Upgrading from Kindle DX

[xxtraloud]

what is this link that you posted? it makes me download a .php file

Originally Posted by markom

I remember it took Icarus three seconds in landscape to Kindle DX' one sec.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/att...0&d=1334707173

It takes 14 sec. on Kindle DX white to flip through those 11 pages when I've pressed button next or prev 11 times in a few seconds.

[markom]

Originally Posted by xxtraloud

what is this link that you posted? it makes me download a .php file

It's avi file, video clip, link copied from my older post, and it has been taken out from an older thread, post #7.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=175647

[xxtraloud]

Originally Posted by theodric

Very happy to. I don't have JSTOR access anymore, but if you'd like to point me to a representative file I'll grab it and video the results.

Update: it's not a two-column text-only scientific paper, but this pretty much represents my experience with all PDFs on this device https://vine.co/v/O7jTqU2wj1E

Markom I see that thread, but in that test is a text based pdf, not sure if scientific pubs are text based, or vector based.

I am just waiting for theodric to get back into the thread and test the file I posted.

[theodric]

Alright, I'm back. Busy life is busy.

Here's the stock PDF reader comparison:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dips4v-1G3U

For this test file the differences aren't vast, although the M96 does seem to be marginally (a few tens of milliseconds) faster much of the time, and is significantly faster on graphics-heavy pages. The DXG, due to limited memory, isn't able to pre-cache pages as aggressively, and seems to prioritise forward loading, leading to more delays when flipping backward. The DXG also seems to do a full screen blank and redraw on each flip, whereas the M96's stock reader does it only every 5 (N.B. this is configurable), which increases the apparent time required to flip the page on the DXG.

DXG KPDF performance is similar to DXG stock performance for text, but significantly better when graphics are introduced:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzmpVolN97o

Comparison of zoom in DXG KPDF vs M96 stock:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuL2_Gxi-Vs

I'm hung up on the M96's stock reader because I haven't found a reader that both supports the forward/backward buttons (or at the least doesn't expect me to use taps - and therefore the stylus - to navigate. Do you flip book pages with a pen? Me either!) and doesn't have some other annoying quirk that makes it unpleasant to use. The best alternative I've found so far is ezPDF Reader Pro. It's definitely quicker than the DXG’s or M96’s stock reader:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUID2po2Oe0

On the minus side, it insists on displaying the (enormous!) Android status bar at the top, which eats some of the space that could be better used for rendering my reading material. In the file supplied, the result is that the text is rather on the small side and readability is strained. Moreover, this means that the effective resolution of the M96 is lower than the DXG, since more of the M96's pixels are displaying stuff that isn't document text. (First image) The effect is less marked in the M96 stock reader, but is still present. (Second image) http://imgur.com/a/lFLKR

The DXG stock reader simply handles margins more efficiently, making better use of its screen. Sure, you can zoom in, but that’s a workaround, not a solution.

Also, for some inexplicable reason they decided to make an annotation overlay bar a feature of their program that, in the version available on the Play store, can only be disabled by a 5-finger tap— which is not a possible on this single-touch, stylus-driven display. After buying the app, I wrote to them to ask if there was any other way of disabling the overlay, but they did not respond. I obtained an older version of the program where you can still disable the overlay though a menu option, which is what’s shown in the video.

One thing I can't seem to do in the M96's stock PDF reader is move to an arbitrary page in a file. Can somebody fill me in how to do that? I tried tapping/D-pad clicking on the page number in the lower right corner - it does seem to be a selectable object if I navigate to it with the D-pad - but nothing happened. That’s a pretty serious oversight if it’s not actually possible.

[xxtraloud]

theodric,

thanks for the very thorough testing, it is indeed very disappointing that the speed difference is very minimal. ezpdf makes things much more snappier but it has that bar. To me the most disappointing thing is that zooming takes so much time just because you have to go through all these submenus, in kpdf it just takes one shortcut to zoom into that graph. I was under the impression that you could zoom in just using the stylus by drawing a diagonal line on the text you want to zoom in. I wish that K PDF was available for the M96 because it is a great piece of software. At this point I can see myself buying the 96 until there is a better PDF software.

Is it possible to zoom in and a more intuitive way with ez reader?

[theodric]

It does appear that you can zoom - sort of - in the M96 stock reader by pushing the D-pad north or south, but it actually reflows the text rather than zooming. It works sometimes, and other times (e.g. with tables) it just ends up being a mess.

In ezPDF you can double-tap with the stylus on a block of text or image and it will zoom it up to screen width (with an animation that looks like a bad acid trip on e-paper ). Having to use the stylus bugs me, but maybe I'm in the minority on that one.

Can I interest you in an almost-totally-unfair comparison?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKd-LIBlwg8

It's from 2011, but the specifications aren't really that far off of those of the M96. Just an example of what should be possible with proper software-- e-paper rendering speed aside.

[markom]

Originally Posted by xxtraloud

theodric,

thanks for the very thorough testing, it is indeed very disappointing that the speed difference is very minimal. ezpdf makes things much more snappier but it has that bar. To me the most disappointing thing is that zooming takes so much time just because you have to go through all these submenus, in kpdf it just takes one shortcut to zoom into that graph. I was under the impression that you could zoom in just using the stylus by drawing a diagonal line on the text you want to zoom in. I wish that K PDF was available for the M96 because it is a great piece of software. At this point I can see myself buying the 96 until there is a better PDF software.

Is it possible to zoom in and a more intuitive way with ez reader?

You can also try k2pdfopt's 2-column mode to optimize pdfs beforehand for 2-columns.
This way, about 8 cm wide column on paper will be enlarged to fit 14 cm wide screen in portraite mode (takes 2 seconds or less to flip through pages on DX, full refresh), and then when there is need for further magnification you can just use 2-column mode on DX (or M92/96) to further zoom on that already zoomed 1/4 page by dividing it in 4 screens again, or any other zoom value (again 2-3 seconds to zoom in).

It will take about 2-3 seconds to enlarge the page using 2-column (with or without borders) on DX and should then take about 1-2 seconds to flip to another quarter, left/right or up/down and 2 seconds or less to get back to normal (original 1/4 page).


The same goes for k2pdfopt's fitwidth mode(landscape without margins).
One column on paper (8 cm wide) shall be about 9 cm wide on DX in landscape.
Flipping through pages takes about second and a half.
Zooming in, as in the case of 2-column mode, should be a bit quicker too, because our reader again deals with smaller pages i.e. half of original and optimized for 10" screen resolution and size.

[xxtraloud]

I forgot about this thread. Has anything changed in the meantime with M96? Is there more efficient PDF readers that make it worth to abandon the DX for an M96? This thread was quite convincing that the gain in minimal.