Reports are leaking out that Barnes & Noble Nook eReaders are getting their first official firmware update today & the updates include some much needed fixes to the interface.
Version 1.1 (updated from 1.0) includes the following per Barnes & Noble’s Nook Website:
- Improved page turn and formatting of downloaded eBooks
- Improved startup time for My Library, The Daily, and Settings
- Immediate launch of the reader upon choosing Select from The Daily and My Library, for books and subscription issues that have already been downloaded; otherwise the book detail page is displayed, with Download as the first option. For instance the “read” option will be gone from the library so it just goes to the book immediately.
- No longer shows “formatting” whenever you select “read” now.
- Exclusive Barnes & Noble in-store content and promotions: when a customer enters a store, your nook will recognize the location and display the Barnes & Noble logo and welcome message, as well as special articles and offers. - This looks like the beginning of the free in-store reading (limited to one hour per book) as mentioned at release.
- Elimination of the page skipping that has occurred in certain PDB eBooks
- Status bar (battery indicator, signal indicator, and clock) is displayed in reader
- Page numbers are now at the bottom of the page instead of the top
- The battery indicator & clock is now consistently in the upper right hand corner when you are reading
- Overall system improvements
- Side Effect being reported: The items in “My Documents” get re-ordered and not in a meaningful way apparently
You can update to 1.1 via wireless (3G or Wi-Fi) or you can force a manual download. Your registered nook (if connected wirelessly) should download automatically & install on your Nook taking about 6 minutes. To force a wireless update go to “My B&N Library” and press “check for new B&N content.”
The update involves downloading the firmware, installing the new firmware as seen in the photo below
And then a reboot of the Nook as seen below
Thanks to Len Edgerly of Kindle Chronicles Podcast for the screen-caps of the installation and reboot
According to Nookdevs, the firmware update does NOT disable rooted nooks so even the hackers will be relatively happy with the update.
I don’t have my review unit Nook anymore so I can’t test this update out, but I wouldn’t expect miracles here – I expect the fixes in this update will probably be noticable, but fairly minor overall. But it’s a great sign that Barnes & Noble has already pushed out a firmware update – let’s encourage them to continue the process.
via Barnes & Noble Nook Support Page with many tips about the firmware via Twitter particularly Dave Zatz
