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Android development on Barnes & Noble Nook and Spring Design Alex device

I am a die-hard bibliophile, I have too many paper books, but I try to keep my mind open about eBooks. In recent conversation with B&N employee I learned that after reading few books on ePaper device she cannot wait for the paper book to come out in electronic format.

Just like with print photos, books and especially magazines will take a back seat to their electronic cousins. ePaper will not replace tablets (iPad, Android), but they are great if you need to keep screen ON for many hours (books, instruction manuals, technical schematics, numerical statistics).

As an Android developer it obviously interests me what I could develop on these Android devices..

"There isn't much information about development for the Barnes and Noble nook as there hasn't been announced any development kit for the reader. However during a news conference, William J. Lynch, president of Barnes & Noble mentioned: “We haven’t announced anything regarding putting out an SDK or putting out a developer environment." But he said B&N would be open to this if enough customers wanted it."

My comments:

This is so sad how people waste a beautiful chance to dominate the market!

I am NOT getting Nook, I am looking at Spring Design Alex device, SDK is scheduled for summer 2010.

by Uki D. Lucas

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Permalink Reply by Nikola Novakovic on June 10, 2010 at 11:12am

What about dualbook http://is.gd/cJPds :-)

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Permalink Reply by Uki Dominque Lucas on June 10, 2010 at 11:26am

Hi Nikola, thanks for point this one out, it is very interesting offering for Android!

enTourage eDGe™ $499

Specifications:

Dimensions: 8.25" x 10.75" by 1.0" (closed)
Weight: approx. 3 lbs.
Internal Memory: 4 GB (3 GB for user)
E-reader File Formats: ePub, PDF
LCD Touchscreen Display Size: 1024 x 600 (10.1")
E-paper Display Size: 9.7" e-Ink®(1200 x 825), 8 shades of gray
E-paper Input: Wacom® Penabled®
Operating System: Linux with Google® Android®
Screen Rotation: 90 and 180 degrees
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth capability
Battery Life: 16+ hours utilizing the e-reader screen / up to 6 hours running the LCD screen
Battery Type: Lithium-ion polymer
External Memory: SD card slot, 2 USB ports
Audio and Microphone Jack: 3.5 mm each. Includes internal microphone and speakers.
Audio playback: MP3, WAV, 3GPP, MP4, AAC, OGG, M4A
Video playback: 3GP, MP4, Adobe Flash Lite (H.264)
Input: Stylus input on e-paper and touchscreen. Virtual keyboard. USB keyboard (optional)