How to Hack Your Nook Color into a Full (But Cheap) Android Tablet

How to Hack Your Nook Color into a Full (But Cheap) Android Tablet

Thanks to online music services like eMusic and iTunes, compact discs are becoming a far distant memory, turning local music shops around the country into desolate wastelands. The once mighty movie rental store Blockbuster is now bankrupt because of online streaming services like Hulu and Netflix. And Borders and Barnes & Noble are closing stores left and right thanks to eBooks available on eReaders, like the Amazon Kindle. Everything is moving to the digital world, and everything is finding smaller, more compact ways of viewing it.

But chances are, you're not willing to pay the expensive prices for those "jack of all trades" devices—the tablet computers that let you read eBooks, watch movies and listen to music on just one device. These days, the Apple iPad will run you at least $500, and the new Motorola XOOM will cost you a whopping minimum of $800.

A tablet would merely be a luxury item for most of us. If you want to listen to music, you'll get one of the many, cheap MP3 players available. If you want to watch movies, try the iPod Touch. If you want to read digital books, then you'll more than likely settle for the Kindle or the NOOK. But what if there was a way to bypass the hefty price tag of tablet computers? What if you could turn your NOOK into an Android tablet, capable of playing movies and music.

Well, it is possible—with Barnes & Noble's Nook Color (NOOKcolor, if you try using their hip stylized branding à la iPod).

B&N launched the Nook Color to combat the success of the Kindle, offering more interaction than conventional e-book readers. With its color touchscreen and integrated-web apps, you'd think it was an Android tablet.

Oh, wait—IT IS!

Something that isn't explicitly stated on B&N's website is that their Nook Color uses Google's Android mobile operating system. That means it's made to run the Android OS, so why settle for the dumbed down version when you can have the full OS? The most the Nook Color will cost you is $250. I don't know about you, but that sure makes me think twice about getting an iPad or XOOM.

In order to turn your Nook Color into a powerful Android tablet, you have to "root" it, which means you'll be gaining access to the the operating system and making unauthorized changes. In this case, we'll be using the ADB (the Android loader from the Android SDK) to install apps on the Nook Color.