Chapter 1. Getting Started with Your NOOK Color

Before we get into the details of using your NOOK Color, let’s take a look at some of the basics: gestures, setup, and basic navigation. With these basics in place, we’ll then be able to discover all the other incredible things your NOOK Color can do.

Understanding NOOK Color Gestures

The NOOK Color, excepting the Power button, Home button, and volume controls, is controlled by gestures:

• Tap: This is the most common gesture. Just press your finger to the screen and raise it. Usually you use this gesture with buttons and covers.

• Press and Hold: This is the same as the Tap gesture, but instead of raising your finger, you hold it to the screen for a couple of seconds. This often opens an additional menu from which to choose by a Tap, but you can encounter other results from a Press and Hold.

• Swipe Left/Swipe Right: The gesture, mostly, for turning pages. Like a Tap, touch your finger on the screen and quickly drag it to the left (or right) and lift your finger up.

• Scroll: Essentially the vertical version of the Swipe gesture. You can control the speed of the scroll by swiping up or down more rapidly. You can slow down or stop the scroll by Tapping the screen (to stop) or Pressing and Holding to slow the scroll.

• Pinch and Zoom In/Pinch and Zoom Out: This is a method for zooming in or out on pictures, PDFs, web pages, and so on. To zoom in or show part of the screen more closely, you place your index finger and thumb closely together on the screen (that is, pinch) and spread them apart. To zoom out or show more of the screen, you do the Pinch and Zoom In gesture in reverse—this is also called Unpinch.

Setting Up and Registering Your NOOK Color

When you first turn on your NOOK Color, you see a video that walks you through the basics of getting started, though you can tap Skip This Video. (You can see the video and some others related to using the NOOK Color at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nookcolor/support/).

The first step in getting started with your NOOK Color is to set up and register it with Barnes & Noble (simply B&N from now on). First, you need to agree to the terms of service (see Figure 1.1). Then you see a screen to set your time zone. Choose your time zone and tap Next.

Figure 1.1 The Terms and Conditions screen appears when you start registering your NOOK Color.

The next step is to set up the Wi-Fi access (see Figure 1.2). You can go to a B&N store, and your NOOK Color will recognize its network and log on automatically. More likely, though, you are at home, so you need to set up the NOOK Color to access your wireless network.

Figure 1.2 Pick your Wi-Fi network.

After you choose your time zone, your NOOK Color searches for available networks. Choose your network. If it is password protected, you will be provided the opportunity to enter a password.

Next you register your NOOK Color. After signing on to a Wi-Fi network, you land on the Sign In screen. If you have an existing B&N account, enter your account information and tap Submit. If you don’t have an account, you can create one by tapping Create an Account. Fill out the form and tap Submit (see Figure 1.3).

Figure 1.3 Create a B&N account if you do not already have one.

For more information on connecting your NOOK Color to a Wi-Fi hotspot after your initial set up, see “Using Wi-Fi Hotspots,” later in this chapter.

To register your NOOK Color, you also need to provide a default credit card with a valid billing address to be associated with your B&N account. That said, you aren’t required to register your NOOK Color, but if you want to purchase ebooks from the B&N store, lend and borrow books using the LendMe feature, or use the special features available while in a B&N store, you need to register.

Using Wi-Fi Hotspots

Your NOOK Color can connect to Wi-Fi networks other than the one you initially set up. B&N offers free Wi-Fi access in all B&N stores. If you take your NOOK Color to a B&N store, it will automatically connect to the Wi-Fi hotspot in that store.

For more information on using your NOOK Color in a B&N store, see Chapter 9, “Shopping and Visiting B&N on Your NOOK Color.”

To connect your NOOK Color to a Wi-Fi hotspot other than one in a B&N store, follow these steps:

1. Tap the Nav Arrow. (It’s the up-point arrow just above the Home button.) This displays the Quick Nav Bar. You look at the Quick Nav Bar later, but for now tap Settings.

2. Tap Wireless on the touchscreen. If Wi-Fi is Off, tap Off to turn it On.

3. Tap the Wi-Fi hotspot you want to use. (Your NOOK Color displays the SSID for all Wi-Fi hotspots in range.)

4. If required, enter the password for your Wi-Fi hotspot

5. Tap Connect.

Your NOOK Color should now indicate that it is connected; you should see the Wi-Fi signal indicator in the Status Bar on the bottom right next to the battery indicator.

If your Wi-Fi hotspot isn’t listed after you turn on Wi-Fi or is not in the list of Wireless Networks, tap Other Network. You can then enter the service set identifier (SSID), select the type of security (if the Wi-Fi is secured), and enter the password for your Wi-Fi hotspot if necessary. If you don’t know this information, ask the person who set up the Wi-Fi network.

Your NOOK Color can connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot that requires you to browse to a web page to authenticate yourself. For example, many hotel Wi-Fi hotspots require you to enter a room number or other information to connect. You can connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot that has this requirement by launching the web browser from the Quick Nav Bar after you’ve joined the Wi-Fi network.

Disconnecting and Forgetting a Wi-Fi Hotspot

If you want to stop using a Wi-Fi hotspot, you have two options: disconnect or forget. Disconnect just prevents your NOOK Color from connecting to that Wi-Fi hotspot. Forgetting the hotspot removes the information about the hotspot from your NOOK Color. If you later want to reconnect to that hotspot, you will have to set it up all over again. To disconnect or forget a Wi-Fi hotspot, follow these steps:

1. Tap the Nav Arrow. This displays the Quick Nav Bar.

2. Tap Settings. This displays the Settings screen.

3. If Wi-Fi is turned off, turn it on.

4. Tap the Wi-Fi hotspot. This displays a pop-up window.

5. Tap Forget to disconnect from the Wi-Fi hotspot.

For more information on configuring the settings in your NOOK Color (including turning off the Wi-Fi card), see “Your NOOK Color’s Settings” in Chapter 2, “Customizing and Configuring Your NOOK Color.”

Caring for Your NOOK Color’s Battery

Your NOOK Color uses a high-tech battery called a lithium polymer battery. Unlike older rechargeable batteries, your NOOK Color’s battery doesn’t suffer from a charge “memory.” However, you should still follow some basic rules to maximize the life of your battery:

• Try to avoid fully discharging your battery. Recharge it when it gets down to about 20% or so. Although charging it repeatedly is not necessarily a bad thing, the battery seems to function optimally if you charge it only when it drops down toward that 20% area.

• To maximize battery life, turn off Wi-Fi and leave it off.

• Avoid high heat. Reading in sunlight is fine, but avoid storing your NOOK Color near a heat source.

• If storing your NOOK Color for a long period (a week or more), charge the battery to about 50% rather than giving it a full charge.

By following these steps, your NOOK Color’s battery should last years. If you do need to replace the battery, contact B&N Customer Service.

Charging Your NOOK Color’s Battery

You can charge your NOOK Color’s battery either by plugging your NOOK Color into your computer’s USB port or by plugging your NOOK Color into a wall outlet using the supplied AC adapter. Plugging your NOOK Color into a wall outlet charges the NOOK Color more quickly.

When You Are Not Reading

When you finish reading, you should let your NOOK Color go to sleep instead of turning it off. You can force the NOOK Color to sleep by pressing and quickly letting go of the Power button.

By leaving your NOOK Color on with Wi-Fi on, it will occasionally download content from B&N such as subscription content and any books that you purchase from the B&N website. When you’re ready to start reading again, simply press and release the power switch at the top of your NOOK Color to wake it up. Alternatively, you can press the Home button.

Your NOOK Color’s Controls

Before you get into enjoying content on your NOOK Color, let’s go over the controls on your NOOK Color (see Figure 1.4).

Figure 1.4 Your NOOK Color’s controls.

The Power Button

The Power button is the sole button on the top left side of the NOOK Color. In addition to powering your NOOK Color on and off, the Power button can wake your NOOK Color when it’s sleeping or put it to sleep when you finish reading.

To put your NOOK Color to sleep or wake it using the Power button, press and release the Power button quickly. To turn off your NOOK Color, press and hold the Power button for 5 seconds. To turn on your NOOK Color again, press and release the Power button quickly.

The Home Button

The Home button is identified by the NOOK Color logo (a lowercase n) and is located in the center of the black bar along at the bottom of the touchscreen display. Like the Power button, the Home button performs more than one function.

You can wake your NOOK Color by pressing the Home button. If the touchscreen is already illuminated, tapping the Home button takes you to your NOOK Color’s Home screen.

The Volume Buttons

These two buttons at the top right of the NOOK Color control the volume. If no videos, music, or other sounds is playing, the Volume buttons control the Notification volume (that is, when something new arrives such as subscription content). When video, music, or other sounds are playing, the Volume buttons control the sound of the media.

The Standard Touchscreen Menus

Because you interact with your NOOK Color almost wholly by touch, it is a good idea to become oriented to the basic, consistent menus that you will see. The basics are covered here, but as you move along through the book, the details of each menu and its offerings will be provided.

The Home Screen

The Home screen is the default opening screen (assuming you are not reading a book) and the screen you end up on if you press the Home button. The Home screen has several features (see Figure 1.5).

Figure 1.5 The Home screen offers many ways to open ebooks.

• The Daily Shelf: The Daily is a row of cover icons just above the Nav Arrow. You can swipe left and right through the covers. These are recently downloaded items such as today’s newspaper or books purchased. You can press and hold and then drag one of the icons into the area above the Daily to keep that content readily available. You can also tap the cover to open it.

• Keep Reading: This button at the top right displays the title of the latest item you were reading. Tapping it opens that book or magazine for reading.

• More: This button at the top displays a list of recently read items, divided up into general categories: Books, Periodicals, and Files. You can tap the title to open that content for reading.

• Home Page: This is the area above the Daily and below the Keep Reading and More buttons. This is an area for you to place frequently read items or items you quickly want to access. The Home Page actually is three pages. To switch from page to page, swipe right or left.

The Quick Nav Bar

You access the Quick Nav Bar by tapping the Nav Arrow. The Quick Nav Bar provides access to many features (see Figure 1.6):

• Library: Tapping this button takes you to your library where you can access books, documents, magazines, newspapers, and more.

• Shop: Tapping this button opens the B&N bookstore, from which you can purchase content and see recommendations.

• Search: Tapping this button searches your NOOK Color for the text you enter.

• Apps: Tapping this button takes you to the NOOK Apps installed on the device.

• Web: Tapping this button takes you to the web browser.

• Settings: Tapping this button takes you to the Settings screen.

Figure 1.6 The Quick Nav Bar is your friend.

The Status Bar

The bar at the bottom of the touchscreen provides a plethora, depending on what you’ve got active or enabled on your device, of informational items along with a couple of points of quick access (from left to right):

• Wireless Networks: If wireless networks are in the area you can connect to but you are not currently connected to (assuming you have Wi-Fi on), the Wireless icon with a question mark appears. Tapping it, opens up a screen for you to connect to one of those networks.

• Pandora: If you have Pandora on, tapping this button displays the current song playing. Tapping that takes you to the Pandora app.

• Email: When new email arrives, a Mail icon appears. You can tap it to access the NOOK Color’s Email app.

• Music Play: If you have Music Player on, tapping this button displays the current song playing. Tapping that takes you to the Music Player app.

• Notifications: If you tap a blank part of this screen, a notification bubble pops up letting you know about any new downloads.

• Reading Now: Tapping this button opens the current content being read (functions like the Keep Reading button at the top of the Home screen).

• Nav Arrow: Tapping this open the Quick Nav Bar.

• Wi-Fi: If you see the Wi-Fi logo, the NOOK Color is connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot.

• Battery: Provides a visual indication of the amount of charge remaining on the battery.

• Time: Provides the current time.

If you tap the area where the Wi-Fi logo and battery items are, a Quick Settings screen opens (see Figure 1.7). Besides seeing the current date and battery charge, you can turn Wi-Fi on or off, mute all sounds, enable or disable automatic orientation of the screen depending on the orientation of your NOOK Color, and adjust the brightness. (Tap Brightness and then adjust the slider by tapping and dragging.) For more information about the orientation setting, see the “Auto-Rotate Screen” bullet in Chapter 2.

Figure 1.7 The Quick Settings screen provides quick access to several common settings.

If you need to access more settings beyond the Quick Settings, tap the Gear icon.