MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Classic Anyone know how highlighting and dictionary work?

okalyddude · 10-23-2009, 08:00 AM

Hi, I was watching the few videos available, and find it hard to believe so many people are pre-ordering these with so little information. Is there a demonstration video I am missing? ( I have seen the advert, and a few short hands on, showing very little)

I want to know HOW the highlighting works. I have seen it done, but the camera never shows the bottom portion, where the person is actually doing it.

Is there just a little dpad, you click left, right, and a cursor moves from word to word?

Does it copy the text down to the touch screen, and you can click on the word there? (this would be ideal, if you could scroll through the page up and down on the touch screen, highlight what you want, copy, or annotate, or dictionary)

Anyone seen how it is actually done?

I'm on the fence between the PRS 600 and the Nook, but don't really want to wait for the nook, or take the big risk that something will be wrong. I am out of the country, so will have to have it shipped somewhere in the US, then shipped to me, and by then won't be able to return it in the 14 days.

For me, text highlighting isn't a massive deal, but dictionary would be very very nice. So would customization. This leads me to ask about hacking / customizing / user firmwares etc... I know it's possible on the 600, they're trying, and it's harder than older sonys, but these types of people are persistent (and I love them for it) and I would really like to add things like offline wikipedia, translators, tweak the dictionary, tweak shortcuts, better folder / ebook management.

Same thing on the nook. The current ui wasn't really shown well in the videos, but looks very inadequate. They suggest you can have 10,000 books or whatever, then you should have to either use a touch screen keyboard or scroll through book / author with your thumb, both are not ideal. prs 600 isn't exactly ideal, but at least has collections, which you can tweak to your needs.

I guess I'll probably buy the 600, wait to see how the release of the nook goes, how people hack the android, and if they make real use out of the touch screen. I wish the e-ink part was touch screen, so highlighting and dictionary lookup was practical, but maybe people will hack it and put in all the things they should do:

wifi web browsing
footnotes, art, etc on the bottom
a clock?
better folder support
good highlighting, maybe a 'mouse' you can move around (slowly), or just copy the text to the touch screen to highlight it.

I dunno. But if you're going to make something 'open' and using android, you might as well come out and just make it easier for developers to make and sell add ons / customization. But I suppose they run the risk of people making it too easy to do illegal things, which the publishers want to avoid at all costs.

10-23-2009, 08:00 AM	#1
okalyddude Enthusiast Posts: 41 Karma: 602 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: E600	Anyone know how highlighting and dictionary work? Hi, I was watching the few videos available, and find it hard to believe so many people are pre-ordering these with so little information. Is there a demonstration video I am missing? ( I have seen the advert, and a few short hands on, showing very little) I want to know HOW the highlighting works. I have seen it done, but the camera never shows the bottom portion, where the person is actually doing it. Is there just a little dpad, you click left, right, and a cursor moves from word to word? Does it copy the text down to the touch screen, and you can click on the word there? (this would be ideal, if you could scroll through the page up and down on the touch screen, highlight what you want, copy, or annotate, or dictionary) Anyone seen how it is actually done? I'm on the fence between the PRS 600 and the Nook, but don't really want to wait for the nook, or take the big risk that something will be wrong. I am out of the country, so will have to have it shipped somewhere in the US, then shipped to me, and by then won't be able to return it in the 14 days. For me, text highlighting isn't a massive deal, but dictionary would be very very nice. So would customization. This leads me to ask about hacking / customizing / user firmwares etc... I know it's possible on the 600, they're trying, and it's harder than older sonys, but these types of people are persistent (and I love them for it) and I would really like to add things like offline wikipedia, translators, tweak the dictionary, tweak shortcuts, better folder / ebook management. Same thing on the nook. The current ui wasn't really shown well in the videos, but looks very inadequate. They suggest you can have 10,000 books or whatever, then you should have to either use a touch screen keyboard or scroll through book / author with your thumb, both are not ideal. prs 600 isn't exactly ideal, but at least has collections, which you can tweak to your needs. I guess I'll probably buy the 600, wait to see how the release of the nook goes, how people hack the android, and if they make real use out of the touch screen. I wish the e-ink part was touch screen, so highlighting and dictionary lookup was practical, but maybe people will hack it and put in all the things they should do: wifi web browsing footnotes, art, etc on the bottom a clock? better folder support good highlighting, maybe a 'mouse' you can move around (slowly), or just copy the text to the touch screen to highlight it. I dunno. But if you're going to make something 'open' and using android, you might as well come out and just make it easier for developers to make and sell add ons / customization. But I suppose they run the risk of people making it too easy to do illegal things, which the publishers want to avoid at all costs.