How good is the DR1000's MobiPocket Reader?

[rfog]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Those are certainly "different" interfaces, but I don't think that one can definitely say that one is "better" than the other.

Of course not, but I'm talking about other thing sightly different....

Originally Posted by HarryT

What does the Kindle do if there are multiple definitions for a word? Another benefit of the DR1000 is that one can have multiple dictionaries installed (eg, a "general-purpose" dictionary, and a number of "specialist" dictionaries for different subjects), and see the different definitions in the different dictionaries; something that the Kindle cannot do...

From the sound of it, both the Kindle and the DR1000 have "workable" systems for using dictionaries. We can all be happy about that, without having to claim that one is "better" than the other. It's not a "contest" .

You are right in this... However DR and all iRex devices lacks in al lot of ineficiencies and bad design decisions...

We're talking about dictionaries, then, how can you believe that a non tactile device with lower processor can be faster in a search than a tactile one? Kindle is.

My complain with DR is if you hace only one dictionary and one word in the dictionar, why you have to tap twice? There is only one possible word in one possible dictionary. A good design will be showed the word.

Other: Why show the definition in a whole screen? That is, the only way to go back is to press left and right buttons in sequence or "close active document". Why not a back or close button or if you are searching a word in a document any button or screen tap no reletad to a word will back ot the document.

Other: Kindle searches are recursives and accumulatives. You can "tap" (with cursor) a word in the dictionary and dictionary searches that word, and if you press ENTER you will get a new full dictionary page. And so forever. Turn back is press BACK button as many searches as you've donte.

More: K2 has the ability to search in any of your documents. The search is indexed, then a search in your 50 ebooks takes less than 5 seconds. You can search (only living in USA) in Wikipedia, in Google, in Amazon store only with two "taps"...

Then form me, evaluating each characteristics in its own context, K2 search ara much better than search in DR.

Unfortunately, DR has a bunch of those flaw in it design. A lot. DR could be the most ever good device in the world but it has that amount of problems and lacks of functionality that makes it practically unusable for me.

[HarryT]

We must agree to differ, I'm afraid. The DR may not be "perfect", but personally I find it extremely "usable".

[rfog]

Originally Posted by HarryT

We must agree to differ, I'm afraid. The DR may not be "perfect", but personally I find it extremely "usable".

A matter of taste.

[est_jor]

I love the DR and really don´t care (or don´t see) as much as you guys for all this ´ineficiences´ or ´bad design´ .
This really do not affect my reading experience at all .
But I never use kindle before so I can not tell about that .
And since I dont live in US , I think DR is the way to go .
And I really very happy about mine .

[tjdean256]

Originally Posted by rfog

There is only one possible word in one possible dictionary. A good design will be showed the word..

My Merriam-Webster dictionary (the latest version, not the free 1913 version) will occasionally display two choices.

Originally Posted by rfog

Other: Why show the definition in a whole screen? That is, the only way to go back is to press left and right buttons in sequence or "close active document". Why not a back or close button or if you are searching a word in a document any button or screen tap no reletad to a word will back ot the document.

Going back the orginal place in the document involves is a 2 tap process: one to bring the main menu back up and the other on the icon "jump to previous."

td

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by rfog

How can I search in FBreader? I cannot . FBReader does not integrates into DR system (you can patch the shell but then form me it becomes very unstable), and I dude it will have any kind of energy savings.

I like FBReader, but if I had a DR1000S I probably would use the provided Java Reader for MOBI because it does sound significantly improved over the iLiad version. FBReader is a viable option for many other ebook formats though (or you could use Calibre, off-line, to convert them to MOBI).

FBReader can search within the current document, and if this isn't working on the DR1000S then the port is incomplete. All you do is click on the magnifying glass icon and a search dialogue should pop up. Once you have entered a search word, the forward and backward search (for the next occurrence) icons should be active.

Note that iRex says it is relatively simple to integrate an application into its framework. This would probably be possible for FBReader, but I doubt it would be easy. It would be nice if iRex provided a simple interface to dictionary lookup for non-native apps like FBReader, this might in fact be something that is really easy for iRex to do but they have never had the resources to come close to exploiting the full capabilities of their products.

[Over]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I don't like FBReader at all, I'm afraid. It's very poor at handling Mobi files. No table support, it ignores hard page breaks, no dictionary support - I really see no need to uise it.

Comparison with the CyBook is difficult; they are so very different. Both are excellent; both have their own strengths and weaknesses. The CyBook is hugely more "configurable" - you can select fonts, change the justification, etc, so the page looks a lot "nicer" on the CyBook. On the other hand, seeing the same amount of text on the DR as you do in a printed book is great, dictionary lookup is a lot "slicker", and there is a text search facility (hurray!). Also, the fact that it has a generic "file manager" makes having a large number of books on the machine enormously more practical than it is on the CyBook.

I'm happy to have both - the CyBook for "read anywhere portability"; the DR for "large screen" reading pleasure at home.

Thanks, that's good to know. I've been flirting with the DR1000s, but it cooled down eventually. Now it's on again

[rfog]

Originally Posted by tjdean256

My Merriam-Webster dictionary (the latest version, not the free 1913 version) will occasionally display two choices.



Going back the orginal place in the document involves is a 2 tap process: one to bring the main menu back up and the other on the icon "jump to previous."

td

I'm sorry, this is caused by my poor English. I wanted write : "If there is only one possible word in one possible dictionary... "

You can go back pressing first right central button and then left central button or viceversa.

[rfog]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

I like FBReader, but if I had a DR1000S I probably would use the provided Java Reader for MOBI because it does sound significantly improved over the iLiad version. FBReader is a viable option for many other ebook formats though (or you could use Calibre, off-line, to convert them to MOBI).

FBReader can search within the current document, and if this isn't working on the DR1000S then the port is incomplete. All you do is click on the magnifying glass icon and a search dialogue should pop up. Once you have entered a search word, the forward and backward search (for the next occurrence) icons should be active.

Note that iRex says it is relatively simple to integrate an application into its framework. This would probably be possible for FBReader, but I doubt it would be easy. It would be nice if iRex provided a simple interface to dictionary lookup for non-native apps like FBReader, this might in fact be something that is really easy for iRex to do but they have never had the resources to come close to exploiting the full capabilities of their products.

I cannot search a word in a dictionary into a document opened with FBReader int a DR1000.

I know some things are difficult to implement. My compain is that there is no much people interested in modify the DR software. I do not know why, but when a company puts something in OpenSource there are a bunch of developers that puts to work immediatly. However, in iLiad and DR1000 there are practically none. If DR were be done in Windows CE I will tried something, but being done in Linux I haven't the motivation to do. Being used Linux and Windows making Kiosk applications and some communications devices (Yes, I'm C and C++ hardware developer), I hate linux and its problems.

[Grimulkan]

Originally Posted by rfog

[...] My compain is that there is no much people interested in modify the DR software. I do not know why, but when a company puts something in OpenSource there are a bunch of developers that puts to work immediatly. However, in iLiad and DR1000 there are practically none.

Regarding the DR, I agree. See here for this discussion. But the iLiad had a very active team of developers, IMHO. Evident from all of this.