[pct-l] Nook Simple Touch--feedback, anyone?

[James Vesely]

Ray and I hike for about a month each summer.  Since we are older people

we don't do long hiking days.  Ray sleeps a great deal when we aren't 
hiking. I can't sleep as much as he can, so I spend a lot of time 
reading while he sleeps.  This means I need to bring a month's supply of

reading material.  So I have been considering getting an e-reader.
I got to play with a Nook Simple Touch for about an hour last week, and 
liked it very much.  The salesman tells me the battery life is about 150

hours, which is about right for a trip.
Does anyone have any experience with this device?  Can you give me your 
critique?
_______________________________________________


I "rooted" my NST, which, is pretty easy to do and allows you to install
Android market apps such as Backcountry Navigator Pro which I have done.
I also successfully downloaded all the waypoints and maps for the PCT
onto it so in theory you could access all your maps with waypoints
without having to carry any paper maps for any trail you are on.   

You can also use the NST more or less like a smartphone to receive and
send emails, make journal entries etc.   The downfall is that it has no
GPS functionality and you have to be within a Wi-Fi zone to send or
receive data but if you install Android Wi-Fi tether on your smartphone
you can utilize your phones 3G or 4G networks.   BCN also has a small
glitch when being run on the NST in that I cannot bring the map dropdown
screen to function properly which, I am trying to resolve.  There might
also be a way to get the NST to tether to a GPS enabled device to give
it full GPS functionality (working on that too).   The nice thing about
the NST is that you can leave it in a map view without using up the
battery and the battery does last a very long time.   

This is still in the experimental stage and may not get off the ground
but I thought it would be nice if you are going to carry the 7 ounce
device along on a hike it might be nice to use it for more then reading
books.   

If you are interested you can get a lot of good info at XDA Developers  
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1343143

Just follow there instructions to the letter and it works as prescribed.