Developers claim to have root access to Barnes & Noble Nook reader #android
December 14, 2009 | by Andrew Kameka
The Barnes & Noble “Nook” ereader has been rooted. On Sunday night, the team of modders at NookDevs.com announced that they had discovered a DNS hack, followed by a teardown of the physical device to gain more information about how the Nook operates. After discovering that the Nook OS is run from the SD card, the team soon announced via Twitter “We have root.”
Technical jargon and process aside, what does this mean for people who own, or were considering getting, a Nook? When I asked one of the NookDevs, he said this means that the Nook could eventually do “everything a rooted android phone can do.” The practicality of that remains to be seen given that the Nook is quite different from a phone, however, his statement points out that there is a great deal of potential. The LCD screen of the Nook is used only for the purposes of navigation, but what if devs managed to run apps or tweak the UI? The small screen will likely make running apps undesirable without some clever work, but giving devs a crack at re-skinning/themeing the UI (or the underwhelming keyboard) could be appealing.
Also consider this: rooting the G1 led to custom ROM’s that improved battery life, several unlocked features, increased memory, and porting of entire systems to the phone. Now that the NookDevs have obtained root, you can bet changes are in store. When will they start discussing the next step to making those changes? I asked an hour after the announcement and was told “We are now.”
Will B&N ever sell enough nooks to make it worth the effort for developers? The google phone due out in Jan is said to be rooted out of the box. Maybe I'm missing something but why bother with nook when the google phone shall come down the pike shortly.
Barnes sold out everywhere and actually have trouble keeping up with the number of people who want a Nook. And it is a completely different product from a phone. The e-ink screen and content distribution provide a reading experience the Nook can't match, much like the Nexus will be a phone and media device. They're operating in two different realms.
Not to mention that the Nook is also targeting potential Kindle customers, which are many, while providing better services than Kindle does. The fact that it's rooted could mean more for its eventual popularity.
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