Read all the tips and tricks to activate the Android in it at Slatedroid:
Pandigital Novel Android Tablet Discussion
The accelerometer works fine now.
Once unlocked, it runs the Kindle app fine for Amazon ebooks, so not limited to B&N. I could not get an apk for Borders (have not tried the Android Market hacks yet).
Aside from the Android goodness pros, the biggest cons that bug me are the lack of USB host (only data connections) and Bluetooth, so not very extendable with devices needing those connections. No GPS of course, but that would not be readable in daylight anyway - once unlocked, Google Maps does look nice on that big screen for "spot-checking" while near a wifi access point.
The RAM for running programs seems to be 256 MB with some used for video, and more used for other "stuff", and it leaves about 195 MB for actual app usage per dmesg, so not bad. The 1gb "internal memory" (which I would call "storage" to distinguish from RAM) is a microSD card that can be swapped for any size up to 16GB per Slatedroid member experiences, and I have upgraded mine to 8GB (although I had to copy over the top-level directories first to get the Novel to mount the card - YMMV).
You can get them from Bed, Bath, and Beyond (I kid you not, although some of the clerks are too clueless to distinguish from all the Pandigital photo frames - ask for the PD
ereader) for $169 - use/get (as email sign-up offer I think) the BB&B 20% off coupon, and it goes down to $136 (plus your local sales tax). With mine they even included a copy of instructions that appear to be directly from Pandigital on how to open the back cover for the microSD card upgrade (double-stick tape inside makes that a bit difficult, but all it takes is constant, but gradual sliding effort to give the tape time to "let go").
BB&B even sent an email in response to a Slatedroid member query about returns, and stated they would accept them indefinitely for refunds (even if "laundered", LOL) so not much risk if you want to give it a try. None of this foolishness about dealing with someone in China...