02-15-2010, 09:01 PM | #46 | |
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And given the fact that the Iliad had all the requested (and expected) features, and more, it seems illogical. The business model "professional" vs "consumer" reader is dead. At least at the USD 850 price point, now that the Plastic Logic comes out. |
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02-16-2010, 10:56 AM | #47 | |||
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02-17-2010, 02:49 PM | #48 |
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I would hope it's not a question of either/or. From what I understand reflow works very nicely for text, perhaps the standard ebook novel for example. However I have access to, and need to use, a fair number of oldish academic articles in PDF format and these are scanned as images. As far as I understand it, (which admittedly isn't very far), the only way for me to view these is by being able to zoom. Also, what is the situation with regard to PDFs that have diagrams or tables? Can these be reflowed and still be legible which I understand is not a problem for zooming.
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02-17-2010, 02:59 PM | #49 | |
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I would add more use cases where reflow doesn't work.
I've subscribed to some linux and coding magazines I receive in pdf format, nothing very complex or over-designed, I don't think reflow works for them. On the other hand, I don't know reflow limitations, but I'm bit afraid of poetry books with some special format. Quote:
For me, it has no sense at all to limit the target of a product when it could be universal. Let people decide what they want to do with it. [Off-topic-ally, this discussion makes me remember some years ago when some people said linux was only for servers... Time has proved Linux can be used for servers of different sizes, for desktops, for mobiles, for microcontrollers... for everything anyone want to use it.] Am I a special "power" user for ereaders? well, maybe... but everybody is a power user for some kind of use, don't cap your target market. Could I read history books with detailed maps? or could I read chess books?... and so on... |
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02-17-2010, 03:05 PM | #50 | |
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I'm certainly not against the idea of them adding zoom, pesonally I hope they do. But I think it would help influence them more if we could concentrate on things that are not business/technical, but are more "casual reader" uses. That's just my suggestion. I think the ideas you had were good ones. |
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02-17-2010, 03:07 PM | #51 |
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A previous poster brought up history books with maps. I never really thought about the history and general science reading I do that could benefit from a zoom feature for the images, tables and maps. This is not text book reading, but general non-fiction works that have this type of content to emphasize and add to the understanding of the material. Definitely content that would fit into the general consumer reader segment.
You need to make sure you don't equate consumer to fiction. I would agree that for a lot of fiction zooming isn't important. However, history, science and I'm sure other non-fiction related reading targeted at the general public could greatly benefit from this feature. Last edited by Mr. Goodbar; 02-17-2010 at 03:10 PM. |
02-17-2010, 03:13 PM | #52 |
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True, there is a bit of a fuzzy line between consumer and professional. I just think that the more example we can come up with that are outside of the professional/technical area, the better it would be towards convincing them.
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02-17-2010, 03:19 PM | #53 |
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It is utterly astonishing to me, and completely indicative of how out-of-touch this company is with even the most basic needs of the potential consumer of their product, that you would even have to ask. Has it really, honestly, truly never occurred to anyone up there even once that someone purchasing a large-screen reader might (*gasp*) want to try to read a PDF on it that might not have been specifically formatted for your screen? I mean, all throughout school, we always hear, "Remember, there are no stupid questions!" Um, you know, I do believe I have now heard one.
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02-17-2010, 03:30 PM | #54 | |
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The question here is that when you do get PDFs that are not formatted for the screen, how do you solve it. The option that they are already including is reflow. The question they are asking is what are examples of cases where reflow will not work and zoom is needed. |
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02-17-2010, 03:30 PM | #55 |
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Reflow fails for PDFs (even fiction!) where the first letter of each chapter is a fancy drop cap. You get all of the text of the chapter except the first letter, followed by the drop-cap at the end.
Reflow as I have seen it on my Sony Reader, at least, insists on breaking at each page-end in the pdf. So what I get is 1.3 pages, .7 of a blank page, etc. This wastes 1/3 of my battery while I'm reading. And I read a lot, so this means recharging days sooner than if it didn't do this. Reflow fails utterly for any non-fiction that involves tables, maps, images, etc. Think history, economics and public policy, popular science books, cookbooks(!!) and many other examples. All non-professional reading, too. Please, at a bare minimum, give us at least automatic zoom-away-the-white-space-margins. Xenophon |
02-17-2010, 03:42 PM | #56 | |
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Note that the standard UDS PDF plugin can't zoom on the DR800S, but perhaps it could be made to autocrop - see DR800 sources posted. |
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02-17-2010, 07:25 PM | #57 | |
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02-17-2010, 07:37 PM | #58 | |
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02-17-2010, 08:29 PM | #59 |
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I admit that I only used zoom on the iLiad for professional reading, but here's a couple of cases I can see myself wanting a real zoom for in casual use:
1. reading comics, particularly when viewing a two-page layout that I don't wish to actually split into two logical pages 2. looking at charts and tables in a role-playing game PDF, since most of them are letter size This thread isn't about annotations, but I've used annotations extensively when proofreading book files for later correction. It's such a useful feature. ... I'm going to hijack this thread a little. In all honesty, if I had to pick I would choose to see annotations implemented before zoom. I'll tell you what, the first company to provide a M$ OneNote-like application for note-taking on e-ink is going to be a heavy-hitter, professional or casual audience. The DR family could be a contender. - James |
02-17-2010, 08:32 PM | #60 | |
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It's a business decision on the justification regarding what features they support on the lower level device and how many sales that will take away from the upper level one. |
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