Hackers turn Pandigital Novel from not-so-great e-reader to cheap Android tablet

July 13, 2010 | by Chris Smith

The Pandigital Novel e-reader was released a little over a month ago and if you haven’t heard of it, it’s probably because it isn’t known as a very amazing device. Well when hackers get a hold of any device that runs Android you know that some stuff is going to go down. And that’s a positive thing.

It appears that with a little hacking (actually not even really rooting the device) the Novel can be set up to use an ulterior homescreen like Panda Home and then open applications that can be side loaded to the device. This in affect creates a relatively decent Android tablet for a low price of $179.99. Of course this trick and device is not without standard bugs that come with any hacked together effort, but it is at least a way to get a cheap Android tablet that has a lively little development community around it.

Still, the small problems that come with the hack make the device a very niche product to recommend and/or try myself. If the Novel was about 129.99 or a little lower in price, I would probably make the jump just to give it a try. Nothing like having a decent 7-inch tablet to do some testing and hacking on. Check out The Digital Reader for more information and how to do the hack yourself.

Source [The Digital Reader]

hacking, Hacks, Pandigital Novel, tablets

7 Comments

MiddleGeek said: On July 14, 2010

I think the link at the end of the article is incorrect. It goes to pandigital

- Amanda said: On December 28, 2010
  
  you dpownload the hack from pandigitals website. It does note that hacking the ereader will void the warranty.
  
Timberwolf said: On July 14, 2010

Bed Bath and Beyond has it on sale for $149 right now, and with their ever present 20% coupon in hand, and a $20 rebate I walked out the door getting this for $115.

Jack said: On December 26, 2010

What's the difference between the White and the Black versions of the PanDigital E_reader? The Black costs more and is configured differntly.

- Amanda said: On December 28, 2010
  
  The black is a little smaller in size and i believe it has 2GB of internal memory as opposed to the 1GB in the white.
  
Mel said: On January 7, 2011

You can get one at Kohl's for $60 now.

marc said: On January 8, 2011

got one at costco for 159.00 CAD

work great.. installed tons of (.apk) for android 1.5
u can play and download youtube with the proper .apk
search the web etc ….
no flash support with android 1.5

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