Report on new firmware?

[billyad2000]

I've just noticed that bookeen have added a comment in reply to when the new firmware will be available to download to the lates blog entry.

"Blogger Bookeen said...

Dear readers,

The Firmware will be released in a few weeks, I a sorry but we can't be more precise. New features will be:
- folder management,
- improved zoom management for pdf and picture,
- improved font size management for mobi and epub,
- management of the delete button, and some other feature.
- flip-throught option (faster page turn)
We are very sorry for all the delay, but we hope that people from the mobileread meetup were also able to give you some more information and first thought about what we are doing.

Best regards to all of you and have a good reading on your Cybooks.

Bookeen's team"

Seems that except for the lucky few who could get to Paris on saturday, we are no closer to the firmware than in April, when it was also reported to be a few weeks away.

[ricdiogo]

Since day one, Bookeen has not had an effective customer policy. I truly believe that at this moment they are only experiencing a late MobileRead Meetup enthusiasm.

Judging from the comment billyad2000 has just transcribed, I'd say Bookeen has only met two basic commonsense demands: folder management and improved (?) PDF rendering.

I don't think Gen3's technology itself can go much further, actually. Does Cybook Gen3 hardware (as given) allow remote access to the Internet? It certainly does not have a touch screen.

The device is becoming obsolete if we consider other companies’ offers. (A very different scenario from the one we had 2 years ago).

All Bookeen can do now in regarding Cybook Gen3 is developing better software and better costumer support.

Although as a lawyer I can sympathize with the legal perspective behind the “Mobipocket vs Adobe DE” argument, ultimately the costumers don’t care (as someone has stated above).

Old eBook fans still want to be able to read old Mobipocket files. But if we want the industry to start having some standards, than ePub is definitely a must have.

And again, ePub dictionary support is commonsense. If Bookeen doesn’t turn around the problem, someone has to, and someone will.

Which makes me wonder:

When OpenInkpot project stabilizes (and others to come), what’s the point of depending on Bookeen’s programmers anyway? For how long will consumers stay dependent on the supplier for both hardware and software?

Won’t open projects be more effective in developing proper ePub readers and conversion tools for open dictionaries? Or even companies?...

Is my ebook reader far to different from my personal computer?

Wouldn’t it be great if I could install both Mobipocket and ePub readers myself?

Isn’t the technology yet stable enough for companies to develop alternative operating systems for eBook reading devices?

What effects would it have on prices?

Some final notes:

I love my Cybook Gen 3. It has changed the way I read and as saved me a lot of money.

I will only get a new device when I find one with highlighting and ePub support, a good screen (not a glary one), a good warranty period (at least 1 year), from a stable company both in terms of hardware and software.
I use my device specially for reading novels from Project Gutenberg, which I convert to Mobipocket for dictionary support.

As a PG volunteer myself I often have to find typos within the eBooks and then submit the corrections back to PG. Ironically, since my device doesn’t have any highlighting tool, I have to fetch some printing paper and then underline the typos with the precious help of a ultimate peace of technology called PEN.

[Ortep]

Originally Posted by ricdiogo

As a PG volunteer myself I often have to find typos within the eBooks and then submit the corrections back to PG. Ironically, since my device doesn’t have any highlighting tool, I have to fetch some printing paper and then underline the typos with the precious help of a ultimate peace of technology called PEN.

Interesting artical about that device. Especially the last few lines:

Although the invention of the personal computer with the keyboard input method have changed how users write, the pen has not been entirely replaced and likely won't any time soon. Higher end pens including archaic types such as fountain pens are still a status symbol.

You snob!!!

[Abelturd]

Originally Posted by ricdiogo

I will only get a new device when I find one with highlighting and ePub support, a good screen (not a glary one), a good warranty period (at least 1 year), from a stable company both in terms of hardware and software.

Pocketbook meets all those requirements, though the epub support is w/o DRM.
I agree with you on the open software matter. I would love to see Android ported to liseuses. An open-source alternative supporting a wide range of devices is IMO a step closer to consolidation and standardization. This situation with every manufacturer having his own in-house firmware (de facto operating system) only contributes to the general chaos.

[Ortep]

Originally Posted by Abelturd

This situation with every manufacturer having his own in-house firmware (de facto operating system) only contributes to the general chaos.

That shouldn't be a problem. Every MP3 player has its own firmware/operating system. But they all can play MP3 files. That's the only thing that counts. Ereaders can be based on Linux, Windows, OS/2, CP/M OSX or DOS. As long as you can read books its fine with the ordinary person reading a book. For that reader it is also not important what format the book is in. As long as it is available and readable.

I'm perfectly happy with mobi. I have no reason at all to change to ePub. A lot of people seem to thing that moving to ePub is something like heaven on earth. But in practice it does not really matter what format is chosen. We need standards. But LIT will work and Mobi will work and ePub and HTML will work. All have specific advantages and disadvantages.

[Godzil]

There are some points I don't understand here:

- Company who sell hardware+software is not new, and will never disapear, since the hard and software are closely tied. Why anothoer company will risk to make software for such hardware with a very strong chance to never sell/give it enought to be rentable? (Look to the iPod for exemple, they sell very well and no-one try with success to make another popular firmware, and no one even try to sell these firmware
- Why wanted Android for the liseuses?? Android is strongly tied to MOBILE PHONE hardware, not generic hardware, and Android is mainly a Linux, like the majority of liseuse on the market. Android is only a layer on top of linux, that, from my point of view, is not, really not well adapted for eInk screen.

Even is a liseuse is made with a CPU, RAM, ROM, and other things that we found on a computer, even if for a lot Linux is the OS used inside, they are NOT computer like thoses we use (for a majority of us) everyday. They need some special treatment for energy management, and a lot of other things like that.

I even think that project like OpenInkPot, will be as good as an official build from the hardware manufacturer who know how the device is made and all of it's "secrets" on how to address hardware.

I seriously doubt that Bookeen's hardware are so obsolete like you say. There are a lot of EB600/Gen3 clone that just come out, with IMHO loosy software (look at Elonex or Cool-er for example)

The futur will say to us. But for the liseuses market, we don't need a new device every month like the computer's market.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Ortep

You snob!!!

Our offices are haunted by a Pen Eater. Or at least a desperate case of pen-kleptomaniac. Nobody has ever seen the creature, but I know it MUST exist, because every day at least one pen or pencil disappears from someones desk. I expect that one day somebody will discover large cache of stolen pens and pencils that have disappeared during previous decades.

I have found a way how to protect myself from the Pen Eater. He does not like fountain pens. I have used my fantastically writing fountain pen for years. During those years I have lost many dozens of other pens, yet, my trusty fountain pen remains. Every time somebody needs to put something down in a hurry and grabs my fountain pen I hear: "OOOps, a *fountain* pen!" then he puts the pen carefully back and runs off to grab another writing implement.

So. Not all of us, fountain pen users are snobs ;-)

[Abelturd]

Originally Posted by Ortep

That shouldn't be a problem. Every MP3 player has its own firmware/operating system. But they all can play MP3 files.

Apples and oranges? There are big differences between respective mp3 players as to the user interface and control elements, not to mention that the display is usually very small and the UI limited. It's a single purpose device. Nobody needs to write apps for them (you might object about ipod touch, but that's more of a pda).
But liseuses are gradually starting to resemble pdas or even umpcs (just imagine the possibilities when they start having inet connectivity). There's a great potential for 3rd-party applications for liseuses, just like on Windows Mobile or iPhone OSX or Android - calendar, notes, email client, web browser, contacts, file browser, viewers and so on ad infinitum. With a single OS all of these could be device independent and so have a wider user-base.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by Abelturd

But liseuses are gradually starting to resemble pdas or even umpcs (just imagine the possibilities when they start having inet connectivity). There's a great potential for 3-party applications for liseuses, just like on Windows Mobile or iPhone OSX or Android - calendar, notes, email client, web browser, contacts, file browser, viewers and so on ad infinitum. With a single OS all of these could be device independent and so have a wider user-base.

I think this is the main difference in the point of view. I don't want another netbook, another PDA, another multipurpose device, I want a device for reading, my main goal. I don't want to be experimenting, installing different firmwares to see which is better, trying to see how many troubletickets resolve this one... I want to read. No more, no less.

[Abelturd]

@Godzil
You have to look at it from a wider perspective. A company selling closed hardware and closed software is just that - a company. Their product will disappear with the company. Who knows what will happen with Apple and OSX when Steve Jobs retires.
But take linux as an example. It's not a product, it's a concept independent on his creator, adopted by many throughout the world. Linux will be here for a very long time.
Android is not a layer, it's a full blown OS, you're right about it running on top of linux kernel though. It's open, anyone can grab the source code and port it to their hardware and make neccessary adjustments, e.g. for power saving, which you were concerned about. It's not closely tied to mobile phones' hardware as has been shown by succesful ports to other devices, netbooks even. Plus I can't imagine a group of appliances with more diverse hardware than mobile phones (at least in the past). The more devices Android is run on, the stronger it's position, the longer its life expectancy.
Android makes manufactuers accept some standards, if they want to roll out an android phone and many of them do.

Originally Posted by Godzil

Why anothoer company will risk to make software for such hardware with a very strong chance to never sell/give it enought to be rentable?

You know, maybe not everyone has the money to make their own hardware, so that they can write software for it. But I think that iphone apps store or android marketplace proves you wrong in this respect. So no more arguments needed from me.

[Godzil]

Abelturd: you misundestood (and I don't explain correctly) what I mean by "software", i mean "firmware" in this case, not make software for platform where it's available.


For Android your are wrong, it's not a "full blown OS" but only a layer on top of linux, a graphical layer to be exact. (even if there is some middle layer) and it's not made for anything other that mobile phone. the GUI will not adapt correctly for anything else actually without major rework.

And if Android was an OS that will be able to do everything, why Google is going to release Chrome OS?

[marcinJ13]

First of all it is nice to have someone from Bookeen actually post on this forum. I have following observation:

Few people mentioned that there is no solution that would make everyone happy. That is so true. The solution I would like to suggest is to put list of features requested by users on the bookeen page. Add some voting for each of those starting with "I'm against" and ending with "I can't live without it". Allow only one vote per serial number. Then you will have a list of what features are really needed. I'm preety sure there won't be many "flip-over" requests, but plenty for PDF reflow.

Having such list would allow Bookeen to concentrate on one feature. After finishing, just relase new FW and go to ext most popular on the list. Mark one "We working on it now" with a deadline date. Now this is important: when deadline is set do absolutely everything to keep it.

[Snuffi]

Originally Posted by Godzil

Abelturd: you misundestood (and I don't explain correctly) what I mean by "software", i mean "firmware" in this case, not make software for platform where it's available.


For Android your are wrong, it's not a "full blown OS" but only a layer on top of linux, a graphical layer to be exact. (even if there is some middle layer) and it's not made for anything other that mobile phone. the GUI will not adapt correctly for anything else actually without major rework.

And if Android was an OS that will be able to do everything, why Google is going to release Chrome OS?

Not quite correct, though not entirely incorrect either. The truth is in between: Android is not a "full blown OS" but it's much more than a graphical interface for linux. You might call it a "layer" on top of the linux kernel but that's quite a lot because that layer is responsible for the interaction between the applications and the kernel. Android is in no way "restricted" to mobile phones but it was designed with those devices in mind. Therefore it might be difficult to expand Android into certain areas which where not deemed important at design time. The most important reason for doing a "Chrome OS" is that a different structural design would be well worth it for PCs rather than a reworked Android. Plus: Who says that they don't re-use the good parts from Android for Chrome OS. The best thing about Open Source is that you don't have to do the same work twice: Take everything from Android you can use, develop the rest and name it whatever you want...

[Abelturd]

@MarcinJ13
But that would require some extra work from Bookeen, oh, no.
The problem doesn't lie with insufficiency of suggestions, on the contrary, there are suggestions aplenty. It's the carrying out part that seems to be of an issue.

[Ortep]

Originally Posted by Abelturd

Apples and oranges? There are big differences between respective mp3 players as to the user interface and control elements, not to mention that the display is usually very small and the UI limited. It's a single purpose device. Nobody needs to write apps for them .

I don't see the difference. Both are single purpose devices. One is for listening to music. The other is for reading a book. In both cases you will have to select an artist/author or an album/book. Even the control elements are about the same. Who cares how it is done as long as you get the result you want.