Nook Color Getting Android Market, Froyo Update in January

Barnes and Noble’s Nook Color eReader has been a hacker favorite since it launched earlier this year. After all, you have an attractive, 7-inch Anroid tablet with a high-res, capacitive touch screen that sells for just $250. However the tablet runs Barnes and Noble’s proprietary UI over Android and doesn’t allow you to install apps. For those who want more functionality, rooting the device and installing additional Android apps has been a difficult task frought with the risk of ruining your otherwise functional eReader.

However, according to Engadget, Barnes and Noble is planning to update the Nook Color with the official Android Market and the Android 2.2 OS come January. That’s welcome news for Nook Color owners and for the entire Android ecosystem, because the Nook hardware costs a lot less than a Galaxy tab, but is almost as capable.

Update: We spoke with a rep from Barnes and Noble who told us that the reports floating around are not accurate. The only official word is that Nook Color will receive an unspecified OS update sometime in 2011.

If you own a Nook and just can’t wait a few weeks to install apps or get Froyo, pay a visit to Nook Devs, which has instructions on how to hack your Nook. But if you brick your eReader, don’t say we didn’t warn you.

via Engadget