This last year has seen a flood of affordable, online retail store supported small tablets come out. The success of the Kindle Fire HD and the Nook HD and HD+ are hard to ignore, but some of us snobbier technophiles are having a hard time accepting these tablets as “real” tablets. After all, both these brands are locked into their own OS, app store, and are really good for not much more than reading and watching a few movies.
Barnes and Noble is flipping that notion its head by integrating with Google and bringing the Play Store to the Nook HD and HD+. Suddenly, the Nook has pulled far ahead of it’s Amazonian competitor, offering a significant increase in apps available.
I’ve said time and time again; it’s about apps, apps apps! Unless you happen to be Apple and own the largest app store in the mobile market, locking users down to something like the Amazon Appstore just isn’t going to cut it. Consumers want MOAR APPS, and Barnes and Noble’s integration with Google was a very smart move on their part.
Barnes and Noble CEO William Lynch says: “We saw coming off holiday the market moved to multifunction tablets. Consumer research showed us the breadth of applications available is really critical…This addresses the one perceived gap that we had with other tablets virtually overnight.”
How does one get the update? Like this:
The ver2.1.0 update is available over the coming weeks as an automatic download that will roll out to NOOK HD customers connected to Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi should be turned ON and connected to a hotspot, and the device should be left in sleep mode). Or to get the software update right now, be sure you are connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot, tap the Settings icon in the Status bar at the top of your screen, tap on All Settings, then tap on Device Information, and check to see that your Software version matches the number at the top of this page. If it does not, tap on Software version and then tap on the Check for updates button. Follow any on-screen instructions, Do not turn-off your device while it is downloading or installing a software update.
You may also follow the instructions above for a manual download of the software update. The process will take 5-10 minutes for a manual download (depending on your Internet connection). You should NOT turn your NOOK off while the new software is being downloaded.
Once the software update is completed, your NOOK will automatically restart. The software update will preserve your personal settings, including your registered account information, content, display settings, and Wi-Fi settings.
Enjoy your “new” tablet!
source | nook hd, nook hd+
