PRS-350 Alternative firmware for PRS-350/650/950 from eBook Applications

[ebookapps]

version for PRS-350/650/950 has been just released
Download it from http://www.ebookapplications.com

Main features:

• Support for all major ebook, image, compression audio formats.
• In-book dictionary
• Ability to install additional dictionaries and fonts
• Simple and intuitive interface, fully functional file manager and many other features

When alternative firmware is installed there is easy way to return to original fimrware

Supported formats:

• Books: PDF, DOC, EPUB, RTF, HTML, CHM, TXT, DJVU, FB2, PDB, PRC, TCR, ZIP, RAR ---including multi-file ZIP и RAR compressed files
• Comics formats: CBR, CBZ
• Image formats: JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, PSD, PICT, PCX, PGM, PPM, SGI, TGA
• Music: MP3, WAV, FLAC, OGG, AAC

All features of alternative firmware:

• Quick start (less than 5 seconds)
• Simple and convenient interface
• Fully functional file manager with support of all types of file operations.
• Flexible user settings, such as fonts, page settings, supported languages, custom fonts etc.
• Convenient in-book navigation
• Bookmark, page and page layout settings
• Flexible settings for PDF/DjVu,CBR/CBZ and images scaling (zoom).
• Bilt-in dictionary, support for custom dictionaries.
• Screen capture
• Current version has six applicaitons: Chess, Sudoku, Calculator, Schultse table and Dictionary in addition to the built–in dictionary.

[seajewel]

Hmm.. i had just started using PRS+ on my 505 and I'm going to get my new 950 today. Wonder which one to put on it! I don't really read anything other than ePub, so while the additional formats is nice, it's not really that useful for me. So other than that, what are the advantages over PRS+?

[ebookapps]

ePubs look subjectively better on our firmware, custom dictionaries and fonts, support for many languages, more apps, use of actual file browser for book navigation, convenience of the interface (obviously also subjective), very flexible page/layout settings, fast loading and page flipping.

One thing to note, we do not support DRM.

You can always uninstall our firmware and try another one, so it is not a one time shot. Test it and decide for yourself

[SkyDream]

Tried to install it but as i can't read the cyrillic (?) messages of the installer i canceled the installation.

Is there any documentation available ?

[ebookapps]

All the cyrillic text is duplicated by English so nothing to be scared about. You can get installation instructions from here

[thebestjeter]

What could be the format of the custom dictionaries?

[ebookapps]

from Help document:

Firmware eBook Applications works with dictionaries in StarDict format.
You can download it here: http://xdxf.revdanica.com/down

By default the firmware archive includes English-Russian dictionary.

In order to add a new dictionary you have to perform the following actions:

Download archive with your SratDict dictionary
The archive should contain 3 files:
dictionary_name.dict.dz
dictionary_name.idx
dictionary_name.ifo
Copy these 3 files into the new folder
Copy this new folder into “ebookapplications/dictionary” folder in the internal memory of the device

[bernmc]

Gave it a whirl, There are some nice features - quick startup, apps, customisable.

However, it has significant problems:

Most importantly, the firmware seems to have forgotten what the device is actually intended for - an eBook reader. As far as I can see, the only way to get to your books is to navigate to them through the file manager. No nice lists, cover displays, sorting into series and so on. I probably spent the first 5 minutes after installation wondering how I read a book.
The second major issue (a deal-breaker for me), is how sluggish the firmware is. The device may start up quickly, but that's where the speed ends. Most importantly, there is a significant pause when turning pages - I have to hit the turn button about half way down the page if I don't want to be sitting drumming my fingers. This, along with the poor library management make the firmware pointless for me - I'd like to have the extra features, but I really want to read my books!
Menus are intermittently sluggish too - there are times where I'm left wondering if the device has registered my input or not...

So, bit more work needed

[spacebrew]

I'd like to see a side-by-side comparison between this and the PRS+ I'm running. I'm so darn happy with PRS+ that it would take a pretty good amount of awesomeness to get me to move, but I'm always open. What apps and extra features does this have? (The list up there looks pretty much the same to me...)

[Analogus]

I've done a quick (uncomplete) comparison:

Installing/deinstalling:
I installed it over PRS+ which will be deinstalled. Reinstalling PRS+ was no problem. Installing the new firmware runs without problems. Deinstalling the firmware is simple (just deleting a folder). I presume, that part of the Sony-firmware will be altered similiar PRS+ does.

Booting; standby:
Very quick (far less time than the 'normal' firmware. Standby is still working.

Interface/look and feel:
Very simple and straight, man couild say a bit rough and outdated. There are no cover-pictures for books, just simple lists. Opening a book only is possible with the (very good) file explorer. That's not very user-firendly. No collections possible, no favorites. Book history available. That's a big back-step. Menus are reacting slow. Not too slow for working but noticeable slower than with PRS+.
No ability to asign buttons.

Edit: Opening menu-points partly just seems to be slow: There always is preselected one menu-point. Chosing that reqires ONE tap. Chosing another menu-point requires TWO taps with the finger. The first one for selecting, the second one for opening. Selected menue-points aren't very good recognizable. So if you tap just as usual one time to open a menu point, nothing will happen.

Reading software:
Completely different software for reading books. You have the possibility to choose your own fonts, size and margings within a book without reopening the book. Very good. But the reader software is slow! I'm not sure, but I have the suspision that CSS is not fully supported for eBooks (I missed italic style). So there are plus and minus. I regard the reader software too slow. Especially PDF-files are very slow. Zoom-levels for ePubs are better stepped and very usefull. Paging forward with one single tap possible, and of course with normal swiping.

Dictionaries:
You can load your own dic's very easy. With the firmware you have no access to the 12 sony dic's! Or did I miss something? Double-tap for dic's is still working. But you have to start it in one extra step before you can unse it for each book you open. After closing a book, you have to load it once more. No big issue.


File explorer:
Very usefull! Fully functional: copying, deleting and moving files and folders possible. Creating folders too. Big plus!

PDF-support:
Viewer has good zooming-modes. But far less useable than the original sony one.

File-support:
Very, very good: a huge amount of file-types are supported. But I didn't test them, so cannot say more about.

Screen-shot:
Yes; very simple to use

Bottom line:
Better than PRS+: file support; explorer; user dic's; font-scaling and chosing; quick-boot from off-status
Worse: interface/look and feel; velocity; built-in-dic's; PDF-viewer; no custom buttons;


I tested it for one or two hours and deleted it because for me there are more downsides than upsides.
Optimum would be to merge the features of PRS+ and this firmware.

A.

[spacebrew]

Awesome comparison, Analogus. Thanks for taking the time to do that. I guess I'll hold off on it for now. PRS+ ain't broke, so...

[vishcompany]

I also gave it a try and can basically confirm Analogus' experiences.

The .css fonts-workaround in PRS+ certainly is not as good as ebookapps' font integration, but then, I don't change fonts every five minutes. Also, the epub reader did not show embedded fonts in my little fonts-collection book.
The file browser is good, but collections are just the far better way to organize your books (show me a music player, that does not support id3 tags).
It certainly is great to be able to install custom dictionaries, at the same time, the preinstalled dicts of the original firmware cover my needs just fine. The free Stardict EN-Ger. dictionary (have it on my PB-302) honestly is not helpful (yet).

I'm sure there are situations, when this firmware is to be preferred (eg. having lots of different formats, without wanting to convert them, reading mangas, really striving for open source / free software).
My own needs are met better with PRS+ so I reverted back.

Nevertheless: Good job so far; good to know, there is an open source alternative.

[youko]

I tried this software because it can support Traditional Chinese. With installing specific fonts, the system menu will be presented in Traditional Chinese, which is good. However, I cannot read epubs of Traditional Chinese content. It is very weird.

I also noticed that some English epubs lost their original layout under this software, such as the blank separation between chapters are gone. Other disadvantages are as mentioned by above users.

It is good to know a software designed for Asian language users. I may resume to use this software when it has updates in the future.

[Analogus]

There is a long review over the firmware:

http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...review-how-to/

A.

[SkyDream]

Installed the firmware without any problem on my 650 but after several reboots it didn't show up as described.
The info site showed the old information and a few new buttons on the bottom right side. For whatever reason it didn't worked for my 650 therefore i reinstalled PRS+ which worked fine.

There were no error messages during installation and 650 rebooted as described. So far nothing went wrong except that it didn't seemed to be installed after the reboots.