Create your own tablet computer for $200

Using a simple hack, a Wall Street Journal writer turns a relatively cheap e-reader into an impressive iPad lite

A journalist transformed his $200 Nook Color e-reader into a fully-functioning (if limited) Android tablet.
(Image credit: Corbis)

Forget shelling out $500 for a new iPad 2 or $800 for the Xoom. The Wall Street Journal writer Brett Arends picked up a Barnes & Noble Nook Color for less than $200, and then — following a tech site's instructions — "jail-broke" the e-reader and transformed it into an Android tablet. "I wasn't really expecting it to work," says Arends. "But the results were remarkable." Here, a brief guide to the DIY tablet:

How'd he do it?

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