Alex Wishlist

[kejia]

This is a running thread on things we wish Alex could do.

[kejia]

My wish list is as follows. Please add to it.

• Read digital public library ebooks from Overdrive on Alex. These are in epub format, but on my Mac, I get error when I transfer book from laptop to Alex.
  
  
• Manually check for updates.
  
  
• Start an app directly from the Settings/Applications Menu. Delete icons from LCD main display without deleting that app.
  
  
• See which applications are currently running. Force close without going through Settings/Applications. (Note: there are 3rd party apps for this, a very simple one is http://andappstore.com/AndroidApplic...e_Close_Button
  
  
• See percentage of charge remaining on battery without having to go into Settings.
  
  
• Choose when to get alerts for low battery. 20% seems a bit high for me. I'd like to be able to choose 20%, 10%, or 5%.
  
  
• In Settings Menu, put About Your Alex near the top, not the bottom.

[NNolan]

In addition to your list I'd like a choice of fonts, specifically Georgia and Helvetica.

[kejia]

In addition to my own list:

I'd like a simple text editor.

[kejia]

I have given the link to this thread to Spring Design, so hopefully they will be checking it.

Hence, I want to clarify something from my own post:

See which applications are currently running. Force close without going through Settings/Applications. (Note: there are 3rd party apps for this, a very simple one is http://andappstore.com/AndroidApplic...e_Close_Button

I know there is some disagreement about whether android devices need task managers. When I was looking for a 3rd party app to force close, I came across discussions about how you don't need to close apps in Android. Android will close them for you before it gets sluggish.

The difference here -- I think -- is that android phones are either asleep or awake. The Alex on the other hand, is completely asleep, completely awake (with LCD screen on), or half-asleep -- LCD screen turned off, but e-ink screen active.
I think that when a Spring Design app is running, it goes to sleep when LCD goes to sleep. But this might not be true for 3rd party apps -- I know some of them have permission to keep Alex awake.

And while I have not tested it rigorously, I did have one of these 3rd party apps running, then turned wifi off and locked keys. Several hours later, the Alex battery was dead, although there was more than 20% charge when I put it to sleep (I had not received any warnings of low battery). I uninstalled that 3rd party app (newsrob), installed a 3rd party app to force close in notification pane, and have not had further problems.

But it would be nice to know what was running, and to have an easy way to close an app. And while we're at it, why not be able to open an app from the Settings/Applications menu as well as with an icon.

[mgmueller]

Covers should be extracted automatically. My other readers with thumbnail view show covers on their own. Either they extract them and save them once (nook in softrooted state) or they add them to a database or whatever the solution may be.
But having to add them manually into the folder "covers" for a huge library really is a pain in the...
And, at least for me, it's not stable. When adding my 515 ePUBS and PDFs at once, Alex gets stuck every time.

[r001]

I have created a FORM where you can vote for new features for Alex reader.