Hey Guys & Gals,
Just got a NC for the wife to use. She typically isn't a computer person because she sits at one all day for work, but really likes the idea of having a tablet to carry around the house and use for casual emailing, apps, games, music, and mobile video. The NC I got for her came with a free case from Best Buy and is 1.0.1. I used Autonooter to root it and have been loving the performance we have been giving out of this thing. I still need to perform a few more tweaks however to get it running smoothly for her.
Given that I've spent a good chunk of time wandering the internet in search of answers for my NC questions, I figured I'd 1) share some insights/sources with you all and 2) ask for your help and advice in other areas. I'd be greatly appreciative if you could shed any light or insight into some of my hanging issues so that I can get them resolved. Even if you could link to a post with more info that would be helpful. Where possible I've added current info that I know for each of these items. Without further adieu, here's the list, thanks in advance for your help:
LauncherPro Setup - I installed LauncherPro as I have the paid version of it on my phone and really dig the feature set it provides and customizability. The only drawbacks I've encountered thus far are 1) Inability to change the default taskbar (hate having unusable icons on my screen), 2) I can't place shortcuts by tapping and holding (used this mainly to customize the icons since when you place with tap and hold you get the option to change the icon). As far as #1 goes I read a post here that seems like it would work for removing the dock: Launcher Pro on Nook Color: how to remove/change dock shortcuts [Archive] - xda-developers so I'll probably do that using the provided LPP blank 'template' install, 2) Regarding placing shortcuts, I'm wondering if a tool like desktop visualizer could be used to assign custom icons to specific applications- anyone had any success with this? I'd really like to stick with LauncherPro if at all possible.
Overdrive Book Downloading Issues ePub - OverDrive works great on the NC, but I'm having issues downloading ePub's from the library overdrive site through Dolphin HD. I found a great thread on this very issue here: Color Overdrive Media Console on Rooted Nook Color - MobileRead Forums Seems like the people in this thread have found three options: 1) Use Stock Browser to download (which is kind of a pain if its the only thing you use it for), 2) Use a dropbox workaround by downloading it to your computer, add to dropbox, then open on the NC through dropbox and it'll load, or 3) save the webpage within Dolphin HD and then open the file through a file browser on the phone. The problem is that OverDrive books are Adobe Epubs, which seem to get treated differently than regular ePubs. Just wondering if someone got this working fluidly as it does on all other Android devices. There are workarounds, but I'm trying to make this as error proof as possible for my wife.
Gallery App - Short and sweet- what app are you all using for gallery and photos? The stock one sucks and is really limited. Also setting background images is a pain in the butt through stock. Anyone have any success with a freely available photo/gallery app?
Calendar Sync - Seem to be having weird sync issues with Calendar sync. I'm using LPP's calendar widget but when I add an item it never shows up on my home calendar or takes a very long time to do so. Also the other way around, when I add to my calendar on my computer or another device it rarely updates on the NC. I've heard it suggested to use Synker widget to force the sync, but it doesn't seem to work very well for me nor does is it the desired solution- I'de love to have this 'just work'. This hacking solution seems like a good fix but a little scary to be hacking around in the code- anyone done this and have good results? xda-developers - View Single Post - is google calendar still something that doesn't work? There's also this solution, but I wonder if it's a permanent fix or just a temporary one to manually push a sync: xda-developers - View Single Post - Calendar app
Alarm App - Another simple app recommendation needed here. I tried installing Alarm CLock PlusV2, which seems look a really spiffy app, but when I go to click on the alarm times I get a black window and then booted back to the alarm screen... so inability to set alarm times is a no go. Any body else suggest a good alarm app that they use for waking up to on their NC?
Audio Turns Off Until Reboot - I've heard that quite a few people suffer from this. The basic issue is this: sound works fine when powering on. However if you let it sleep for longer than 10 secs or so, the sound won't return until you boot off and boot on again. Very annoying. All my research thus far tells me that this is a NC problem, not a rooting problem. Found a post here that briefly discusses it: Color Nook Color sound problems - MobileRead Forums I could return the NC for another model in hopes that it doesn't do that, but I've heard of many people having the same issue. I've also heard that B&N was supposedly pushing an update to fix this in the future... anyone heard anything like that? Ideally I'd love to find a fix that is reliant on B&N that I could push myself to fix. Anyone heard of anything like this? Have you returned yours successfully to fix this issue or do you keep running into it? Oddly enough I also found a post here that seems to indicate the microSD card can be a culprit in causing this to happen and another poster that claims their issue was solved with an overclock kernel??? Nook Color and Sound Issue And finally I saw someone claim that 1.1 fixes this sound issue, but I'm not sure if should do that update yet or not on my rooted 1.0.1... is 1.1 stable? Found this link that speaks to that: [ROM] Nook Color V1.1.0_r2 [01/29/2011] - xda-developers Sounds like I made need to get ROM Manager and install Clockwork recovery for the first time.
Auto-Updates: This is kind of my end game. Once I have everything set up and working exactly how I want it for my wife, I plan on disabling these so that she doesn't have the tablet randomly break one day. Any suggestions on methods- seems like there's a lot out there but I'm wanting the best one for fool proof auto-update disabling. Provided that I'm successfully able to make the jump to 1.1 I think I'll stop there... here's to hoping. This seems to be the best solution that was suggested to me thus far: [ROOKIE][DEV][HOWTO] Permenant BN-OTA Update Block - xda-developers
YouTube - Again, heard this issue was present for a lot of people but can't remember how to fix it. YouTube app worked great when I first used AutoNooter, now it won't launch, just makes screen go black and then kicks me back to the main screen- thoughts? This link seems to state that its a known problem and you need to clear the user data: NookColor Rooting - nookDevs That would kind of suck though... I want to be able to be logged in to my account... any thoughts???
Flickering Screen - Not much I can do about this. We have been keeping the NC screen fairly low... notice a tiny bit of flickering when dark areas are on the screen. Not a huge deal, but wondered if anyone had any suggestions for fixing this? If not, we're still okay, just a small drawback.
Hopefully this long list helps save some newly rooted folks like myself some searching time. For those of you who can help with my question- many blessings to you- thanks!
-Stephen
Just got a NC for the wife to use. She typically isn't a computer person because she sits at one all day for work, but really likes the idea of having a tablet to carry around the house and use for casual emailing, apps, games, music, and mobile video. The NC I got for her came with a free case from Best Buy and is 1.0.1. I used Autonooter to root it and have been loving the performance we have been giving out of this thing. I still need to perform a few more tweaks however to get it running smoothly for her.
Given that I've spent a good chunk of time wandering the internet in search of answers for my NC questions, I figured I'd 1) share some insights/sources with you all and 2) ask for your help and advice in other areas. I'd be greatly appreciative if you could shed any light or insight into some of my hanging issues so that I can get them resolved. Even if you could link to a post with more info that would be helpful. Where possible I've added current info that I know for each of these items. Without further adieu, here's the list, thanks in advance for your help:
LauncherPro Setup - I installed LauncherPro as I have the paid version of it on my phone and really dig the feature set it provides and customizability. The only drawbacks I've encountered thus far are 1) Inability to change the default taskbar (hate having unusable icons on my screen), 2) I can't place shortcuts by tapping and holding (used this mainly to customize the icons since when you place with tap and hold you get the option to change the icon). As far as #1 goes I read a post here that seems like it would work for removing the dock: Launcher Pro on Nook Color: how to remove/change dock shortcuts [Archive] - xda-developers so I'll probably do that using the provided LPP blank 'template' install, 2) Regarding placing shortcuts, I'm wondering if a tool like desktop visualizer could be used to assign custom icons to specific applications- anyone had any success with this? I'd really like to stick with LauncherPro if at all possible.
Overdrive Book Downloading Issues ePub - OverDrive works great on the NC, but I'm having issues downloading ePub's from the library overdrive site through Dolphin HD. I found a great thread on this very issue here: Color Overdrive Media Console on Rooted Nook Color - MobileRead Forums Seems like the people in this thread have found three options: 1) Use Stock Browser to download (which is kind of a pain if its the only thing you use it for), 2) Use a dropbox workaround by downloading it to your computer, add to dropbox, then open on the NC through dropbox and it'll load, or 3) save the webpage within Dolphin HD and then open the file through a file browser on the phone. The problem is that OverDrive books are Adobe Epubs, which seem to get treated differently than regular ePubs. Just wondering if someone got this working fluidly as it does on all other Android devices. There are workarounds, but I'm trying to make this as error proof as possible for my wife.
Gallery App - Short and sweet- what app are you all using for gallery and photos? The stock one sucks and is really limited. Also setting background images is a pain in the butt through stock. Anyone have any success with a freely available photo/gallery app?
Calendar Sync - Seem to be having weird sync issues with Calendar sync. I'm using LPP's calendar widget but when I add an item it never shows up on my home calendar or takes a very long time to do so. Also the other way around, when I add to my calendar on my computer or another device it rarely updates on the NC. I've heard it suggested to use Synker widget to force the sync, but it doesn't seem to work very well for me nor does is it the desired solution- I'de love to have this 'just work'. This hacking solution seems like a good fix but a little scary to be hacking around in the code- anyone done this and have good results? xda-developers - View Single Post - is google calendar still something that doesn't work? There's also this solution, but I wonder if it's a permanent fix or just a temporary one to manually push a sync: xda-developers - View Single Post - Calendar app
Alarm App - Another simple app recommendation needed here. I tried installing Alarm CLock PlusV2, which seems look a really spiffy app, but when I go to click on the alarm times I get a black window and then booted back to the alarm screen... so inability to set alarm times is a no go. Any body else suggest a good alarm app that they use for waking up to on their NC?
Audio Turns Off Until Reboot - I've heard that quite a few people suffer from this. The basic issue is this: sound works fine when powering on. However if you let it sleep for longer than 10 secs or so, the sound won't return until you boot off and boot on again. Very annoying. All my research thus far tells me that this is a NC problem, not a rooting problem. Found a post here that briefly discusses it: Color Nook Color sound problems - MobileRead Forums I could return the NC for another model in hopes that it doesn't do that, but I've heard of many people having the same issue. I've also heard that B&N was supposedly pushing an update to fix this in the future... anyone heard anything like that? Ideally I'd love to find a fix that is reliant on B&N that I could push myself to fix. Anyone heard of anything like this? Have you returned yours successfully to fix this issue or do you keep running into it? Oddly enough I also found a post here that seems to indicate the microSD card can be a culprit in causing this to happen and another poster that claims their issue was solved with an overclock kernel??? Nook Color and Sound Issue And finally I saw someone claim that 1.1 fixes this sound issue, but I'm not sure if should do that update yet or not on my rooted 1.0.1... is 1.1 stable? Found this link that speaks to that: [ROM] Nook Color V1.1.0_r2 [01/29/2011] - xda-developers Sounds like I made need to get ROM Manager and install Clockwork recovery for the first time.
Auto-Updates: This is kind of my end game. Once I have everything set up and working exactly how I want it for my wife, I plan on disabling these so that she doesn't have the tablet randomly break one day. Any suggestions on methods- seems like there's a lot out there but I'm wanting the best one for fool proof auto-update disabling. Provided that I'm successfully able to make the jump to 1.1 I think I'll stop there... here's to hoping. This seems to be the best solution that was suggested to me thus far: [ROOKIE][DEV][HOWTO] Permenant BN-OTA Update Block - xda-developers
YouTube - Again, heard this issue was present for a lot of people but can't remember how to fix it. YouTube app worked great when I first used AutoNooter, now it won't launch, just makes screen go black and then kicks me back to the main screen- thoughts? This link seems to state that its a known problem and you need to clear the user data: NookColor Rooting - nookDevs That would kind of suck though... I want to be able to be logged in to my account... any thoughts???
Flickering Screen - Not much I can do about this. We have been keeping the NC screen fairly low... notice a tiny bit of flickering when dark areas are on the screen. Not a huge deal, but wondered if anyone had any suggestions for fixing this? If not, we're still okay, just a small drawback.
Hopefully this long list helps save some newly rooted folks like myself some searching time. For those of you who can help with my question- many blessings to you- thanks!
-Stephen
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