the new capabilities.
First off, the 'Extras' menu is renamed 'Apps'–which makes sense, given that the whole update is app-focused. Also, the Lend Me app merges into the new Nook Friends social app, which facilitates sharing passages via Facebook or Chirrup, for instance.
B&N's app strategy is curated and targeted. You calm down won't have access to the Google Humanoid Grocery store or Google services. Instead, you'll buy apps via B&N's online bookstore. Apps put up be books or strange supplemental content, or favorites such as games and productivity tools.
The caller says that over 5000 developers have registered in the program, and just two weeks ago B&N deployed tools and services for the developers to submit their apps. Already the company has requests for submission of hundreds of apps; o'er 125 wish be easy at launch.
User Requested
In adding apps as well as pill features, B&N focused on the types of things that users requested. Games ranked high, as did pedagogy, reference, learning, and children's apps. (And, naturally, POP3 netmail and better Web browsing.) The apps are separated into sections, labeled Play, Organize, Learn, Explore, Life-style, News, and Kids. Among the big names are Angry Birds, Dr. Seuss, Epicurious, Lonely Major planet (which starts with its Phrasebooks series), More Mastermind Exercises, My-Cast, Pulse, and Uno.
In the revolutionary OS, users get e-mail, with presets for AOL Mail, Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo Mail already in place; no Exchange server support is built-in, but an app is available for that. Calendar and note-taking apps also come with the free update. These apps join the other carry offerings on the Corner Color, which include Cheat, Contacts, Crossword Perplex, Gallery, Pandora Net Radio, and Sudoku apps. The new apps oversubscribed via the B&N storefront will range in price, with uncomplete the collection available at establish costing $3 or to a lesser extent. At the storefront, you terminate shop for apps separately–or, if the detail you're sounding for is a Holy Scripture app, you'll find it interspersed with e-playscript offerings.
Steal an app in a single click, and it will download and install onto the Corner Color. Installed apps bequeath be accessible via the Apps folder, merely those apps that are interactive books will too end astir in the Corner Color's library, and organized happening shelves. On the Nook Color's home screen, app icons wish behave just as book and intermittent icons dress today: They'll come along in the active shelf at the behind, and you can pluck them out to rest happening the home sieve itself. As with books, the most past app items stack to the larboard, and curlicue to the right.
Porting Android Apps Is Easy
B&N says that part of its goal with its developer platform is to make sure that apps are tailored for the Nook Coloration. "It is easy to port an app from Humanoid to Nook Color," says Claudia Romanini, director of developer relations. "Our SDK is an extension of the standard Android SDK. Developers wear't have to do untold other than polish of features not endorsed past our hardware (GPS, camera, telephony), so rescale the app in terms of baptistry sizes and graphics, to make sure it works connected our display."
To boot to the big app news, B&adenylic acid;N is rolling come out some enhancements to its cyclic reader, including adding a navigation slider ginmill in the roundabout to avail you better find your place in the magazine, and widening the landscape painting column of the article view. Magazines remain popular among Nook Colouration users: B&A;N has sold all over 1 million digital periodical subscription orders and one-man copies via the Nook Color.
The Nook Color isn't the just about versatile tablet out there today, simply this update will certainly cover the twist's usefulness–and information technology will help to transform the face of the low-end pad food market, too. The Nook Color packs a Texas Instruments ARM Cerebral cortex-A8 800MHz C.P.U., 8GB of internal memory, and a 1024-aside-600-pixel display that's optimized to minimize spotlight and provide sharp text for reading; IT also has a MicroSDHC card slot for up 32GB of additional storage. With those specs, the Nook People of color is no powerhouse, and the lack of full app functionality and Google services whitethorn be a drawback for some people. Nevertheless, the comparatively sweet $249 price and the optimized reading screen make the Corner Color a better deal than ever.
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