The Nook and Amazon tablets are seen as appealing slates, but crippled because of their lack of full fledged Android apps. Now that problem is gone, as Barnes & Noble has decided to give the Nook HD and Nook HD+ a big Google update.
It’s nice to see the company actually caring for its customers, in spite of its name being liked to Microsoft a few times over the past months. Starting today Barnes & Noble will be rolling out a firmware update to all Nook HD and Nook HD+ tablets, allowing the devices to use all the Google Apps they didn’t previously have. This means we’ll get Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube, Play Books and Play Magazines.
The Play Store updated will also bring hundreds of thousands of apps, not only the small list that Barnes & Noble offered among its Nook apps. This move is most likely intended as a response to Amazon’s success and also to its main flaw: lack of basic Google apps and some major apps from the Play Store. Of course, many Nook tablet owners resorted to rooting and custom ROMs to get these apps in the first place…
