16e- same old problem

[Ron46]

For all the improvements that came with 16e, Ectaco jettisoned an important basic function- page memory (yet again). Once again I reflashed, then went back to 15D-B again.

If I am reading a book and I am on page 25, when I page down 4 times, I am still on page 25 because the reader uses what I would call sub-pages to duplicate the size of actual printed book pages. So at font #18, there are 4 screens or sub-pages per numerical page number- call them 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d-- THEN 26. Firmware version 15D-B always remembers the sub-page and brings you back to exactly where you left off. Version 16e brings you to the first sub page, 25a, even if you left off on 25d. If you are reading 4 or 5 books concurrently, this is, to ME at least, a major aggravation. When I encounter this, I flash back to the last known good version, and I don't care about ALL the other embellishments that came with the new version.

If I were improving cars and came out with a chip enhancement that made it go twice as fast on half the fuel, but disabled the brakes, what good would that be? Ectaco needs to learn that whenever they embellish their product, they need to go back and check the basic functions before they release new firmware.

[Seabound]

Not a big deal with me. I prefer 16e over the previous firmware.

[jblitereader]

<edit>

[jlg432]

The brakes work on mine and the gas mileage is pretty good as well.

It seem to me that the bookmark works the same way. When used to return to a page it takes you to the first part of the logical page irrigardless of how many screen pages it takes to advance to the next page.

I just tried out my JB at FW .35m. It seems to remember the screen page that you left or powered off from. It does not revert to the beginning of the logical page.

The same thing with the ALP and it's new firmware 18g.

My error. The issue shows up in ePub and PDF with both JB and ALP.

If you exit a book and come back in via the menu it will take you to the beginning of the current active page (regardless of how many screen pages you were in.

If you power off while reading an ePub or PDF book. On power up you are returned back to the exact screen page. I guess going to sleep the device status is maintained where as leaving the book generated a bookmark like log that is used to log only the logical page left and not the screen page.

The same happens with the ALP and FW 18g with the exception that re-opening a closed PDF brings you back to the default font size regardless of the size you had when you exited the doc. Again everything is kept the same if you just power off then on later.

A quick test of the other supported formats (prc, mobi, rtf, html, fb2 and txt) show that your screen location is kept when exiting a book.

So if reading epub or PDF just make sure you leave at the beginning of a page or power off if you are in between.

Having TOC support and "Content Search" in both ePub and PDF is a big deal for me. Also I noticed that they have down sized the ePub page numbers dramatically. They are less annoying.

John

[jlg432]

This makes me wonder whether these issues are part of the enhanced ereader software supplied by Adobe. I wonder how much control does Ectaco and Aluratek have over the supplied ereader software.

John

[Jabby]

Originally Posted by jlg432

Having TOC support and "Content Search" in both ePub and PDF is a big deal for me. Also I noticed that they have down sized the ePub page numbers dramatically. They are less annoying.

Does TOC support mean that you can go directly to a chapter? If so how do you do it?

Regards - Another John (big in the hotel business)

[Ken Maltby]

For the JBL it's accessed through the "Menu" button while you are in an ebook of one of
the supported formats. The ebook itself must have a Table Of Contents implemented as
well, not all of the ebooks in a supported format do.

Luck;
Ken

[jlg432]

I have to add that with the new FW's for both ALP and JB - not sure about JBL as I don't have one, an active TOC in an ePub/PDF is nice feature.

If the book does not have an active TOC (ePub/PDF) with the advent of the "Content Search" one can now do a search such as "Chapt" and step through to the desired chapter or target phrase. I believe this feature did not exist in PDF and did exist in ePub prior to the introduction to ADE ePub support. PDF at that time did not support "Reflow" as well. (I am referring to the JB as the ALP had "Reflow").

I thought the earlier FW for ALP supported nested TOC or was it the JB.

By nested I mean a high level for sections and then when a section was selected and actioned a sub section TOC would display. I noticed that both devices support a flat view of all TOC entries. This makes the TOC (depending on the document) many pages in size. This same TOC view is supported in ePub as well.

Can anyone confirm which device supported the Nested TOC and which FW got rid of it's format?

John

[Ron46]

Reading mostly txt and epub, the bookmarks function and the automatic page memory seem to be two distinct functions. Recalling bookmarks always brings you to the first page of the sequence (25a). But in 15D, powering down or opening another book, then returning to the original book gets you to exactly where you left off (25d). This functionality is lost in 16e.

[tonhou]

Can anyone confirm which device supported the Nested TOC and which FW got rid of it's format?

The Jetbook changed above 35d firmware to Adobe Reader which is enhanced in many ways (reflow) but does not cope with nested TOC - for me it seems to crash. 35d and below (not including 35a which for some reason has the newer reader) used Foxit Reader.

--Tony