Upgradeable reader?

[Toxaris]

I would love a good reader which allows updates of the rendering engine. In that way newer specifications and newer versions of the rendering engine would not be a problem.

Most manufacturers I read about here, only have minimal firmware upgrades. I would really like for example Adobe distribute their mobile engine to end-users and that the e-reader manufacturers would allow users to replace it on their readers.

I can't imagine that for example Sony of Nook will ever allow that.

Of course I am talking about e-Ink screens, not LCD/LED screens.

[hughes]

Updates via firmware are possible on most ereaders. It's not clear how one could measure this factor. Just counting the number of updates per year wouldn't be ideal as it wouldn't capture the significance of the update. I suppose one could note the existence of alternative firmware distributions (such as Duokan for Kindle) or whether there are any open-source distributions (such as ???).

[Toxaris]

Actually, I am not looking for firmware updates. Those are for fixing software issues from the manufacturer. I would love a device where we can update the rendering engine used independent of the manufacturer. Meaning, in my case, I could update the Adobe rendering engine of my Sony without waiting for Sony for an update but just downloading the engine from Adobe. In that case the reader-software would 'just' be the OS and the rendering the application.

[pidgeon92]

Is Adobe in the habit of offering rendering engine updates to e-readers?

[Toxaris]

No, not at the moment anyway. There would not be an use for it now, since we are unable to put it on our reader...

[pwjone1]

Originally Posted by Toxaris

No, not at the moment anyway. There would not be an use for it now, since we are unable to put it on our reader...

There are kind of pros and cons on this particular topic. I have a Kindle 2, it's been through a couple of updates, generally that's gone well. But I also have a Xoom (Android/Honeycomb tablet), and more at the App level, there are a LOT of updates. Granted, these have added function and fixed bugs, but having to go through a minute or two of updates every day or two, well, it gets kind of old.

Not to rekindle the Apple vs. Adobe war, that was obviously driven somewhat by self interest and attempts at market control or share as much as anything, and I use Adobe software a fair amount actually, but having said that, I do think Steve Jobs had somewhat a legitimate beef, Adobe has had some software quality problems, they perhaps took their eye off the ball trying to reduce costs, it would be nice if their software was a little less buggy and security hole + update prone.