An Idea for the A6/A9s...

[Acreo Aeneas]

I've been thinking about that wonderful qwerty keyboard on the A6 and A9 models (upcoming). Would it be possible to have Jinke or the factory add in the ability to create RTF documents with the A6/A9?

I figure if I can read ebooks on there, then I should be at least be able to write a few chapters while I have the reader with me on the road (for those lengthier trips). Any other writers have the same thought occur to them?

[Davimee]

That's a wonderful idea! I'm not really a writer, but it would be great to have the ability to keep a journal on the reader! (At this point I don't see myself buying one of the larger ones because I love the smaller size of the Pocket Pro so much, but if I ever did, that would be a great feature to have!)

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Acreo Aeneas

I've been thinking about that wonderful qwerty keyboard on the A6 and A9 models (upcoming). Would it be possible to have Jinke or the factory add in the ability to create RTF documents with the A6/A9?

I expect that'd be a customer service nightmare. People expect to be able to type at something like a reasonable speed, and e-ink won't support that. They may also expect to be able to edit docs (add bold & italic; copy & paste), and adding those functions to an ebook reader--while possible (we managed them on PDAs more than 10 years ago)--would be extra software *and* slower/more cumbersome than people expect doc editing to be.

I would expect them to get lots of complaints about "this doesn't work the way I think it's supposed to, therefore you suck for selling it to me."

[Acreo Aeneas]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

I expect that'd be a customer service nightmare. People expect to be able to type at something like a reasonable speed, and e-ink won't support that. They may also expect to be able to edit docs (add bold & italic; copy & paste), and adding those functions to an ebook reader--while possible (we managed them on PDAs more than 10 years ago)--would be extra software *and* slower/more cumbersome than people expect doc editing to be.

I would expect them to get lots of complaints about "this doesn't work the way I think it's supposed to, therefore you suck for selling it to me."

I'd be completely fine with the slow speed if it means I don't have to carry around my netbook or a notebook and pen (or a qwerty smartphone) with me if I'm traveling.

It would be a simple word processor. Since the base OS is some derivative of Linux, then why can't they simply throw on Vi, Nano, or EMacs? They wouldn't necessarily have to code their own word processor given the many free alternatives floating out there.

Hell I'd be happy if they made the bookmark notes a separate app with no character limit per note. I could do away with bold, italic and such (could always use === and ---- to underscore titles).

(Or maybe I just really badly need a Blackberry at my point in life.)

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Acreo Aeneas

I'd be completely fine with the slow speed if it means I don't have to carry around my netbook or a notebook and pen (or a qwerty smartphone) with me if I'm traveling.

It would be a simple word processor. Since the base OS is some derivative of Linux, then why can't they simply throw on Vi, Nano, or EMacs? They wouldn't necessarily have to code their own word processor given the many free alternatives floating out there.

Experienced ebook users and various geeks would be happy with slow speeds and the quirks of Linux-based memo programs. (I'd get plenty of use out of even a very very simple notebook program on my Sony.) Many users would not--and there'd be a huge number of customer-service complaints from people who expected "includes note-taking ability" to mean "works just like your blackberry's txt messaging system."

It's not that word processing couldn't be added, but it couldn't be made *simple* enough to work with the basic "connect to computer; download ebooks; read" approach that most ebook device users are comfortable with.

I think it's do-able; it'd just be a distraction from the narrow focus of the device. And considering that Kindles, Sonys and Nooks *don't even have folder support*--and many users are apparently oblivious to that fact--I don't think a case can be made that "most users would understand and want this feature."

[Ben0]

You can do this (sort of)(it seems)(I will try) on the Ectaco JBL, with the row of buttons on the right.

[DaleDe]

I suspect the A6/A9 will have the ability to make notes so this might be enough.