Mobipocket new release (with iLiad support) on May 3rd

[CommanderROR]

the viewer on the Iliad is pretty basic right now. No annotation support as far as I can tell...

[vvoi666]

yeah, mobipocket have updated their product page. the iliad is now prominently featured click here (even on the frontpage).

here is a feature rundown of what the reader SHOULD do:

- Customize : margins, line spacing, full text justification with hyphenation
- Change the font size and the background color
- Use the fullscreen mode and sub pixel font rendering for a fully immersive reading experience
- Turn pages with a keypress or a stylus touch
- autoscroll feature
- Change the screen orientation
- Organize all your books into Reading List on your device
- With one tap, filter by type, location, and of course by reading list
- On the top bar, the total number of eBooks in the current view is display and also the total size
- annotate
- bookmark
- highlight, any part of any eBook
- draw on the page or create your own custom hyperlinks
- you can fully customize the toolbar icons to match your own unique needs
- you can now also affect each function to your device hard buttons : convenient to bookmark a page when reading fullscreen or switching to the annotations view with one finger press
- Lookup any word with the latest multidictionary search function
- It even does the disinflection and spell correction if needed

soooooo, which features did it make into the iliad release (is this 1.0?)?

[NatCh]

Let's see, the second half of #2 ("Change the font size and the background color"), #5 ("autoscroll feature"), #12 ("highlight, any part of any eBook"), and possibly the bit in #25 about the finger press (depending on how they mean it) are probably impossible or at least really difficult given the color and refresh limitations of of the iLiad's e-ink panel.

And #'s 10 & 13 (dealing with annotation and "drawing") will be problematic until the pen calibration is sorted out.

Even so, it sounds like the Mobi software is a huge addition to the device, and the way it handles & reflows PDFs is reminding me a bit of the days when I was jealous of all you iLiadittes.

I think I'll just focus on being happy for y'all though, you've had a bit of a rough go lately, and I figure you're due some up-side.

[wallcraft]

See MobiPocket Java Reader on Pepper Pad 3 for a list of limitations of that (similar) version. Reading e-books isn't central to Pepper, so I was hoping iRex would do a more complete port. My main concerns on the PP3 were the lack of line spacing and margin control (i.e. basic page layout options). Also, there is no dictionary support. Are MobiPocket dictionaries supported on the iLiad?

As on the Pepper Pad, FBReader is an option for non-DRMed books if you are willing to go outside the "official" software distibution. There will even be dictionary and bookmark (annotation) support soon (planned for version 8.4).

[Adam B.]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

Also, there is no dictionary support. Are MobiPocket dictionaries supported on the iLiad?

Not yet, but: "eBook Not Supported.\niRex is working to add dictionary support.\nThis feature will be available in the next update."

Days like today, I wish I would have paid more attention in my Java class in college. Unfortunately, the only thing I really learned was how to decompile a jar file...


Edit: Some interesting discoveries

   public void drawLine(int i, int j, int k, int l)
    {
        graphics.drawLine(i, j, k, l);
    }

    public void drawArc(int i, int j, int k, int l, int i1, int j1)
    {
        graphics.drawArc(i, j, k, l, i1, j1);
    }

    public void fillArc(int i, int j, int k, int l, int i1, int j1)
    {
        graphics.fillArc(i, j, k, l, i1, j1);
    }

    public void drawRect(int i, int j, int k, int l)
    {
        graphics.drawRect(i, j, k, l);
    }

    public void fillRect(int i, int j, int k, int l)
    {
        graphics.fillRect(i, j, k, l);
    }

[CommanderROR]

Well, I actually went ahead and bought a book from mobipocket. It's from P.J. Farmer, called "The Green Odyssey", a book I have not read yet.

I started reading but found that I have some problems. It's really strange...I used to read a lot on my Iliad before I went for the STAReBOOK...and the page-truning speed was never an issue for me. Now, I get really impatient because it feels like every pageturn takes forever. Is the mobipocket turning speed somehow slower than PDF or am I just used to the faster turns on the STAReBOOK???
I'm really and honestly amazed how little the terrible font and the serious reflowing problems on the STAReBOOK bugged me and how much the speed of the Iliad is now getting to me. i'm not trying to discredit the Iliad...no way...I'm really happy to finally see some real progress (and Mobipocket is REAL progress) but somehow I don't know whether i'll be able to readjust my reading habits to the Iliad...

[Moonraker]

Booting up and opening files is slow on the iLiad. But once a book is opened I find page turning is no slower than if I were turning a page in a paper book.

And I love the beautiful page formatting that I get in the Mobipocket viewer. No matter if I change the font size in the middle of reading, it always flows correctly.

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by Moonraker

Booting up and opening files is slow on the iLiad. But once a book is opened I find page turning is no slower than if I were turning a page in a paper book.

And I love the beautiful page formatting that I get in the Mobipocket viewer. No matter if I change the font size in the middle of reading, it always flows correctly.

A screenshot or two for the unfortunate non-iLiad owners would be nice

[Moonraker]

Here are some pics showing different font sizes. The font change is quite speedy. The text is much clearer than it seems from these pics. Also, the variation in font size is much greater than I have shown - it will go a lot smaller or larger.

[bruce]

This ability to resize is one of the features I missed most after I switched to the iLiad from the reb1100 (that and having the book automatically open up to the current page of my current book when powering back up!). Enough so I may start converting my books to .mobi format instead of .pdf.

I previously tried using .html but the iLiad's html render engine as it currently stands is a complete non-starter -- my ancient reb1100 significantly outperforms it.

[Larry Z.]

I did the Mobipocket upgrade to my Iliad this afternon, and it's great. When I bought it last Summer, all I wanted to do was buy and read books on it. The display is crisp and clean, and it's quite a relief to purchase commercial books rather than reread Sherlock Holmes ad infinitum...

An added plus was that I had books in my Mobipocket account from previous Treo and Ipaq purchases - so all I had to do was re-download them. They'd been in my online bookshelf for years and I'd totally forgotten about them. Kudos to Mobipocket for keeping those records and purchases available.

Better late than never - the Iliad has now become fun.

Larry Z.

[Alexander Turcic]

I totally go for the look from the screenshots. Definitely a very big improvement for the iLiad.

[rrustema]

Originally Posted by Robert Marquard

As long as you only want to read the books then there should be no problem at all. I do that for my trusty old T3 all the time because direct copying on the SD card is faster.
Syncing through the desktop reader is only relevant for annotations.

And the RSS feeds? How do I get those in the iLiad Mobipocket reader if I don't have Windows installed (pricy) on my MacBook?

[narve]

Originally Posted by rrustema

And the RSS feeds? How do I get those in the iLiad Mobipocket reader if I don't have Windows installed (pricy) on my MacBook?

And what do I do when the Reader doesn't recognize the iLiad when I plug it in?

[rrustema]

Originally Posted by rrustema

And the RSS feeds? How do I get those in the iLiad Mobipocket reader if I don't have Windows installed (pricy) on my MacBook?

Meanwhile, I found the answer over at Mobipocket . Just as I feared. The Windows-only desktop software is inevitable to get the RSS-feeds. Which is silly, considering that there is wifi in the iLiad. I expected to just have to push a button to refresh my RSS-feeds, like I do with the RSS reader on my Treo. When outdoors, I don't want to go back home to my computer with the Mobipocket Reader just to see if there is anything new for me in my RSS feeds.

Is it easy to add RSS feeds which are not in the collection of Mobipocket? There are RSS feeds out there which are completely customised and personalised for me and of no interest to other Mobipocket users.

Hopefully it will soon be possible to subscribe to any RSS-feed without going through the desktop software from Mobipocket. Preferably with another, dedicated RSS-reader. The Mobipocket reader on the iLiad does not seem to have added value for reading RSS-feeds compared to a good RSS reader, don't you think so?