[Q] multi user (2 users) - Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet

I'm very confused, trying to make the leap from a PC (Windows and Linux),
where it is OBVIOUS how to distinquish one user in the household from another,
to my new B/N Nook Tablet.
Ok, so I'm now using my tablet. When I hit 'Home', my desktop shows that my logged-in email is an active app. (and so are a few others).
So, I completely power it down.
When I power it back up, I expected that my email would NOT be active.
But, it IS!
What if it was some OTHER household member who powered up the tablet?
(I do NOT want them, by default, seeing my email screen!)
Is there a solution? (Or should I just return this goofy 'tablet' to Barnes and Noble, and wait til next year to see if next-year's tablet OS works the
way most of us would want it to???)

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For now, think of this tablet as a personal device such as a mobile phone. Pretty sure ICS works the same way too so it might be a long wait for you.

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Ok.
Meanwhile, how do I explicitly shutdown (stop) my running apps
(e.g. my email app)?
Do I 'visit' each one, and find how each app handles stopping it?
Or, better...is there a 'task-mgr' (list) for my apps, so that I could select
them all and abort them?

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You could get "advanced task killer" from the market. Not sure if it needs to be rooted or if you could just side load it.
Sent from my BNTV250 using Tapatalk

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MonkeysInACan said:
You could get "advanced task killer" from the market. Not sure if it needs to be rooted or if you could just side load it.
Sent from my BNTV250 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm...I'm still a newbie to all this 'root' vs 'side-load' terminology.
Side-load just means: 'Get it first on a real PC, then plug-in the USB-cable
to the tablet, and 'move it over'?
To 'root' something seems to mean that, in Linux-terminology, I first need to
have 'root' (super-user) privs, right? (I saw a thread about how to 'root'
the device, but am unclear about DETAILS. Does it violate warranties?
(yada, yada) Also, I THINK I'm hearing that, right now, I can only use
the Barnes/Noble 'app store' and NOT to the generic Android 'app store'?
True/false?
Are you saying I might need 'root' to INSTALL the app 'adv task killer', or
to RUN 'adv task killer'? (or both?)

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It sounds like you want to have some form of screen locker in place so when you power back up (or unsleep) you have to enter a code or a pattern. This prevents unauthorized access to your personal tablet.
You should be able to activate it from the settings menu.
Concerning multiple logins, the presumption is one user per device. As to 'working how "most of us" would want it to'... Most people do prefer it this way. If someone else wants their own tablet, they should get their own tablet.

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>the presumption is one user per device.
This is a legacy of Android still being a phone OS. Tablet is a more social device, and safe bet is that multiuser acct handling will show up at some point. Hopefully, soon. Else, Win8 will do what Android can't.
Android still has a lot of holes it needs to fill, and I'm not talking about apps.
---------- Post added at 10:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:56 PM ----------
@OP
You don't need to "close" apps in Android. The OS manages memory as needed per least-recently-used basis. Using apps such as "Task Killer" is inefficient and will shorten battery life. There've been many articles/posts written on this topic. Google to find.
What's recommended is to run something like System Panel (free app in market). Over time, it'll give you a profile of which app is eating up the most battery. Use that to remove apps that are power-hogs.

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At least on my Android cell phone, hitting the Home key leaves the current application running. Hitting the "Back" key ends the application. Not sure if the NT has a "Back" function...

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rmm200 said:
At least on my Android cell phone, hitting the Home key leaves the current application running. Hitting the "Back" key ends the application. Not sure if the NT has a "Back" function...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The NT does have a back key, but that behavior depends on how the app was designed and it not true for many apps. In fact, because of what e.mote described about Android's design for "backgrounded" apps, Google recommends that apps not be designed to close itself with the back button, menu command, etc except for special circumstances.

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e.mote said:
>
[...]
@OP
You don't need to "close" apps in Android. The OS manages memory as needed per least-recently-used basis. Using apps such as "Task Killer" is inefficient and will shorten battery life. There've been many articles/posts written on this topic. Google to find.
What's recommended is to run something like System Panel (free app in market). Over time, it'll give you a profile of which app is eating up the most battery. Use that to remove apps that are power-hogs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, but that's the question/issue: i.e. I WANT to close this particular app (email), for
security reasons!
Are you saying that apps in Android are often NOT programmed with a
mechanism to STOP them?

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By design, yes - most apps are not programmed to fully stop themselves - they remain resident in memory in case you return to that app - it reduces load times and allows content viewing sites (news readers, downloading the newest emails, periodic alerting tools, etc) to work in the background so the information is available when you want it without having to do a load at the time you bring up the app.
Any app that's paused (not the current focus) may be asked to relinquish resources by the OS in order to allow another app (with the current focus) the ability to run. This is all handled by the OS, and applications are expected to always be interruptable, thus constantly persisting their state as they are being used. This allows for something else to interrupt (such as a phone call or selection of another app, or an alert from your alarm program) with a reasonable expectation that whatever you were doing wasn't lost.
The security built into Android is the ability to require a passcode or pattern to unlock the phone when coming out of a sleep state. Failing to set that pattern or passcode is a failing of the user, not the OS.
Phones and Tablets, from the android perspective, are an extension of the person. Though I sometimes use my wife's NookColor, or she mine - it is a rare thing and any use beyond that by friends is always supervised.
Other tablet OSs may have the concept of 'logging in', but not Android.

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So, I'm screwed? No way to get her email logged in?
Hmm...I HOPE I'm still missing something simple. (Otherwise, I'm
screwed, and I'll have to return this diabolical BEAST to the store.)
This unit is a gift for my wife for Xmas.
To familiarize myself with it, I setup and logged-in to my
Gmail acct.
Of course, NOW I want to:
'Log out' of my gmail, and setup the 'email app' to login to
her email (non-Gmail-based). [And, have THAT one be the
always-open email-acct, (tho I do NOT LIKE this 'feature'
of always-logged-in at all!)]
How do I do that? ('Rooting' this Nook Tablet is NOT an option, so
if that's part of your proposed "solution", forget it.)
TIA...

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cookdav said:
Hmm...I HOPE I'm still missing something simple. (Otherwise, I'm
screwed, and I'll have to return this diabolical BEAST to the store.)
This unit is a gift for my wife for Xmas.
To familiarize myself with it, I setup and logged-in to my
Gmail acct.
Of course, NOW I want to:
'Log out' of my gmail, and setup the 'email app' to login to
her email (non-Gmail-based). [And, have THAT one be the
always-open email-acct, (tho I do NOT LIKE this 'feature'
of always-logged-in at all!)]
How do I do that? ('Rooting' this Nook Tablet is NOT an option, so
if that's part of your proposed "solution", forget it.)
TIA...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There should be an option in the Settings section to add and remove email accounts. I don't have a NT but that's pretty standard as Android devices go.
I have to say you seem to have a lot of misinformed expectations of the Android/Nook experience. Keep remembering that the software was originally developed for mobile phones, so expecting things to be done in the same way to a desktop OS is gonna cause you grief.

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tomegranate said:
There should be an option in the Settings section to add and remove email accounts. I don't have a NT but that's pretty standard as Android devices go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah...'should' is the operative word. But, I do NOT see any such option.
I have to say you seem to have a lot of misinformed expectations of the Android/Nook experience. Keep remembering that the software was originally developed for mobile phones, so expecting things to be done in the same way to a desktop OS is gonna cause you grief.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm...I'd characterize my expectations quite differently. This is the FIRST
(and I hope LAST) implementation of an 'email reader' that was designed
with NO WAY to log out/close down. Common sense SHOULD dictate
that they'd provide a way to log-out or reset to a different email-acct,
but so far, there's NO SIGN that anyone had any common sense.
Hey, maybe the 'crime-stoppers' (aka 'big brothers'/homeland-security) folks
asked for this 'feature'. It will make it easier now...they can just say:
"Great...there's her B/N Nook Tablet! She can't have logged out, so just look
thru her emails, and see who she's been corresponding with."
Right now, my opinion of this beast is worse than the 'Hotel California':
Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
�relax,� said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can checkout any time you like,
But you can never leave!
Hell, on a Nook, I can't even checkout!

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cookdav said:
Ah...'should' is the operative word. But, I do NOT see any such option.
Hmm...I'd characterize my expectations quite differently. This is the FIRST
(and I hope LAST) implementation of an 'email reader' that was designed
with NO WAY to log out/close down. Common sense SHOULD dictate
that they'd provide a way to log-out or reset to a different email-acct,
but so far, there's NO SIGN that anyone had any common sense.
Hey, maybe the 'crime-stoppers' (aka 'big brothers'/homeland-security) folks
asked for this 'feature'. It will make it easier now...they can just say:
"Great...there's her B/N Nook Tablet! She can't have logged out, so just look
thru her emails, and see who she's been corresponding with."
Right now, my opinion of this beast is worse than the 'Hotel California':
"You can checkout any time you like, But you can never leave! "
Hell, on a Nook, I can't even checkout!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But you can lock the tablet.

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The option is there. I don't have my NT in front of me, but there is an option to remove B&N account settings and wipe the device. That's what you want. It will remove everything that you set up.
As far as your opinion that this is the first such email program that doesn't log out...there has never been a smartphone OS email program that logs completely out, or one that allows multiple users. Android was developed for Phones. The expectation is that you will use your phone, not share it with 10 people with each of them having their own settings.
Something that you are referring to is available, but not from an Android, Blackberry or iOS device. You would have to get a Windows (not Win Mobile) tablet, which will not work as well (yet) as any of the other OS's because it was not designed specifically for the hardware it's running on.
Easy way to have what you want on this tablet: Don't set up email using the built in email program. Use the browser and don't have it remember the password.

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@OP
Your expectations aren't unreasonable. It's just that Android-on-tablet is still very much a work in progress, and you along with all of us are beta testers.
Multiuser handling is just one of many issues that have arisen. In the Kindle Fire forum, there are complaints about not being able to disable one-click purchasing for when handing the KF to your kids. iOS has had the same issue, and has a partial workaround. Until Android supports multiuser, there is no good solution.
For e-mail, you can try various email clients to see if any supports discrete logins/logouts (and of course pulling mail from your webmail account).
http://google.com/search?q=email+apps+for+android

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cookdav said:
Ah...'should' is the operative word. But, I do NOT see any such option.
Hmm...I'd characterize my expectations quite differently. This is the FIRST
(and I hope LAST) implementation of an 'email reader' that was designed
with NO WAY to log out/close down. Common sense SHOULD dictate
that they'd provide a way to log-out or reset to a different email-acct,
but so far, there's NO SIGN that anyone had any common sense.
Hey, maybe the 'crime-stoppers' (aka 'big brothers'/homeland-security) folks
asked for this 'feature'. It will make it easier now...they can just say:
"Great...there's her B/N Nook Tablet! She can't have logged out, so just look
thru her emails, and see who she's been corresponding with."
Right now, my opinion of this beast is worse than the 'Hotel California':
"You can checkout any time you like, But you can never leave! "
Hell, on a Nook, I can't even checkout!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jesus guy, it's not an 'email reader', whatever that means, it's a mobile tablet computer, and it handles email accounts the same way as all tablet computers that use a mobile OS (ones based on Android, iOS, and presumably webOS and Blackberry too), because they're designed for personal, individual use. Smartphones don't have a way to log out of your email account in the way you're expecting, and neither does a modern tablet.
If this is the first time you've used this type of device, you need to exercise more patience before you start stamping your feet, otherwise people are gonna be unwilling to help you.
I'm 100% certain there is a way to remove your email account from the device, you just haven't found it yet. This is very likely not the fault of the device! Did you even read the user manual? http://img1.imagesbn.com/pimages/nook/tablet/mediakit/userguide_NOOKTablet_111115.pdf

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Reset the unit to factory standard and put it in the box, it is an option under 'settings' and will return it to the "as-purchased state" with all data wiped.
Then decide if you're returning it or wrapping it to give to your your wife.
In the future, consider letting the person receiving the gift having the pleasure of opening a unit in pristine condition. My wife would kill me if I "pre-opened" an electronic device intended for her "to familiarize myself with it". Let that happen on the day she opens it, after she's decided she needs help. I think it's deplorable that you've cracked the seals and denied her the experience of opening something new.
If you want to 'log out', then you have to shut the device down instead of leaving it in 'sleep mode'. No power means the apps aren't running (unless you or the OS have set them up as background processes). When you turn it back on, you'll realize quickly that there is no 'select profile' or 'choose user' function because it is designed to be one device for one user.
If the user wants security to prevent other people from reading sensitive information, they should set the screen lock code in the settings menu.
-=-=-
At this point, I believe you have all the information you need:
1) Devices are intended to be single user, by design, regardless of your desire to have them be otherwise.
2) Use the built in screen lock capability if you are concerned about sensitive information being viewed.
3) You should reset the device to factory settings via the settings menu to wipe all data you've entered and return it to a nearly 'as new' state.
4) You should not be playing with your wife's new device and instead allow her to experience the setup guide and walk through the configuration of the device in the way she desires.
If there is another specific question about how things work or operate, please ask. If there are further conspiracy theories I'm sure there are better forums for that than this one.

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Wow. lotta words - no Solution...
You're going to have to factory reset the device:
Settings>Device Info>Erase and Factory Reset
Once its resets, enter your wife's information.
You seem to think that phones and Pads run like Windows where you can log out as yourself and no one can see your email. Phones and pads are single user devices and will not work like Windows. Even Windows phones and pad don't operate like that.