The Nook HD and Nook HD+ have been rooted by a hacker known as “verygreen,” just days after Barnes & Noble officially rolled out its new lineup of flagship tablets.
As Brad Linder of Liliputing notes, it may already be possible to boot software from a microSD card – which means users could theoretically dual-boot the official B&N OS Android fork as well as CyanogenMod or other custom ROMs.
The $199 Nook HD is equipped with a 7 inch, 1440 x 900 pixel display, while the $269 NOOK HD+ features a faster processor and a larger 9 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel display.
Both devices run an extremely customized version of Google Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). However, even B&N’s iteration of Android offers up an option to enable support for Android Debug Bridge (ADB) in a tucked away devs section.
“Once you’ve done that, you can connect the tablet to a computer with a USB cable, download su and busybox, install the Android SDK (or at least the adb components), and push the su and busybox apps to your Nook HD or Nook HD+,” Linder explained.
The above-mentioned procedure is sufficient to provide root access to the tablets, allowing users to adjust files and settings that are normally off limits, at least in terms of the default B&N UI. Meaning, you can now easily customize the home screen and add the Google Play Store.
