MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Android devices. Built in e-reader vs. e-reader app. Your preferences?

Quoth · 11-03-2019, 05:21 PM

I think all the later Sony models used Android. Though why is a mystery. But then Sony abandoned their own decent TV GUI to use Google's Android TV.

There are two main reasons why Android exists and why Google bought it in:
1) Symbian used only the official Mobile Java because Sun (later Oracle) mysteriously wouldn't licence Desktop Java on the same terms. Android uses a clone of desktop JVM so as to run full Java essentially. The court case is still running.
2) Android had a much better touch orientated GUI than the stupid Series 60 on top of Symbian (Nokia had due to politics internally abandoned a touch GUI based on the superior Series 80 used on the Communicator, back in maybe 2003).

An eink GUI needs to be designed for eink. The reader app needs to be page based. Mobi used on PalmOS was bought up by Amazon.

There is no good reason to use Android (which uses a Linux kernel) over plain Linux, GNU utilities as on Linux distros and a custom GUI and application, both of which are needed for Android anyway. Regular Android apps are not going to be sensible on eink. Earlier Sony readers didn't use Android, well it didn't exist!

First Smart Phone 1998, best was the 1998 Nokia Communicator on AMD x86 like a 486. Then 2001 there was colour and ARM CPU on Nokia. I had both models.

Sony Librie in released in 2004 predates Kindle and Android.

iPhone was released on June 29, 2007 Earlier that year touch screen 4G phones (Flash-OFDMA by Flarion with tile GUI by Trolltech) were demoed. Qualcomm bought Flarion for the 4G IP and that killed the project.

Kindle November 2007.

Android on phones in late 2008 , four years after the first Sony eink based ereader. The PRS-T1 was 2011, by 2014 Sony had ditched the ebook reader. Too much influenced by media division and wanting to sell ebooks. They now only do high end PDF based eink, "digital paper".

Android was bought by Google bought in 2005.
Amazon bought up Mobipocket. The Mobi format and Moboreader was well known from 2000 and on Symbian, WinCE, Windows desktop, PalmOS for PDAs (Psion and WinCE), smartphones and feature phones.
Amazon.com bought Mobipocket.com in 2005 and kept it running until October 2016, when it permanently shut down the Mobipocket website and servers. I'm not clear if the actual reader on the original Kindle was based on Mobi Reader.
Also shows the evils of DRM, how it and evil so called "licences" rather than regular copyright deprive consumers.

11-03-2019, 05:21 PM	#11
Quoth Still reading Posts: 14,352 Karma: 105899727 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	I think all the later Sony models used Android. Though why is a mystery. But then Sony abandoned their own decent TV GUI to use Google's Android TV. There are two main reasons why Android exists and why Google bought it in: 1) Symbian used only the official Mobile Java because Sun (later Oracle) mysteriously wouldn't licence Desktop Java on the same terms. Android uses a clone of desktop JVM so as to run full Java essentially. The court case is still running. 2) Android had a much better touch orientated GUI than the stupid Series 60 on top of Symbian (Nokia had due to politics internally abandoned a touch GUI based on the superior Series 80 used on the Communicator, back in maybe 2003). An eink GUI needs to be designed for eink. The reader app needs to be page based. Mobi used on PalmOS was bought up by Amazon. There is no good reason to use Android (which uses a Linux kernel) over plain Linux, GNU utilities as on Linux distros and a custom GUI and application, both of which are needed for Android anyway. Regular Android apps are not going to be sensible on eink. Earlier Sony readers didn't use Android, well it didn't exist! First Smart Phone 1998, best was the 1998 Nokia Communicator on AMD x86 like a 486. Then 2001 there was colour and ARM CPU on Nokia. I had both models. Sony Librie in released in 2004 predates Kindle and Android. iPhone was released on June 29, 2007 Earlier that year touch screen 4G phones (Flash-OFDMA by Flarion with tile GUI by Trolltech) were demoed. Qualcomm bought Flarion for the 4G IP and that killed the project. Kindle November 2007. Android on phones in late 2008 , four years after the first Sony eink based ereader. The PRS-T1 was 2011, by 2014 Sony had ditched the ebook reader. Too much influenced by media division and wanting to sell ebooks. They now only do high end PDF based eink, "digital paper". Android was bought by Google bought in 2005. Amazon bought up Mobipocket. The Mobi format and Moboreader was well known from 2000 and on Symbian, WinCE, Windows desktop, PalmOS for PDAs (Psion and WinCE), smartphones and feature phones. Amazon.com bought Mobipocket.com in 2005 and kept it running until October 2016, when it permanently shut down the Mobipocket website and servers. I'm not clear if the actual reader on the original Kindle was based on Mobi Reader. Also shows the evils of DRM, how it and evil so called "licences" rather than regular copyright deprive consumers.