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Old 03-25-2009, 05:20 AM   #1
novainvictus
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Smile What about reading ebooks on a Blackberry Storm

Hi,

I have a lot of mobi books. So far I'm reading them on my Windows Mobile PDA and a Cybook.

Now it's time for a new Phone, and i thought about buying a Blackberry Storm, so i wouldn't need my PDA anymore.
But i haven't found much infos about Mobipocket on the Storm. Is somebody of you using this Phone as a ebook-reader?

I have a few questions:
- is the mobipocket-reader stable on the storm?
- can i change fonts (and import my own fonts)?
- changing pages with the touchscreen, is this annoying?
- are there any known problems?

Maybe anyone can make some screenshots ore photos so i could take a look before i sign the contract and get the storm?

thanks
nova
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Old 03-28-2009, 10:16 AM   #2
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seems like there are no storm-users around... :-(
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Old 03-28-2009, 10:35 AM   #3
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I don't have a BlackBerry, but it is in the same Forum at MobiPocket as other Java-based Readers which I am tracking. The standard version gets more questions in the forum than EInk devices, but there are way more BlackBerries out there.

The beta version has been designed for the Storm, and, for a beta version, I don't see a lot of issues on the forum. See Mobipocket Reader for BlackBerry - Beta.
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Old 03-29-2009, 05:01 AM   #4
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Thanks for the link, but i already know the Mobipocket-forum.
In fact I'm tracking it myself...

The problem with support-boards like that is, the users are only posting when something didn't work. I'm looking for something like a review of the Storm specially for ebook-readers...
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Old 04-06-2009, 12:20 PM   #5
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I don't have a Storm but do have a Blackberry Bold. I can't speak to the touch screen features for reading Mobipocket books on the Storm. However, I've had very positive experiences reading Mobipocket books on my Bold and especially like the dictionary lookup feature which is very fast. I can only imagine that the experience will be enhanced on the Storm with the larger screen.

The fact that you are not getting a lot of feedback may imply that there are very few issues, if any, for reading Mobipocket books on the Storm negating the need for people to come to forums to share their success stories.
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Old 04-06-2009, 03:06 PM   #6
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I've had no issues using Mobipocket reader on my BlackBerry Curve.
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Old 04-06-2009, 04:55 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by novainvictus View Post
seems like there are no storm-users around... :-(
Sorry novainvictus, seems I missed your post. I have a storm. I used MobiPocket(MOBI), RepliGo(PDF), and eReader(eReader). For reading books on the Storm.

To answer your questions. The answer is YES to everyone of them.

is the mobipocket-reader stable on the storm?
Yes, i've never had it crash/freeze on me. Mobipocket continues to write clients with the user comfort/convinced in mind. OTA libraries purchases and libraries work great.

- can i change fonts (and import my own fonts)?
Yes you can change your font, importing I don't know but that is an OS issue.

- changing pages with the touchscreen, is this annoying?
No it's great, but some have complained. I find the screen blackening more of an issue.

- are there any known problems?
Well here was my post to Mobipocket when I first tried their Beta80



>>>>>>>>>> Start

Defiantly an improvement over the previous version of MobiRead, so many kudos.


The good
Having the option to lock the screen is a great feature. I didn’t appreciate until I tried to read at an angle.
Bookmarks, are very easy to utilize great job!
Page swiping is great.
Dictionary lookup is fantastic!
FULL Screen!!

Better, but needs improvement
Storm friendly scrollable eBook selection, other views are missing.

Zoom is okay. The zoom feature in the PocketPC solution was great there was zooming and panning. Here the zoom only enlarges the image enough to cover the screen.


Usability issues
I know this is a MobiRead problem not just a storm, but sorting books should not included articles such as “The” and “A”. The sony reader does a good job ignoring these articles when sorting. It’s ridiculous to sort if half of my books are in the “T” section.

Annotations are nonexistent. This is big for me. There is no way to annotate text.

Most hyperlinks work great, but there are some with “*” or numbers that are too small to select.

I like the page swipe feature, but also it would be great to have scrolling up/down for navigating through text. This is would be consistent with the rest of the Storm apps. Also I know this feature exists for the PocketPC version.

Is there a way that the application can stay in memory. Since this is a mulit function device it is common that a new app will be swapped. Here we have to reload the application every time the application is moved to the background.

(this is not an issue but an annoyance) When the screen is fading it is common to tap the screen to keep it from going to sleep. When this is done the text is highlighted. This tap should be ignored. Most of the apps I’ve seen on the BB seem to ignore this tap.

Library screen is very nice but with only 120 books in the scrolling is very sluggish.

Enhancements
Page turn : It would be a great feature if MobiPocket could implement the fast page turn, as seen in the SONY-PRS7000. Here the user can quickly turn through pages by using the page turn method but holding down the thumb. The pages continue to turn until the thumb is lifted up.

I think MobiPocket for Storm needs to develop a tool bar, as seen in the Storm Browser where the user can tap once on the screen to bring it up. A cursor mode will allow a user to select text and select those hard to click href.

I’ve only had one crash with the application so it’s pretty sable for a Beta. I cannot recall the error message at the moment.

SUMMARY
The improvement are excellent. It is now a great usable app. So thank you.

I think a few enhancements are necessary to make it a killer Storm app.
* Smooth scrolling up/down. (See gmail on the storm – written in java)
* A cursor mode for highlighting text, clicking href.
* Enable annotations.
* Folders or Filters for the Library (exist on PocketPC)
* A search field for the library. Just like the one found in the Contacts application.

Last edited by =X=; 04-07-2009 at 10:55 AM. Reason: Drat spell checker
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Old 04-12-2009, 09:31 PM   #8
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You might also try the eReader software from ereader.com. Great if you purchase books there. Also look at the ShortCovers client for the Storm. I don't usually buy ebooks that expensive, but it is nice to be able to download the first chapter to a LOT of books for free and see if I am going to want to read it. As mentioned above, I think the premier reader for me is the MobiReader. Really does the best job. If you do Audible, they just finished a beta for the Storm, and I expect to see that release any time now.

Reading on my Storm is just my emergency backup as I have both the PRS-505 and 700 readers from Sony. That's really my choice...
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Old 04-12-2009, 11:11 PM   #9
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I don't have a storm, but I do have a classic Blackberry. I keep one Mobipocket book on it for what I call "stealth reading". When my colleagues pull out their Blackberries to check their e-mail, I read 6 or 7 screens of my novel.
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Old 04-13-2009, 01:35 AM   #10
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I dont own a Blackberry but maybe these threads can help you out:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ackberry+Storm

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ackberry+Storm
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