Help Sideloading...

[Ih8apple]

So my wife decided she wanted a tablet. I have a nexus 7, after tiring of being locked up with a Kindle Fire.

Well, she reads a lot of magazines, so I thought a bigger screen would be better for her, so I decided to get her a 10". Well, the Nexus 10 is $500, and she isn't real good at using Android anyway, so I got her a B&N Nook 9". Simpler interface, big screen half the price...

So I take it out of the box and try to get things set up for her... my God! I thought the Amazon app store was pathetic, the B&N one should be ashamed of itself. They don't even have friggin facebook!

So... with my old Kindle, I was able to sideload certain things (like a real browser, some google apps like currents, etc) by downloading the apk from 4shared, using ESfile explorer to run it, etc.

Is that possible on the nook? I read that they have the hard drive partitioned funny where that may not be possible? I really think if I could get her the standard facebook app, and maybe chrome or dolphin browser, she'd be happy with it.

Also, I would like to put swipe beta on it. Is that possible? I doubt it, but has anyone tried?

I for one will never ever stray away from the warm open goodness of a nexus with wide open android, but my wife has different needs than I do, and I think I can make this work for her...

 

[grimlok78]

Don't know if you are still having issues with your nook, I recently purchased one and found a website N2acards.com, they sell a sd card($50) or a download ($20) that will install Android 4.?? on it and unlock all the capabilities. Very easy to do and well worth the money. Hope this helps

 

[philovance]

+1.this. I have the Nook HD+ running JB 4.1.2 with an androidfornook.com card. Download is only $10 and support is great. Also tried N2A but had problems they couldn't resolve and got a refund. Keep in mind that if you boot off the card the os will no longer see the Nook's internal storage. However., it will show up if connected as an mtp device and you can copy over media that some apps like mx player will see on start up.

 

[rfortson]

I'd like to sideload the Uverse app if possible. I'm not looking to root it (right now) as I like the stock nook reader and got tired of switching back and forth on my nook color.

So, can you sideload on a non-rooted nook?

 

[mogelijk]

I'd like to sideload the Uverse app if possible. I'm not looking to root it (right now) as I like the stock nook reader and got tired of switching back and forth on my nook color.

So, can you sideload on a non-rooted nook?

It looks, based on XDA threads, that some have sideloaded apps with the 2.1 update. You can find the thread here, which includes a thread showing the steps they used.

 

[rfortson]

It looks, based on XDA threads, that some have sideloaded apps with the 2.1 update. You can find the thread here, which includes a thread showing the steps they used.

Thanks! I need to monitor that thread. I appreciate you pointing me to it.

 

[Tadb123]

Thanks for the input, I checked the thread and it looks like all explanations for side loading were on a rooted device. If anyone knows how to sideload without rooting, please let me know. I really just want a specific game that is in Google Play, but"incompatible for my device." I've downloaded it from sources such as 1mobile, but nook won't let me install it , saying something about security.

 

[grimlok78]

What game?

 

[Tadb123]

It's called "Texas Poker" by Kamagames. Their website is pokerist.com, and they have an android app download on it, but when you try to download it's also "not compatible. " I've found several apk sites that have the app, such as 1mobile, but none will install. They give a message that I can't install apps that aren't in the "Nook Store. " There are two other news apps I can't install, "USA Today," and " B/R Team Stream." Seems that the recent software update, 2.1, now prevents sideloading.

 

[mogelijk]

It has frustrated me just how many apps are "incompatible" with the Nook, and it is what led me to add CM 10.1. I could have lived without some apps but when basic apps like the Weather Channel and Wikipedia won't load...

 

[jae_63]

Yes, I have spent a fair amount of time researching this problem, using ClipIntent Free in conjunction with ES File Explorer on the rooted partition of my nook HD+, using an AndroidForNook card. Using these tools, you can study AndroidManifest.xml files packaged inside APKs.

The problem is that developers often require the GPS and/or camera, when it is not essential to the operation of an app. For example, including the uses-permission for CAMERA implicitly requires camera hardware, unless the developer explicitly states <uses-feature android.name=android.hardware.camera android:required=false>

Similarly, if an app uses the ANDROID_FINE_LOCATION permission, it implicitly requires android.hardware.location.gps, unless the latter is explicitly stated to be unneeded.

Trying to convince developers to make these minor changes is tough. E.g., I would like to be able to use the BankOfAmerica app on my unrooted partition, but have little hope of contacting the right people. But the developer of Puffin Free did recently make his app compatible, although I don't know whether my request triggered that action.

 

[Tadb123]

These various responses to sideloading issues make me think of a bigger question with Android based devices of all kinds. I'm sure that there is a simple answer, but since I'm not a computer scientist maybe someone can help me understand.

The Microsoft operating system has been used by most PC and laptop hardware manufacturers for over 25+ years. Virtually every week Microsoft will notify and offer free updates/fixes/patches to their software. These updates are offered to every brand manufacturer at the same time . Why is it that Google only offers the latest Android OS updates to their Nexus line of devices, and everyone else has to wait for the manufacturer of their specific hardware to release an update. The latest version of the Android OS is 4.2.2, and most Android based devices out there still do not have it. A lot of tablets are still running ICS; jellybean is not even available to them. To me, that would be like certain manufacturers, using the Microsoft Windows OS , only having Windows Vista available for their brand PC or laptop, and others having Windows 8.

I've heard this is because Android is a much simpler/cheaper OS than Windows, and requires hardware specific drivers to run; and those manufacturers have to rewrite their drivers each time there is an update. Come to think of it, I've never heard of developers rooting the OS or modifying the stock ROM in a Windows OS.

Can anyone enlighten me, please?

 

[EarlyMon]

Be glad to.

Your pc is a general purpose device, marketed that way.

As you've noticed, the Nexus is the Android equivalent.

Your Nook is an appliance aimed at selling you Barnes and Noble stuff. My phone is basically a Sprint appliance with a manufacturer-built os based on open source Android, same rule applies to your Nook.

Based on Android is Android, but it's off the Google reservation.

You can't buy a pc with other than Microsoft Windows. In other words, unlike with mobile devices, you can't buy HP Windows or Dell Windows. But you can buy a modified operating system with Android.

There are advantages and disadvantages to going the Nexus route as well as the non-Nexus route.

Rooting your Android device, the equivalent of admin access on your PC, is usually the best bet in terms of Android flexibility.

Hope this helps, let me know if not.

 

[Tadb123]

Thanks for the info. I guess my confusion comes from ignorance about what an operating system is and/or does, as well as what a PC is, versus a tablet. It really requires more study on my part. From my perspective I view a tablet as just a small PC, but it's more specialized and limited. It appears to me that the additional abilities of a PC is really "overkill" for most consumers, unless they need "massive" number crunching or such, which virtually none really do. If the tablet industry could have somehow come along in the late 70's instead of the IBM PC, I would question whether there would even be a consumer need for a PC. Just a thought.

 

[EarlyMon]

You may have heard of free and open source software?

That's what Android is.

It's a complete operating system.

But unlike Windows, it's open source.

So if you're a programmer - alone for rooted users or working for a company like Barnes and Noble - you can go the public website with the full source code for Android, called the Android Open Source Project repository (AOSP for short) and download it.

From there, you can compile the same Android and get what appears on a Nexus. (Good for Nexus devices only due to hardware interfaces.)

Or, you can modify it for your hardware, your vision and ideas, and your marketing scheme.

That's what the other manufacturers have done.

Google can't give you an update because they have no way of knowing about nor no control over how Android was modified for your device.

Their idea of an update could break your device. Literally.

So the updates have to come from the end supplier.

Windows is closed source, like Apple, and they don't allow that.

The results are that there is no other way to run Apple stuff except on their hardware, whether mobile or desktop, and for a Windows PC, a hard disk stuffed with all sorts device drivers for hardware you will never own but your neighbors down the street do. Mobile devices have no such luxury of storage.

Android is all about choice.

We have hardware choices that others can only dream about.

But that comes at the price of this sort of confusion that we've all had on this.

And the payoff is more flexibility in doing things, you're not stuck with one size fits all.

 

[EarlyMon]

PS - an operating system is just software that gives apps services for other software and connects them all to hardware.

 

[Tadb123]

Thanks for your comments about the Android OS. I guess having owned so many PC's and laptops over the years, and all using a Microsoft OS, that I feel like I'm being "cheated" somehow if my device won't run the latest version os out there. I have always viewed Apple as having a "closed" OS because it ONLY runs on Apple branded devices, period; but Microsoft has been, until recently, a pure software company, and their OS runs on hundreds of different devices. I viewed that as a "open" system, but you're saying not so, it's closed also... interesting Again thanks for your info.

 

[EarlyMon]

The mobile Windows operating system only runs on devices with Microsoft approved hardware. You can't unlock it.

Open / closed isn't about how many devices claim to conform and work with something.

Go get the source code for Microsoft Windows so that you can see what they did and improve it, or use it as the basis for making your own operating system based on theirs.

You can't. It's closed source, closed to the public and you'd be in court for reverse engineering it.

As for latest and greatest updates - the new iOS 7 for Apple devices has almost caught up to Android Gingerbread.

Microsoft's update history is a joke honestly.

Latest from Microsoft doesn't mean latest in other industry segments.

Their PC networking has typically been years behind unix systems, such as Apple OS X or Linux.

Easy for the powerful marketing arms of closed system vendors to sell people on the latest update idea when their latest updates are technologically two years behind what the rest of us are using.

Btw - Android is an embedded Linux.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_open-source_software

 

[mogelijk]

The problem is, is that we are using "open" to refer to two different things. In the way you think of Windows, in the sense of the hardware being "open", is somewhat right. In this sense, Microsoft is selling you a license to use Windows on the machine of your choice. By contrast, Apple requires you to use their hardware to run the OS X operating system.

When we refer to Android being Open, we are referring to the software (the Operating System) itself. Both OS X (also iOS) and Windows are "closed" -- Apple and Microsoft own the rights and you are required to use it "as is" -- you cannot modify the code that makes up the OS, though you can add your own programs that use the OS to run on the computer (or tablet, or phone). In fact, Apple and Windows typically don't let you see the source code that make up the Operating System, much less make any changes to it.

By contrast, Android is what is called "open source", meaning that the source code is freely available, free to use, and allowed to be changed by those wishing to use it. This leads to situations like the Nook and the Kindle, where both devices are based off of Android but the devices look and differently than a stock Android device, such as the Nexus. You can also find customize versions of Android in some cars, some gaming systems, and even refrigerators.

Additionally, as was pointed out, Android itself is a customized version of Linus, which is also has been customized to be used in many different types of devices.

 

[EarlyMon]

Windows ran fine on Apple hardware until Microsoft got pissed off and laid in changes to prevent it. Apple and their vendors fought back and won. Nothing less than a Keystone Cops caper to follow at the time. At one point the pc magazines declared that the Mac was the best platform for Vista.

Being somewhat open to hardware - completely agree.

 

[Tadb123]

Thanks so much for the info. I find this stuff fascinating. It's amazing to me that great marketing and timing, has created two of the largest companies in the world, in Microsoft and Apple; and their products run "second-rate" software compared to Android. I know Microsoft has been stumbling around for several years since Bill Gates left and got into philanthropy; but Apple's iPad created the "tablet" industry, and still outsells everyone by a large margin...and gets the most money for their product to boot! The irony of it! Well, enough rambling; thanks again for your insight.

 

[EarlyMon]

The more they all compete with hardware and software and usage features, the more we win as consumers.

Cheers my friend!