Device Tips

Worried that an OTA update will put a crimp in your Nook Tablet modding activities? Then you may want to follow the lead of xda-developers member Indirect, who has managed to tweak the tablet to block all OTA updates and kindly provided the means for you to do the same. That involves installing a few files on your device (another method is also available that involve tweaking some files), but Indirect says that the process “holds no risk,” and that it won’t prevent you from buying books from Barnes & Noble.

Many people think that B&N makes money on the sales of content it provides, that’s the reason they are able to sell the hardware so cheap (Or at least cheaper). Rooting and flashing custom roms will get rid of the pre-loaded Nook apps and B&N will lose the chance to make more money.

Jealous of that root-ready Kindle Fire, but not ready to trudge through the Amazon to get it? Don’t worry, you can stay huddled up with your Nook Tablet and get all the device rooting you want — with a few caveats. Although the good folks on the XDA Forums haven’t unlocked the slab’s bootloader just yet, they’ve managed to root the tablet all the same. Jumping through a few technical hoops (or stumbling across forum user Indirect’s one-click Windows utility) will score you access to the Android market and another way to sideload apps on the souped up slate.

Obviously you need to root if you want to run apps that require superuser permissions. Obviously the Nook Tablet has been rooted, so it’s not necessarily any more “locked down” than the Fire is, unless the Fire has an unlocked bootloader.

Some people hold this opinion that ” The original Nook was very popular among enthusiasts for it’s openness.  Barnes & Noble saw that and said – we’ll lock down it’s successor to the bootloader level. Part of the reason they can make them so cheap is because they are counting on you to spend money on their other services. By allowing everyone to easily put CM9 on this, they’d likely lose a good bit of the money they would have made from sales.  ”

I’m not sure how Amazon is going to suck up those losses though, considering they also sell the Kindle Fire at extremely low prices. Maybe even at a slight loss?