Pocketbook Touch HD - bugs or features? :)

[yacoob]

After seeing positive opinions about Touch HD, I've ordered a device. It arrived today, and after short testing, I've found couple of annoying bugs.

- There doesn't seem to be a way to zoom in on an image in an epub file. In Android pocketbook reader app, you can long press on an image to zoom it in. On Touch HD, there doesn't seem to be anything like that, except manually pinching out to zoom in - which is both imprecise and doesn't allow for quick return to the previous font size. Am I missing something, or is Pocketbook eink software unfriendly towards images?

- There doesn't seem to be any support for Japanese fonts. I have a book with a few Japanese phrases. Those phrases are rendered as spaces - even after adding a Unicode OTF Japanese font (Google's Noto CJK) to the device, and selecting it in the list, the phrases have not been rendered correctly. Anyone had any better luck?

- I've found at least two books in my collection that only show first page once opened. As far as I can tell, the files on the device are not corrupted (same checksum as on the desktop), for some reason the device is unable to parse them properly past first page :( I've tried to open it in Android's Pocketbook app, and I see the same behaviour. Same file is perfectly readable on a Kobo reader or with different Android readers. Here's a link to one of the books misbehaving like that.

I find the device rather nice, the screen is gorgeous, and the software seems functional... except the above behaviours are deal breakers for me :( I'm curious if any person here has bumped into similar problems.

[yacoob]

FWIW, I've installed Coolreader, and it opens those "single page" books just fine, further convincing me it's a problem with pocketbook's reader, and not the files themselves. It's just that I'd prefer Coolreader to be alternative reader that I can use as well as the native one - and as far as I can tell, CR is nowhere to be found in the application list, you have to activate it via extensions.cfg.

[eMole]

I don't own this device (not yet available in my country through established retailers), but I have it in my sight.
According to some german review you can install your own font, but you cannot really use them: a bug.
The Pocketbook app for Android does not open certain files, even though they pass every test. I was lazy to investigate. Could be the same issue with their reader sw on they device.
The linked epub file does not pass calibre's check nor epubcheck. And the spine starts with a non-linear item, known to be problematic.
Coolreader: the linked file contains extensive CSS. Coolreader's CSS support is fairly limited, so even if you can read the book in Coolreader, you won't get the intended reading experience.

[LucyOne]

AFAIK, only Kindles offer the possibility to zoom into images in books.
You can edit the extensions.cfg file that comes with Coolreader.
If you replace the line for epub with this:

epub:@EPUB_file:1:cr3-pb.app,eink-reader.app:ICON_EPUB

...then you will get an "open with" menu on long tap where you can choose the app you want, at least with one of the beta firmwares that have been released.

[michailbachtin]

Dear Pocketbook users now using the latest software releases:

WARNING: ANNOTATIONS ARE A PROBLEM on the Pocketbook HD 631

The history:

I loved the format of annotations offered by Toxaris's Annotation Extractor based on the Sony annotations extractor: see the thread here:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=170051

The Toxaris annotation exporter does the same thing: it extracts the sql from a file entitled books.db on any Kobo or Sony ereader, and the result looks great, as you can see on Toxaris's website:

https://toxaris.nl/en/annotation-exporter/

His thread for annotations at Mobileread.com is here:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=262913

In previous versions of the pocketbook software, the highlights and annotations for each ebook (whether epub or mobi) were stored in a separate file in the system directory of the device as an html file.

The new software for the Pocketbook series of eReaders has changed recently to the sql format: precisely what the Sony and Kobo eReaders use.

You can guess my next question:

Is there anyone out there developing an annotations extractor for the new Pocketbook software? Or (even better) would it be possible to add to the annotations extractor already available a new configuration for the Pocketbook Touch HD (which uses the same software as the latest Pocketbook Inkpad 2 etc)?

The link to the original code for the annotations extractor is here:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=170051

The sql code stored on the Pocketbook HD 631 is located in a books.db file.

Here's what it looks like:

http://www55.zippyshare.com/v/FWqtwM6m/file.html

The file is located in the \system\config folder of the Pocketbook ereader.

I suppose anyone working on the problem will also need information for the SD Card in order to get the notes from that.

Could anyone help me? I know there are thousands of Pocketbook users out there who would appreciate it.

Let me know if I can help!

Cheers,

B.

[uwacmorg]

Hello,
i also have the "only first page showing up" with only one book up to now, which i reported to PocketBook. They told me this will be fixed by a new software by the end of January 2017.
Best regards,
Uli
ps: Another bug? Often when trying to open a book, i get a pop-up with two options, "Open" or "Delete". Open doesn't work (but i never tried "Delete"). Hope this too vanishes with the new sw - or do i have thick fingers? :^(

[CandaceVan]

I am having the same problem with a Pocketbook Touch HD I recently purchased. Fifty-nine percent of the way through a book, and if I try to turn the page, everything freezes. No longer can open the book. Extremely frustrating!

[eMole]

My first PocketBook device, updated to the latest firmware upon receiving it, put some of my epubs on it.
Embedded fonts do not show up. Those book are OK on two other (non-PB) devices.
So I copied the fonts on to the device, they do show up in the font list, but CSS references to them do nothing either.
No biggy, at least I can select my custom font in the font list and that works.

It also does not support hyphenation in my native language. I didn't find a clue anywhere, but it turns out copying a corresponding hyphenation dictionary to the right place solves this limitation.

[michailbachtin]

To eMole Connoisseur:

Let us know how the annotations and notes work, if you have the time.

Can you export the annotations to your PC?

Cheers!

[eMole]

Sorry, I do not use that feature. I only read fictions.

[nhedgehog]

Originally Posted by eMole

My first PocketBook device, updated to the latest firmware upon receiving it, put some of my epubs on it.
Embedded fonts do not show up. Those book are OK on two other (non-PB) devices.
So I copied the fonts on to the device, they do show up in the font list, but CSS references to them do nothing either.
No biggy, at least I can select my custom font in the font list and that works.

It also does not support hyphenation in my native language. I didn't find a clue anywhere, but it turns out copying a corresponding hyphenation dictionary to the right place solves this limitation.

Try CoolReader - it has more options regarding internal fonts and styles:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=256917
It takes some time to adjust but is worth the effort. Only downsides: no support for DRM-encrypted books and no pdf support.

[michailbachtin]

@nHedgehog: Are you sure Cool Reader works on the Touch HD? You have the Pocketbook PB626, according to your earlier post.

According to the Github post, developers are still dealing with issues related to using CoolReader on the PB 631 Touch HD:

https://github.com/blchinezu/pocketb...der/issues/224

Admittedly, CoolReader is great on the PB626 and 623 readers.

But the developers have not yet had a chance to respond to the new software issued on the 27th of January 2017 for the Pocketbook 631 Touch HD.

IF ANYONE USES THE HIGHLIGHT AND ANNOTATION FEATURES ON THE TOUCH HD, PLEASE LET US KNOW HOW THEY LOOK WHEN EXPORTED!!!

[nhedgehog]

Originally Posted by michailbachtin

@nHedgehog: Are you sure Cool Reader works on the Touch HD? You have the Pocketbook PB626, according to your earlier post.

According to the Github post, developers are still dealing with issues related to using CoolReader on the PB 631 Touch HD:

https://github.com/blchinezu/pocketb...der/issues/224

Admittedly, CoolReader is great on the PB626 and 623 readers.

But the developers have not yet had a chance to respond to the new software issued on the 27th of January 2017 for the Pocketbook 631 Touch HD.

Yes I'm sure. Pocketbook changed the name of the internal reading program to eink-reader.app, so the old extension.cfg was making problems. The epub line in extension.cfg for CoolReader on PB 631 is supposed to look like this:
epub:@EPUB_file:1:cr3-pb.app,eink-reader.app:ICON_EPUB
Source:
https://www.e-reader-forum.de/ebook-...195#post344195

But I guess that wouldn't help You (michailbachtin), since the annotation feature from CoolReader is not that advanced

[michailbachtin]

Thanks for the reply. I do think Cool Reader is a great app. But you're right: the ability to highlight and annotate copiously is really what old-fashioned philologists and contemporary students are looking for.

[alberttf]

Originally Posted by CandaceVan

I am having the same problem with a Pocketbook Touch HD I recently purchased. Fifty-nine percent of the way through a book, and if I try to turn the page, everything freezes. No longer can open the book. Extremely frustrating!

I had the same problem whit my PB631, I can read until at 99% more or less.