Dictionary lookup?

[nikkie]

Up until recently, the last time I used a dictionary was sometime in grade school, when I used to look up new words all the time.

Since I've started reading on my iPhone with Stanza though, and started reading older and older books, I've found that having a dictionary to tell me the meaning of those crusty old words is great!

Some examples:
The Once and Future King by T.H. White - uses all sorts of words and variants of words which are quite dead today.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress & Stranger in a Strange Land by Rovert A. Heinlein - uses lots of words/expressions/references which have morphed or are no longer known to modern english.

Anyone else going to miss dictionary support on the DR800*? Is there any "hack" or download to include one?

[Mr. Goodbar]

I never used one either and was curious what all the fuss was about until I got my Kindle. I found myself using it extensively, particularly with classic literature. I do miss it, but haven't really needed it yet with what I've been reading over the past week or so. That will likely change once I finish my current book. I definitely want this in a future release.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Mr. Goodbar

I never used one either and was curious what all the fuss was about until I got my Kindle. I found myself using it extensively, particularly with classic literature. I do miss it, but haven't really needed it yet with what I've been reading over the past week or so. That will likely change once I finish my current book. I definitely want this in a future release.

Do you mainly read books in your native language? In those I never use a dictionary either. But in foreign language, it really can be fun. But I find myself only using it, when it's more or less instantaneous. Usually, it's not that important to lookup a word, to (as a very negative example) close the actual book, start a dictionary (maybe even have to switch folders to reach it), manually enter the reference, close the dictionary, .....
That's where usually touchscreens come in handy. The Kindle modus is very efficient as well.

[Mr. Goodbar]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Do you mainly read books in your native language? In those I never use a dictionary either. But in foreign language, it really can be fun. But I find myself only using it, when it's more or less instantaneous. Usually, it's not that important to lookup a word, to (as a very negative example) close the actual book, start a dictionary (maybe even have to switch folders to reach it), manually enter the reference, close the dictionary, .....
That's where usually touchscreens come in handy. The Kindle modus is very efficient as well.

Yep, mainly in my native language, although many times with words from other languages thrown in. I tend to use it more for classics with older iterations of English. I can almost always understand the word from the context, but it's also nice to look at the specific definition at times.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by nikkie

Anyone else going to miss dictionary support on the DR800*? Is there any "hack" or download to include one?

I've never used it on my iLiad either, so it doesn't really bother me. As far as a hack, no. It would require changes to some of the code that we don't have access to (UDS).

I would guess that iRex will add dictionaries back in to the DR800 eventually, but it's not high enough on the priority list to make it into the April release, which is OK with me. I think getting annotations/zoom out first is a good thing, and then coming back and adding the dictionary later.