Nookie Froyo - the NC's first custom ROM

[Will Shanklin]

The first custom ROM for the NOOKcolor is Nookie Froyo, from developer cicada. Based off of stock Android 2.2, this ROM is, in my opinion, an upgrade in almost every way from stock Barnes & Noble--and it's only going to improve with time.

Among the features it includes that you won't get with the stock ROM are:

- Adobe Flash 10.1 capability (not working perfectly, but working nonetheless)

- improved speed

- native copy/paste

- the ability to install Froyo-only apps

- full and direct access to the Android settings menu

- the option to use the stock Android browser

- native Google Contacts support and syncing

- working User Agent (the device/OS info you give to websites, which determines which version of the page you get) switching in all browsers

- Swype capability (with some tweaking...)

- correctly-sized status bar (no matter what LCD Density you're using) on the top of the screen instead of the B&N status bar on the bottom

- better performance on lower CPU scaling (300) for potentially better battery life

- no concern whatsoever about Barnes & Noble pushing an over-the-air update that breaks root and restores your data

- and probably much more we're forgetting . . .

One of the amazing things about a ROM that boots off an SD Card is that you don't even have to be rooted to run it! You could keep your nook's internal memory just as it was when you opened the box, pop in your Nookie SD, and be running Froyo!

This is good news for those who are leery of making drastic modifications to an expensive device's file system. While there are no legal guarantees with any of this, your NC's internal memory goes nearly untouched while running Nookie Froyo, so the odds of you putting your device in a state that would obviously compromise your warranty agreement are very very low here.

A few things that currently AREN'T working:

- Flash video can be a little choppy right now (future updates to the ROM will likely remedy this)

- the YouTube app doesn't want to play videos (though there are still ways to see youtube, see nookie tips thread)

- Pandora and certain audio files aren't currently playing . . . So if you're wanting to fulfill your music needs with the nook, you might want to stick with the stock ROM until those kinks get worked out in an update.

- the browser crashes on location requests (switching to desktop User Agent can fix this)

Check out our how-to and tips for Nookie Froyo!

 

[gregh]

wow, this will be awesome since the wife doesnt want me to root no mater how good i tell her it could be. so this boots off the SD card? i can pop it in and out and she would never know?

 

[aludal]

wow, this will be awesome since the wife doesnt want me to root no mater how good i tell her it could be. so this boots off the SD card? i can pop it in and out and she would never know?

It does. However, I would not recommend to install it as a regular ROM when there's no complete Clockwork recovery available yet, plus no good testing of flashable original 1.0.1 ROM has been done yet.

Other bitter bits are:

-- I presume, kernel is not up to what Android 2.2 expects;
-- no new, hardware accelerated 2D/3D drivers, just stock 2.1. So, forget about Flash 10.1 and HD YouTube (reports have it, even HQ YouTube which works just fine on NC with A2.1 stopped working on Froyo)
-- tons of FCs of unknown origin (quirky calibration routine? bad touchscreen driver?).

My money is on CM7. Then, there must be a team of good devs of A2.3 for Droid 2/X (OMAP3630 which is roughly NC's OMAP3621) and it's worth watching them too, at least at their OC successes.

 

[gregh]

It does. However, I would not recommend to install it as a regular ROM when there's no complete Clockwork recovery available yet, plus no good testing of flashable original 1.0.1 ROM has been done yet.

Other bitter bits are:

-- I presume, kernel is not up to what Android 2.2 expects;
-- no new, hardware accelerated 2D/3D drivers, just stock 2.1. So, forget about Flash 10.1 and HD YouTube (reports have it, even HQ YouTube which works just fine on NC with A2.1 stopped working on Froyo)
-- tons of FCs of unknown origin (quirky calibration routine? bad touchscreen driver?).

My money is on CM7. Then, there must be a team of good devs of A2.3 for Droid 2/X (OMAP3630 which is roughly NC's OMAP3621) and it's worth watching them too, at least at their OC successes.

are there any links to CM7 forums? or do they have anyone talking about what they are testing?