Over the past few days xda-developers forum member deeper-blue has made quite a bit of progress getting a pre-release version of Google Android 3.0 Honeycomb to work on the Barnes & Noble NOOKcolor. While the project is still a work in progress, today he released the tools needed to install the OS, which means anyone with a NOOKcolor, a little know-how and the willingness to do some potentially warranty-voiding work can run Google’s first OS designed for tablets on the $250 Android tablet.
Sound still isn’t working, and there’s no hardware video decoding. But the deeper-blue has managed to get wireless working as well as graphics acceleration, touchscreen and accelerometer support.
The software is based on the emulator image Google released as part of a preview SDK for Honeycomb. Google will soon release the full source code for Android 3.0, which means independent developers will be able to further customize the software and we’ll likely see unofficial Honeycomb ports for a number of tablets. But right now the NOOKcolor stands alone in the Honeycomb hacking space thanks to deeper-blue’s efforts.
The folks at Android Central have put together some step by step instructions for installing Honeycomb on a NOOKcolor. Basically you’ll need an SD card with more than 4GB of storage space (ie: a 4GB card won’t work), and a PC or Mac computer.
Update: A new build is available with some sound and video working.
via Android Central