What i want most in a 9.7" ereader is for the PDF support to be SPECTACULAR. It must have multiple zoom functions for when reflow isnt appropriate and reflow must be excellent when it is.
Zoom must be persistent- once i set it for a pdf it stays for every page until i change it. I want selection zoom like we have with Irex and Onyx to zoom in on specific spots on charts etc. If its multiple column I want to be able to read with them all displayed or just one column at a time (pocketbook).
TOC must work, and also internal links. Footnotes must work and must also get you back to where you were reading EASILY. I must be able to make scribbly notes and clip text for notes- look at how Samsung Hanvon and Plastic Logic allow you to add a sort of sticky note to a spot in the text. As mentioned before bookmarks AND NOTES must be able to move off the reader with the document or with some easily accessed format.
I want a way to download straight to the device- for that I want WIFI. A browser helps you find stuff you want to download- look to the Onyx webkit browser as an example. A soft keyboard for making notes and for posting small responses on sites like Mobile Read is very useful. I can use that to look at my gmail and respond if i need to.
I want to be able to have multiple documents and books "open" at once and be able to quickly move back and forth between them while doing research/studying.
ODS is a nice feature and I also want something like DLNA or WIFI Direct
http://www.wi-fi.org/news_articles.p...ws&news_id=909 so its easier for people to share content between their own devices and with others. If I have a copy of some office report I want another person to see , being able to "hand it over" with wifi direct built into devices would make it much easier then opening up an email and sending an attachment etc
Document search and folder support, dictionaries(adding your own) is a MUST for any decent ereader going forward. So is the open architecture for a community of users to build around . All the font support and formats and customization abilities mentioned by kacir i.e look at PocketBook firmware.
Several people in this thread seem opposed to anything that does more than casual novel or non fiction reading. I think that in this size its got to be more- there is more reading done than just book reading. Work and Professional documents, Email and News, Magazines for recreation or professional reading, education, this forum and others etc etc etc. this is all reading that I will want to do on this size of a device too.
To be an excellent reading device it must be capable of doing ALL of this reading well and it must be flexible enough to make it comfortable for me- changing fonts and spacing and margins. I must be able to mark up documents or make notes and pass them off to professors/students/colleagues/friends/family etc
ALL on an e-ink display(color when available for those mags and "photography" books) and it must cost less than the next closest thing that can play video. and weeks of battery life (when wifi is off of course)