Nook STR questions...

[Suffolk Punch]

Can anyone help with the following questions about the Nook Simple Touch?

1. Is Webster's dictionary builtin? Or does the nook use WiFi to access it?
2. Can you turn off WiFi?
3. I understand you can side-load epubs via usb. But can side-loaded books be deleted on the nook itself?
4. Can book's in the nook's library be displayed in author surname order e.g. Austen, Jane - perhaps by some Calibre magic?

Martin

[RAH]

1. The dictionary is builtin. You do NOT have to be connected to use it. Only wrinkle - there is no facility to key in a word and look it up - i.e. the word must be in the book you are reading; you then select it and click "Look up"

2. You can turn WiFi off. In fact, with the STR I seldom if ever turn it on, usually only if I want to buy a book. This is completely opposite from the way I use my Color Nook (a tablet), where I usually have WiFi on, because I am picking up email, surfing the web, etc

3. No, side-loaded books can only be deleted by using the USB connection and a computer.

4. You can sort books either by title or author. If you sort by author, it uses the last name of the author.

[bgalbrecht]

I don't know if this is new in the 1.2.1 firmware, but if you look up a word, it now allows you to enter a different word to look up.

Originally Posted by RAH

1. The dictionary is builtin. You do NOT have to be connected to use it. Only wrinkle - there is no facility to key in a word and look it up - i.e. the word must be in the book you are reading; you then select it and click "Look up"

[RAH]

Hey, that's VERY interesting. I just tried it on my Touch (which is at 1.2.0), and it does allow you to look up a different word once you have looked up one that is in the book you are reading. I think this is new with 1.2.0. I mean, people have been complaining about not being able to do this for a long time. There are several threads about it on this forum.

This is kind of a cumbersome way to look up a word that isn't in a book, but it does work. Yes!

[janjanjan]

I rarely use the dictionary, but recently I've had occasion to look up about 10 different words. Not one of them was found. Granted, they're a bit obscure, thus my needing a definition. But, isn't that the point? All of them were easily found on all dictionary online apps, and I also checked a hard copy student dictionary, and they were all available. So, I don't know what's built in, but not much.

[tdonline]

I agree. How much more money and/or memory would it take to have a more expansive dictionary. The sad thing it's unlikely to improve since BN's future looks bleak.

[RAH]

Originally Posted by janjanjan

I rarely use the dictionary, but recently I've had occasion to look up about 10 different words. Not one of them was found. Granted, they're a bit obscure, thus my needing a definition.

That's funny because I have had the opposite experience with the built-in dictionary - it almost always finds my words, even really obscure ones.

I think it may be using an antiquated dictionary. I mean, usually when i have to look up a word, it is in an old novel, like say a 19th century novel by Dickens, or "Dracula" or stuff like that. It ALWAYS has those words, it seems, no matter how arcane (even arcane! ). But maybe for more modern stuff, it is poor (which would kind of make sense since they are probably using some public domain dictionary, although I don't really know).

[janjanjan]

I looked up "strangury" and again word wasn't found. So, I had to go to a regular dictionary to find out the definition. It's not like I'm readying esoteric or obscure stuff. I basically read popular fiction.

If there were any method to download a better dictionary, I'd really appreciate it.

[tomsem]

Unfortunately, ePub 2 does not have a spec for dictionaries. ePub 3 has a charter proposal but that is probably a way off. So I think B&N would need to update the existing dictionary, or offer option to use a web dictionary.

[Katy Did]

Originally Posted by janjanjan

I looked up "strangury" and again word wasn't found. So, I had to go to a regular dictionary to find out the definition. It's not like I'm readying esoteric or obscure stuff. I basically read popular fiction.

If there were any method to download a better dictionary, I'd really appreciate it.

That's interesting. I have a UK-bought Nook which uses the Oxford English dictionary, and it's great - it found "strangury", for example! I was wondering why people were complaining about the dictionary since I've always found it to be very good, but if the US ones use a different dictionary that would explain it. A shame you can't switch!

[Asawi]

Curiousity got the better of me and I created an ePub with the word "strangury", loaded it to my US bought Nook Touch and I could look it up. No problem at all!
Odd!!

Edit: I also wrote it in while in the dictionary from searching for another word, and that works fine as well.
I so wonder why Janjanjan's Nook won't cooperate!

[RAH]

I just tried it on my US-bought STR, and it found "strangury". I used the technique Asa mentioned of looking up another word contained in a book and then entering another search word ("strangury") in the entry field. Found it fine.

FYI -it says "Definitions from Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition" above the definition.

It makes me think that Janjanjan's STR must not be working correctly.

[MartyTX]

tdonline,

I'm using the suggestion you made way back on 12-09-2011:

Originally Posted by tdonline

BTW, I've thought of an awesome makeshift solution and if someone can make this happen, you can take credit for it.

How about having an epub 'book' of words...just a list of words in alphabetical order. How many entries are in a standard college dictionary nowadays? 250K? When you need a definition of a word, you simply open up this book, find the word and then use the Nook dictionary to do the work like you would if you were reading a regular book.

Works fine ... and your list of 170,000 words does indeed contain "strangury".

Marty

UPDATE: Spoke too soon ... getting Nook lockups. Still sounds like a good idea, but apparently not well executed on my part.

[janjanjan]

Okay, so I went back to figure out what I'd done wrong. I couldn't figure out how to change the word after "looking up" a word from my current reading, so I dug up the book that had this word originally. The original author had misspelled strangury, adding an extra "a," and apparently when I typed the word into my tablet, it gave me the correct spelling and I didn't notice. I also have the 11th collegiate dictionary.

But, now I'd like to ask for precise directions on how to type a new word when I'm in the look up function.

Thanks, but I just realized that I still have version 1.1.5, and apparently I need version 1.2.0. So now I have a new question, which I'll search on the forum and post if needed.

Anyway, thanks to all who helped me work this mystery.

[janjanjan]

So, I updated to 1.2.1, and voila, I can now lookup any word I want, anytime I'm in lookup mode. I checked "strangury," and sure enough, it's there. I really appreciate the curious minds which took the time to check out my problem and describe using the lookup function for extra words. Without help, I don't think I'd have ever gotten the update since I was actually at least 2 updates behind. I've never manually updated before, but it's easy enough. So, again, thanks.