A manufacturer wants your opinion on 9.7" device features

[levirothschild]

There are zillions of ereaders out there now.

Why not make one that will suit the needs of college students?

[mike_bike_kite]

Shouldn't the first question be "what size reader do people want?"

[Freeshadow]

the voted ones +

• Opentype font extension capabilities (subsets like: ligatures, kerning pairs, typographic alt, real sub- superscript and numeral subsets (normal, medieval, fixed etc.) actually used if the font in use offers them.
  
• good special characters support (utf-8)

[mrscoach]

I would have voted for OPDS, I think, if I had known what it was.

[dmaul1114]

I voted touch screen, stylus, color, internet, webmail, video etc.

In other words, I have no interest in a big screen reader--pointless to me when I can get a tablet and read on it and do everything else since I have no problems reading on LCD.

I'd also vote (if they were interested) for a 12" or so screen to finally have something I can read all my letter sized PDFs on and mark them up with a stylus!

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by mrscoach

I would have voted for OPDS, I think, if I had known what it was.

same here

[WillAdams]

Freeshadow wrote:
>Opentype font extension capabilities (subsets like: ligatures, kerning pairs,
>typographic alt, real sub- superscript and numeral subsets (normal, medieval,
>fixed etc.) actually used if the font in use offers them.

The problem is, .epub doesn't support most of that --- if one wants nice typography, best option is to make a .pdf optimized for the screen size of the viewer.

[ardeegee]

Not a single item on the list is something that I would "require." All I care about is the ability to read books on it-- the extra bells and whistles are just that-- extra bells and whistles. How about making a 9.7 inch reader that allows the reading of books in tons of formats, skips everything on that list, and has a bare minimum cost?

[kacir]

Well, I wanted to vote, but NONE of the features I really care for are listed and it does not let me vote with empty list.

Here is what I consider as important features for an 9.7 inch reader, sorted by importance.

1. 9.7" display (obviously), preferably without glass substrate
2. price
3. *price*
4. PRICE
5. Did I say *PRICE*?
6. good software for reading books, with lots of configuration options (have a look at PocketBook firmware)
7. good firmware with lots of customization options, like possibility to remap all buttons ...
8. physical page-turning buttons on both sides, so the pages can be turned by either hand
9. robust construction
10. rugged (military specs) construction
11. external memory media (such as memory card)
12. ability to annotate the text. Any text, including A4 pdf files and ability to export said annotations to a non-proprietary format.

[Worldwalker]

The problem I see with this is that since the options given are not those useful for ebook readers -- they're features of tablets -- the predetermined result of this survey is going to be "people want tablets". There is no option for "I don't want a tablet, I want a ebook reader."

[NormHart]

I agree with most of what has been said here with regards to preferring a dedicated reader vs an xPAD.

My wants are predicated on what my Kindle has taught me.

WiFi in addition to 3G would be great, hooking up the USB cable to transfer downloaded ebooks is a pain. The ability to connect wireless to my home network would be great.

For the most part I find the Kindle to be ergonomically excellent and see no reason to change much.

The ability to change meta data would be cool since many of the ebooks I have have poorly constructed meta data.

The ability organize ebooks via many criteria is critical whether organized by meta data or by folders.

The ability to read many different ebook formats is also critical and the ability to access public libraries would be nice.

I've found that internet access from the Kindle was not of much value to me so far. (three times in the last year other than demonstrating the ability to folks)

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

The problem I see with this is that since the options given are not those useful for ebook readers -- they're features of tablets -- the predetermined result of this survey is going to be "people want tablets". There is no option for "I don't want a tablet, I want a ebook reader."

To be fair, I'm not sure there's a huge market for simple e-book readers with 9.7" screens.

The majority of book readers seem to want smaller 5-6" screens that are easier to take everywhere with them. I'm not saying no one wants them, as some do be it for vision problems or just preferring larger pages etc. But they're clearly a niche device relative to portable readers.

So I see portable dedicated readers being a permanent fixture and not going anywhere regardless of how popular tablets become. But I think large screen dedicated readers like the Kindle DX will probably get killed off by tablets. I just don't see enough of a market for people who want a big screen device that does nothing but display e-books. But maybe I'm wrong. *shrugs*

[Xanthe]

Interesting question, about what I would want. I had to stop and think - do I want it primarily as an e-reader or as more of an all-purpose device? Realizing of course that the more features I added, the higher the cost would be. I decided I wanted the device's focus to be on reading and associated research, not a broad media device. I've got my laptop for that, not to mention a smart phone.

I think that I would prefer the device to be affordable, so I skipped the items like touch screen and video player. I was going to skip color screen too, but then I thought, hmm 9+" screen is good for viewing "coffee table" books and art books, and it would be nice to see those images in color. Also, charts in color would be nice. But I can live with grey-scale, as long as there are a lot of levels.

Wifi capability and a browser would be useful - to look up things on Wiki or to download books directly. 3G - meh; I wouldn't use it. Ditto for email - not necessary.

Touch screen - no. I'd rather have well-placed buttons so that I can hold the reader and turn the pages all with one hand. Also, at least two methods of turning pages for ease of right-handed and left-handed use. I don't need to have another screen to clean and touch screens seem to smudge easily. Besides, unless a good touch screen is installed, they tend to reduce the sharpness of the image.

People seem to like having a dictionary. I'd like a music player just so audiobooks could be added to the reader. As others have mentioned, text-to-speech capability would be nice.

I looked up what OPDS means and that looks useful.

Support for a wide variety of formats is a must. As is a good PDF reader, one with reflow capability. Meta data access would be nice.

I would also like a digital clock in one of the corners. I'm often reading while waiting for one thing or another, and I'd like to be able to check the time.

Ease of creating folders and subfolders is essential, as is quick access to the files.

SD card capability is a must. The device should charge while connected to both the computer and to a wall outlet.

Provide all the essential doodads with the initial purchase:
USB cable, AC adapter, earbuds, carrying case.

Devote some thought to the ergonomic aspects of the device: make it easy to hold and operate with either hand, make the controls responsive, allow some space for clipping on a reading light. Frame colors should be unobtrusive. Give the back a bit of texture for easy gripping. Minimize the weight of the reader as much as possible, but build it strong; remember that devices like an ereader fascinate little kids and they want to hold them; they also tend to drop them often.

Allow for great flexibility in zoom rates; that is an essential feature for many of us. Also, allow more font choices than just a serif one and a sans-serif one; we should be able to load our own choice of fonts. Include an auto page turn feature. Allow landscape and portrait modes. Have a precise battery meter. An encryption capability would be useful in some circumstances.

[rebarnmom]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

No need to apologise, OPDS is pretty unknown by a lot of people.

From the home page of the project on Google Code :
"The Open Publication Distribution System (OPDS) Catalog is a syndication format for electronic publications based on Atom RFC4287 and HTTP RFC2616. Catalogs enable the aggregation, distribution, discovery, and acquisition of electronic publications. OPDS Catalogs use existing or emergent open standards and conventions, with a priority on simplicity."

there is a thread here which will give you some more information about it.

Now that I know what it is, I would add that to my vote, if I could? Pretty please?

[Worldwalker]

Am I paranoid because I'm thinking that this survey has been devised to justify building a tablet? "See, we surveyed the hardest of hardcore ebook readers, and all the features they checked off are tablet features, so you should give us the go-ahead to make this tablet we want to build." I can't think of any other reason why the majority of the features listed are those that would be found on a tablet, while the ones we want on our ebook readers, as the comments above demonstrate, are glaringly conspicuous by their absence.

I've got nothing against tablets, and no doubt I'll replace my netbook with a tablet one of these days, but I'll never mistake it for an ebook reader. I don't want an iPad to read my books on; I want the PRS-510 that Sony will, sadly, never build.

I also want a Foonly.