a look at anything technology related

So after rooting my Nook Color that came pre-installed with Android 2.1, and playing with SD bootable versions of Android 2.2 and honeycomb 3.0, I finally decided to check out Android 2.3 in the form of CyanogenMod 7.



According to their “About” page, CyanogenMod is a “customized, aftermarket firmware distribution for several Android devices”. CM is basically a group of android developers that are very talented at modifying the Android open source project source code for developing ROMs for a range of hardware devices. And back in January of this year, CyanogenMod decided that the Nook Color was a worthy hardware candidate.

Since that time, the community has been busy squeezing every ounce of functionality out of the Nook Color. Almost every night, the group offers up a new nightly ROM that is based on bug fixes and new features that the team has worked on. It should be said that the ROMs are still in the development stage and that’s why they are being updated so frequently. Early adopters are basically guinea pigs that are helping by testing the equipment and running into bugs. So at this point, you should understand that if you decide to try out CM7, it could break (although highly doubtful) your Nook Color.

My first CM7 build was nightly 14. I used the installation instructions found on the Nook Devs website. Installing CM7 was painless but it should be pointed out that unlike the Nook Froyo and Nook Honeycomb builds that run off the MicroSD card, CM7 is installed and run off of the internal flash. That means that you overwrite the stock 2.1 version that B&N shipped with your Nook Color. Rest assured however, there is a way that you can reinstall the stock OS if you want too.



Once installed and booted, I immediately fell in love with my Nook Color all over again. The CM7 build was fast and responsive. The stock web browser worked fine but I would recommend downloading the Opera mini browser. Opera simply flies on the Nook Color and pinch-to-zoom is very snappy.

About a week after installing nightly build 14, the big news came out that the CM7 team had finally gotten Bluetooth working. This was huge as Bluetooth wasn’t even supported by B&N. After tearing down a Nook Color and running some tests, it turned out that the wireless chip indeed did have a Bluetooth radio built-in so it was simply a matter of unlocking it. The CM7 team found the keys to that locked and opened up the door to Nook Color users pairing a wide array of devices including keyboards, headsets and even the Wii remote!

So wanting to try out Bluetooth, I upgraded to CM7 nightly build 19. The upgrade process is really easy and is simply a matter of flashing the new build on top of the old. All your applications and settings remain so you don’t have to start over from scratch. It’s really slick.

Anyway, since I lost my Bluetooth headset (again) the only Bluetooth device I had laying around was my Wiimote so I decided to test it out with a NES emulator. When I first attempted to turn on Bluetooth however, it didn’t want to stay on. It would attempt to turn on and then simply turn itself back off. I tried to reboot a couple of times and even re-flashed the nightly build. Nothing worked. Then I happened to read on an XDA-developers thread that you must “hard reboot” the Nook Color to get Bluetooth to work. A “hard reboot” is when you hold the power button down until it turns off…approximately 10 seconds or so. Apparently, this is different than using the Reboot or Shutdown software methods within the OS itself.

Anyway, the reboot did the trick and I was able to turn on Bluetooth. My next problem came when I attempted to pair my Wii remote to the NC. When I tried, it asked me to enter in a PIN for the Wiimote. And everything I tried (1234, 0000 etc) didn’t work. It turns out that to get the Wii remote and several other Bluetooth peripherals (such as keyboards) working, you actually need to download and install special software to do the pairing instead of the OS itself. For the Wii remote I downloaded WiimoteController. Once installed, you can use this software to pair your Wiimote using Bluetooth and it never asks you for a PIN.

I spent the next few minutes with a NES emulator and was very impressed with the responsiveness of button presses on the Wii remote. One thing to note however is that the range is not so great. I probably got about 6 feet of range which is more than enough for the Wii remote but I hear that other devices only get 1-3 feet which is a bit close. I’m hoping that the range can be extended to at least 10 feet but for now, I’m very happy.

Having Bluetooth on the NC also lets you pair keyboards and the all-important headset. Due to the fact that the Nook Color lacks a microphone, having a bluetooth headset lets you use all kinds of microphone-based apps including Google’s voice control and Skype. But unfortunately, I haven’t gotten the chance to go out and buy a new Bluetooth headset so I can’t tell you about how they work just yet. But stay tuned!

The only negative thing I have to say about the CM7 build on my Nook Color is the lack of “quality” video. The CM7 team is struggling a bit to get the hardware video codecs working properly and therefore, your only video options are apps that process video in software such as RockPlayer Lite. But until video gets fixed, the quality maybe 5 FPS which is pretty poor. But in the latest couple of builds, it seems like the CM7 crew is starting to crack the hardware video processing code so it should only be a matter of days until CM7 on the Nook Color will be absolutely perfect.