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#46 |
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Device: Lumia 950 Phone
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Freda version 2.4 Beta Test
The next version of Freda for WP7 is now available for beta testing. There are a bunch of new features in the beta, including:
BOOK SOURCES SHOWN AS LIVE 'HUB' TILES The 'sources' page now shows the list of sources using a scrollable table of live tiles (with the latest book and the bookshelf appearing as the first two tiles). Flick this to the left to see the bookshelf, and flick left again to get to the book source you most recently looked at. If you want to go back to the old 'expandable list' style of book source display, use the 'advanced settings' tab, and adjust the setting 'use hub tiles for sources list'. HIGH PERFORMANCE GRAPHICS FOR BOOK DISPLAY Freda now uses 'XNA' style graphics for displaying book text, so the display is much faster (flick the the book text to the side, and you will see the pages flicker past rapidly). The display of text is marginally less clear, and could go wrong for some special characters; if you're having problems with it, you can switch back to the old style of page rendering by adjusting the 'use XNA graphics' setting. CUSTOMISABLE PAGING BEHAVIOUR FOR DROPBOX AND OPDS BOOK SOURCES When a book source contains many entries, Freda will split the list of entries over multiple pages, with a 'next' button at the bottom of each page. The previous version of Freda always put 20 items on each page, which was sometimes cumbersome. This version puts 100 items on each page, and the '100' value is customisable using the 'folder items per page' setting. BOOKS CAN BE PINNED TO THE START SCREEN To pin a book to the Windows Phone start screen, long-tap on the book's entry in the bookshelf and select 'pin to start'. OTHER FIXES If you've just followed a link in a book, the 'back' button will take you back where you came from. The bookmarks list has been improved. GIF images in a book are now displayed correctly. Books with faulty 'container.xml' files will now be opened. Deleting a book from the bookshelf now deletes it completely (so you can download it again). Various layout issues have been fixed. If you're interested in helping beta test the app, please email me at beta@turnipsoft.co.uk. I'll need you to send me the email address that is associated with the Live ID that you used when you registered your phone, so I can add you to Microsoft's list of 'authorised beta testers' for Freda. Thanks, Jim |
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#47 |
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Freda eReader update v2.4
An update for Windows Phone 7 Freda has just been released. New in this update (v 2.4):
Freda features:
I'd like to offer a big vote of thanks to all the Freda beta-testing team; thanks to your feedback and suggestions, this is the best Freda version yet. There are still some slots available for additional beta-testers, so anyone interested in joining the beta-test team and helping with future updates, please contact beta@turnipsoft.co.uk. The next update, 2.5, is expected in early 2012, and will include full integration with SkyDrive, and a new 'download manager' system, so you can leave books to download 'in the background' while you do something else. |
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#48 |
Jeffrey A. Carver
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Location: Massachusetts, USA
Device: Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus, Droid phone, Nook HD+
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Cool. But this is still just for phones, not WM-based PDAs, yes?
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#49 | |
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Quote:
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#50 |
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I'm still having fast-resume issues with 2.4 (same issues I reported during the beta, issues that didn't exist with the previous release version). If I leave Freda backgrounded for more than an hour or so, even if I run no other app and leave the phone in standby, the next resume will go back to the sources home screen rather than the book I left open.
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#51 | |
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Quote:
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#52 | |
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Quote:
Still, even with the random tombstoning (still not sure why that goes back to the sources page rather than the book page -- pre-Mango went back to the book IIRC, just had to re-calculate page numbers) it's a much quicker resume than it has been in the past, and it really just my low-level OCD getting in the way (ZOMG, need the page numbers!! ![]() |
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#53 |
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Freda ereader for Windows Phone – new version 2.5
Turnipsoft are pleased to announce the latest update to their free ebook reader program, Freda. As usual, a big vote of thanks to the Freda beta-testing team for all their help with this release.
Freda is a free program for reading electronic books (ebooks) on Windows Phone. It reads EPUB (DRM-free), HTML and TXT format books. The program offers customisable controls, fonts and colours, plus annotations and bookmarks, and the ability to look up dictionary definitions and translations. Freda understands EPUB formatting information (such as bold/italic text, margins and alignment) and can display images and diagrams in books. You can download books from on-line catalogs like Feedbooks, Smashwords and the Gutenberg Project. Or if you have an existing book collection, you can use SkyDrive, DropBox or Calibre to share it with your phone. Freda can also download books from any website, using an in-application web-browser (which works even for sites – like O’Reilly – that require cookie-based authentication). You can download books and keep them on your phone, so you can carry on reading when you don't have network connectivity, and you can pin your favourite books to the Start page. Version 2.5 adds new features including:
For more details, head over to the developer’s web-site at http://www.turnipsoft.co.uk/freda , and to download the app, visit the Marketplace. |
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#54 |
Jeffrey A. Carver
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Massachusetts, USA
Device: Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus, Droid phone, Nook HD+
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This upgrade is just for phones, yes? Not for Win Mobile on PDAs? (Yep, I'm still using Freda on my Dell PDA, still like it better than mobipocket.)
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#55 |
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#56 |
Junior Member
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Location: Finland
Device: iPhone/Stanza
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I have over 300 ebooks, and would like to have all of them with me on my phone. I started downloading them from Calibre yesterday, but was quite disappointed when I noticed that the maximum number of books Freda shows is 50. I would like to have a complete list of my books visible, because many of them I recognize easies from the cover, not the author or title...
But I still think Freda is the best ebook reader for Windows Phone. ![]() |
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#57 | |
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Quote:
One possibility would be to pin all your books to the start screen - that start screen appears to use some special Microsoft-only layout style which works fine even with gazillions of items on it. But I can see why you might not want to dedicate that much 'start screen' space just to ebooks. It will become a more sensible plan when Microsoft rolls out the update to let you create 'subfolders' of items on the start sceen (I know that's in the works, though I don't know when exactly). Sorry I don't have a better answer for you right now - I will add your requirement to the list of things for future development, and see if I can come up with an approach that works. |
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#58 |
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Thanks for your answer.
![]() Could it be possible to sort books by tags or list the books alphabetically so that user can define which alphabet the list starts from? |
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#59 |
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Or maybe a horizontal list of buttons at the bottom of the bookshelf for each range of books (one button for 1st-299th, next button for 300-599, then one for 600-899, etc.). I will think about it ...
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#60 | |
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Quote:
Personally, I'm fine with the library size limitation. I only carry 2-3 books at a time on my phone, and when I'm finished with one I delete it and replace it with the next book I'm going to read from my calibre server. But people do seem to like carrying their entire ebook library with them everywhere, so a solution that fits both scenarios would be ideal. |
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Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
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Freda - ebook reader program for Windows Mobile | Jim Chapman | Windows Devices | 396 | 09-08-2011 10:12 AM |