Quote:
Originally Posted by crich70
I had a Franklin ebookman device that used dot matrix type letters (not e-ink) like the screen for a calculator and ran on 2 batteries (I can't recall if it was AA or AAA). Each set of batteries lasted maybe 4 hours max. It was the size of a pack of playing cards or maybe just a bit larger. Eventually Franklin (the company that made it) stopped developing the reader software (a port of mobipocket) and I ended up having to look for something else to read on.
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This is EXACTLY why I'm interested in this project.
I've had several devices that don't work anymore for lack of attention. I don't want this to happen to my next eReader if possible. I've found that the stuff that had an open source project associated with them(my Samsung S3), or at least knowledgeable people (my Alphasmart), continued to be usable. THAT'S my main motivation. I've had enough of working devices going into landfill and _that's_ my main motivation here. For me,
it's about reliability I don't get with commercial products.
I can't find that 4.3" screen reader on ebay? I'm in China so if there's something cheap and rubbish out there I might take a risk.
The HiSense A5 could be switched to airplane mode but this is 5". This is the same size as my phone and it might be handy as an experiment to reduce phone addiction but a bit of a waste not to actually use it as a phone. The inability to use Google Play ties in well with that addiction angle.
Good to know the Ectaco uses AA batteries but 4 is heavy.
I noticed a heated debate about pdf/ebook broke out. It looks like a one person sees the word ebook in a different way to the other. One guy seems to see the word as more like a wide concept of electronic+book and the other sees it more as a file format/tech concept.
Thanks for sharing that info about the Z22. It was a bit of a long shot to be able to use that device anyway.
Let's talk about small screens for a moment. What is it exactly that makes it uncomfortable? Do you think it's needing to scan more lines? I heard line searching is one of the slowest aspects of reading. A smaller screen has shorter lines. If you need to jump from the right side of the screen to the left side of the screen, that sucks. It might be easier to read with a ruler, or even faster. Can that be improved?
Or maybe for a really small screen it's best to go with speedreading:
https://opensource.com/article/19/8/...ng-open-source
...though this prevents pausing to contemplate that maybe makes reading more thoughtful than listening to an audiobook?