What would your perfect reader look like?

[ProDigit]

I've been a fan of plastic e-ink screens much over glass screens.
I understand there are disadvantages with plastic screens (more scratches on them), but even if they would not completely roll up, (which I am not very fond of, because when you roll them out, they would be bent), it still could serve for larger screen readers.

If the issue is that glass screens would break when using large sizes, then perhaps it is better to use plastic screens in the larger (than 6 or 7") screens.

[bjkel]

Now this is a topic close to my heart, I had been searching for my first e-ink reader after years of using lcd devices. I finally settled on the Sony PRS-T1 as it was the closest to what I was after. Here's a list of my wants in an e-ink reader:

• Ebook organization. I am a re-reader of books.I want to be able to put all my ebooks on a device and have ease of navigation through them. Collections is okay and syncs well with Calibre (Sony one does) but a Folder system would be ideal as I could go two tier in my sorting.
• A mixture of buttons and touch screen. I find buttons preferable for turning pages.
• Adjustments to the way books are viewed. Such as font adjustments, margin and line spacing, a status bar on either top or bottom of a book showing time and battery indicator. All of these can be choices in the preferences so people who don't want a status bar don't have to have one.
• While reading I would like to see a thin scroll bar at the bottom that indicates at a glance how far along in a book you are, this would also be handy with a touch screen for jumping to an area of the book by running a finger along scroll bar.
• Home page which includes recently read as well as recently added books. Home page should have customization in the preferences for how to view things.
• I would love to see a lot more customization being able to be done to a home page and how things are displayed than I have seen in the most popular ebook readers.

That list is on top of what all e-ink readers currently offer at this time.

[ProDigit]

Indeed!
Some great ideas are coming out!

I totally agree with buttons in combination with touch screen! I personally do not prefer automatic sorting. I prefer to have manual folders and a folder system rather than a genre/author system! It's the file system way!

I also find the status bar quite annoying, and mostly unneccessary.
It should only be there when you're browsing in the menu structure. When the battery is getting empty, an empty battery indicator can discreetly be placed in the top right corner.

The Jetbook has a thin scroll bar like this at the right. When you want to know how far you are in a book, you could always press 'menu', and get the status bar visible, with options.

I love the idea of in-book adjustment of the borders and font! Font is normal, but borders is not something many ebook readers have!


I can only hope manufacturers will listen to their customers, and read this thread!

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

Indeed!
Some great ideas are coming out!

I totally agree with buttons in combination with touch screen! I personally do not prefer automatic sorting. I prefer to have manual folders and a folder system rather than a genre/author system! It's the file system way!

I like buttons and a touchscreen. But a customizable "collections" system (i.e., tags) is *much better* than a folder system because you can include a book in "folders" by author, series, period, genre, length, read/unread...and any other category you desire. Folders means you only get to chose one.

[Sigyn]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

I like buttons and a touchscreen. But a customizable "collections" system (i.e., tags) is *much better* than a folder system because you can include a book in "folders" by author, series, period, genre, length, read/unread...and any other category you desire. Folders means you only get to chose one.

That hadn't occured to me at all, but now that I see it, it's pure genius in the 'why didn't *i* think of that" kind of way.

And, it should be for left-handed people. Or i could go into some kind of settings and tell it that I need it the other way around.

[ProDigit]

the jetbook is supposed to have a 180 degrees rotation, allowing lefties to enjoy the reader almost as much as righties!
But, not true...

Mine only rotates between 0 and 90 degrees.