Future Eslick Improvements Thread!

[melvin]

Considering how many individual threads there are concerning improvements to the Eslick firmware as well as hardware, I think it is important to consolidate all these ideas into one thread that the developers can track easily. It is clear they are very active in the forums so I believe it is safe to say that your ideas will not go unnoticed. I am aware that you can send your ideas to Christina but I am sure she must receive many of the same suggestions, so listing your ideas publicly will help with dealing with duplicates. Feel free to add your ideas to this thread, here are some of my concerns:

Bug fixes:
- Battery life: I'm sure this goes without saying. I know they addressed the power leak in the upcoming firmware but more efficient CPU usage will further improve battery life.
- Reflow needs to be improved - a lot of the pdf files I view using reflow have all the whitespace characters removed resulting in all the text being appended together.
- The device forgets which page you are currently on when you turn it off.

Features:
- Some long words at the end of a line will be split into two, at the syllable, and then hyphenated, but when you reflow the text the formatting changes and then the hyphenated word may end up in the middle of the sentence and would look like "im-possible", for example. An improvement to this would be to have your reflow algorithm automatically parse each word currently displayed on screen, and combine hyphenated words.
- A reflowed page can span several pages. It should be able to remember which reflowed page you currently are on as well as a little icon in the top bar area to let us know visually where we currently are.
- Include some simple games such as "sudoku" (the sony prs-505 has this game although it was hacked to include it) or some word games such as "text twist" or "popcap bookworm".
- Text-to-speech - It would even be better if you could have the device reading the text to you while it highlighted each word as it was read, to help you follow along.
- Perhaps maybe you can release the source code to the linux operating system you are using or even an SDK, to allow users to modify the code or even create add-ons, add features or even create simple games using a simple scripting language. (The sony prs-505 can parse xml files and execute javascript)
- Add a dictionary function. Sometimes I may come across a word I am unfamiliar with. It would be nice to be able to select the word and look up a definition. It would be even better if we could manually enter a word to look up in the dictionary.
- A search function
- A virtual keyboard for the above dictionary/search functions (I remember one of the foxit staff mentioning they have a virtual keyboard prototype for searching already)
- More supported file formats. I personally don't need it but I'm sure others would be interested in it: epub, mobi, lit, rtf, doc, lrf, lrx, bbeb and as for music: aac, ogg, wav and wma. (All non-DRM of course :D) Oh and picture files as well.
- Bookmarks! And not built in bookmarks that pdf files have but on-the-fly bookmarks that we can set on the device itself!
- Organization of books by author, date, title, etc

Hardware:
- We desperately need a cover to protect the device. I know you can get a cover for the bookeen cybook (since it is the same hardware) but it is ridiculously expensive (for me it would be $50 for cover + $25 for shipping + customs + exchange rate = are you kidding me?).
- I do realize that foxit doesn't make the hardware (it's made by Netronix - their ebook road map looks pretty cool. Might be a good indication of the future eslick lineup - http://www.netronixinc.com/product_e-book.htm) so I'm not sure if they'll be able to do anything in regards to hardware revisions but:
- I hate the button placements. I would prefer them to be on the surface rather than on the sides. Even though they are recessed, I still find myself accidentally pressing them.
- The front joystick needs to be improved. I find myself constantly pressing two directions at once. Sometimes when I press the down button, I feel two "clicks" instead of one and I end up two pages back rather than one page forward. I think part of the problem is that the buttons aren't debounced properly (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debounce#Contact_bounce).


That's all I can think of for now. What else did I miss?

[dracodoc]

I believe they already fixed the problem of remember location when turned off, maybe even the bookmark for reflowed pdf.
Besides, I think lrf is a proprietary format by Sony, it's impossible for eslick to support it. epub is in their list.
They are looking for case, including hard case. I'm looking forward a hard one.
I heard the second batch of eslick have better button feel.

[Jux__]

English dictionary would be my #1 wish, because English is foreign language to me and I mostly read books in English.

[Gamblor]

- Add a dictionary function. Sometimes I may come across a word I am unfamiliar with. It would be nice to be able to select the word and look up a definition. It would be even better if we could manually enter a word to look up in the dictionary.


English dictionary would be my #1 wish, because English is foreign language to me and I mostly read books in English.

This would be my number 1 wish as well that is a great suggestion I hope Foxit take notice.

I find myself reading older books and finding a lot of words not commonly used today where I'm lost to their meaning. I can envision the advantage to having an ereader that can query a internal dictionary database to lookup meanings on the fly and get results within a modal window without leaving your current book/page.

I hope one day the eslick could:
1. Highlight a word and lookup its meaning.
2. Manage/Customise that dictionary and add new entries (for example - import corporate dictionaries, foreign dictionaries, medical dictionaries etc.
3. referenced navigation by having the ability to quickly follow and come back to in-text references and figures etc(more of a file format solution I’d imagine)( Would be handy to have while reading in reflow).

[marty]

A word search function would be immediately useful!

[christina]

Thanks all. Please feel free to write down your ideas...

[gazzar]

Just got my eSlick. I am pretty happy with it's build quality, the display, and the landscape mode. I tried some books generated by the feedbooks website customised to the eSlick's screen size and they are very easy to read.

I was hoping to use it to read scientific papers as well as books. It looks like I'll have to wait for another firmware update if I want to read scientific papers though. As stevil and melvin have mentioned, reflow removes all the spaces of all the pdf documents I have tried to read. stevil may be correct that this is something to do with LaTeX, the most common tool for producing pdf format scientific papers and books. If the developers want more examples of pdfs that exhibit this problem, typical examples of these pdfs can be found on http://arxiv.org/. I'm hoping that the developers are still working on fixing this issue.

So here's my current wishlist:
Settable options to allow one to change the default "Zoom To" and "Landscape" options from "Fit Page" to something else. Currently, the combination "Landscape" and "Fit Content Width" are the only viable way to attempt to read scientific papers. These are usually formatted as 2-column Letter-sized or A4-sized pages, so having support for reading these one column at a time would be excellent if a practical way could be found to do it - there would need to be a way to zoom to the left column and when the bottom is reached, to jump to the top of the right column. This might be difficult to achieve. There is currently no good zoom level for reading these documents - at 400% in Landscape or 200% in Portrait it cuts off either the left of right side of the left or right columns and the panning doesn't allow a full column width worth of text to be read. At 200% in Landscape, it's too small to read comfortably. happynut's request elsewhere in the forum to be able to pan in small customizable increments would improve this situation.
One other minor thing I don't think others have requested: In the file selection menu, trying to scroll up when at the top or down when at the bottom of the list doesn't wrap around to the bottom or top of the file list, respectively. Allowing this would make file selection faster.
Also, although it's definitely not a high priority, I'll add my vote for a word search function. Even with a clumsy soft keyboard I think it would be useful in very long documents.

[theagent]

I ordered one a few weeks ago. Pretty much the only thing i'm interested in is reading technical books, textbooks, and scientific papers. So I'm thinking about canceling my order. I don't think this issue will be addressed anytime soon.

[christina]

Thanks gazzar. What you are talking about is in the range of our developers' discussing list.

[Hexar]

Strange.. I posted in this thread yesterday, and today my message has vanished. Anyhow - I'd love to see native Cyrillic support for .txt files. If other Netronix-based devices can offer this, I don't see why eSlick can't.

[christina]

To suppport Cyrillic, you need to create a font folder in the Main Memory, and create a *.ttc font.

[Hexar]

To suppport Cyrillic, you need to create a font folder in the Main Memory, and create a *.ttc font.

Is main memory the same where the books are stored? Any specific name for the folder to be recognized by the system?

[DrunkenDonkey]

Can you publish a list with planned features? This will help people buy the device if they know what they need will be in at some point

[Hexar]

Just registered to ask about cyrillic :p
Does the creation of that ttc font will enable cyrillic in all documents, not just pdf, but txt, rtf, and future supported?
Also, can you publish a list with planned features? This will help people buy the device if they know what they need will be in at some point

Let's take it to a separate thread, so it won't get mixed-up.

[Apapa]

My main priority would be greater control of zooming level (more steps between 200, 400 and 800) as well as more refined panning capability so that more documents could be easily aligned within the viewing area.

[christina]

Thanks. I will forward your comments to our developement team for reference. Acutally they are in the discussion list.

[hdvd-rom]

Would it be nice if the eslick ebook reader can release the sdk or api for user? And then user can create their own home brew softwares on the reader.

In addition, will eslick reader adapt the openInkpot project in the foreseeable future?

[christina]

Currently, we don't have this plan to use openInkpot. Thanks.

[hdvd-rom]

Currently, we don't have this plan to use openInkpot. Thanks.

Thanks for your answer.
Would you mind to answer the other question I have raised?
Will the SDK and API of the eslick reader be provided for a normal user developing home brew software?

[Erik_Bryant]

Currently, we do not have a plan to do that.

[escargot]

I have another ebook reader (the Ectaco Jetbook). Its screen is terrible, and the hardware is kind of ugly (although big buttons are practical!), but the software does have a few sensible features:

- Instant on/off. When I push the power button to turn it on, ectaco immediately returns me to the page I was reading. No load screen, no menu, just the same spot. With the eSlick, it's annoying to first stare at the logo, then have to push the "continue reading" button, and if it's a reflowed page, I have to find my spot again. Starting to read takes 2 seconds with the Ectaco and 30 seconds with the eSlick. Reading the ectaco is like opening a book, but the the delay makes eSlick seem more computery. Maybe eSlick can do this in the next firmware.

- Better zooming 200% is too small, 400% is too big. Why can't I type in 250%? Same with reflow font sizes.

- Bookmarks Why can't I create my own bookmarks?

- Landscape Why can't I read txt files in landscape?

- Fonts Ectaco uses a sans serif font for txt. It's ugly, but it hides some problems. The Roman-type serif font on the eSlick makes bad kerning, unequal spacing, and "dumb" quotes glaringly obvious. You should work on improving text rendering. Also, when reading a PDF book that has well-prepared text, reflow tends to break it. Reflow is a good idea, but it doesn't work properly, so I almost never use it.

I feel like before you start adding extras like a dictionary, or SDKs for homebrew, the basics of reading should be covered.

[christina]

Thanks. I have forwarded your suggesion to our development team for reference.

Reported Mantis ID:0009705

[budo01]

Are there any plans to include multiple bookmarks for a single book, Christina?

[ajarmst]

Feature request: Instead of having only the most recently opened ebook as a "continue reading" option, instead go to a menu with the most recent N opened books (N a function of available memory, or hard coded to some value like 10), with the most recent at the top of the list.

You could still go to the most recent book with two (rather than one) click, but you would also be able to go to your place in other books that you'd recently opened.

This would be a very useful feature for those of us who habitually have more than one book on the go, and should be relatively easy to implement as you are already keeping track of page location for multiple books anyway.

[christina]

Are there any plans to include multiple bookmarks for a single book, Christina?

Sorry I am unsure about this. Could it be more specific?

[budo01]

Sure, Christina. I mean having the elsick remember different parts of the same book. For example, a textbook may have Japanese to the front, an English translation at the back, and maybe grammar and vocabulary somewhere else. When you are reading, you want to move quickly between the front and the back, but this is hard to do on the eslick.
In another forum, Yau-Hsien said, "The eSlick provides page-selecting feature done with software keyboard and basic flipping feature. Thus, reading a big book, people should remember page number or structures of e-books."
It would be more user-friendly if the eslick could remember the page that you are on, and let you bookmark one or more other pages, so that you could cycle between them quickly.
So, can we expect anything like that?

[christina]

Thanks for the explaination. I can't say If it can be done. But I will forward your request to our development team for reference.

Mantis ID:0009837

[budo01]

Thanks, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[draconar]

hello,

it would be so very nice if the left and right buttons (with text zoomed to up 150 or more) were more sensitive, so that we could adjust the margins properly and leave it there. In the current version, each press on the left or right buttons brings the text too far from your actual position, rendering it uncomfortable to read. Ditto for the up/down scrolling. Text not unreadable, but sometimes it is not comfortable to read.

the pdf rendering is amazing! if I could just adjust the margins, I'd be so happy :)

Ah, zooming should be more sensitive too. 200% is not much, while 400% is too much.

[christina]

Thanks for telling us your feeling of the reading experience. Our developers will read it.

[clarsen]

I notice that on the SD card, if you move a PDF around, e.g. into a folder, the "reading record" is lost. You click on the file currently being read and it's not found (because it was moved).

Maybe the record should be stored near the PDF file so it can be moved around with the file, or maybe the reading record should reference a file hash instead of a file pathname so that the PDF can be moved around without the reading recording losing track.

[christina]

It may not easy to implement. But would forward it to our developers team for reference. Suggesion Mantis ID:0010400

[Desmond.Roam]

I was reading some text on my eslick while travelling and I often had to close it for several minutes (a DIY cover I made from a hard back notebook) and after some time I would continue reading.
The problem: the navigation buttons would accidentally press and skip some pages ahead/back, to prevent this I would have to turn it off and later wait for it to boot and to load the book I was reading.
There was a guy next to me on the train, he was reading on Kindle and it would start immedietly and open the last read passage. Neat.
My suggestions:
1. Short press of the power button locks the keys and either leaves the current screen on, or turns it off, but doesn't turn the device off, another short press- everything is back in an instant. (long press still should do what it currently does).
2. Whenever the device is turned on it shouldn't go to the main menu, but take you to the page you were last reading.
3. Smaller font for the list of books on the memory, or 2 lines to accommodate the whole title (often I see it like: Bob Mayer- A guide to writing~)
4. Table of contents for the currently opened file available from the quick menu.

[christina]

Thanks for your suggestions. I have forwarded them to our development team for reference. Suggestion Mantis ID:0010476

[draconar]

Hello, Christina.

Another useful (very, very useful) feature would be to have a percentage of the read page displayed somewhere. I mean, the eSlick should inform us at what point of the displayed page we are.

It really is obnoxious, while on "fit content width" mode, to scroll down the page and then start an "eyehunt" to keep on reading at the same point I was before scrolling down the page.

thanks!

[christina]

The firmware version (0615) has improved the page dispalying mode. It dispalys only the first one or three lines when advances to next page.

[dracodoc]

1. you can upload your own font to main memory, it will replace the font of main menu, txt font etc. So you can choose any font you want, just rename it to fxfont.ttc, put it to the main memory of eslick, under directory /Fonts, then turn off the eslick and turn on again.
I think foxit should publish this trick on their website or faq or this forum. It came from foxit customer service, and it had been used by lots of customers, there is no problem caused by this trick, why hide it?

2.I also bought a sony 505 after I bought eslick. The single most advantage 505 vs eslick to me is the on-off feature. 505 power on much slowly than eslick, but I can slide the power button to turn 505 into a power saving mode (and disable all button input), keep it that way for days, open it anytime just like open a book. With eslick I have to turn it on, turn it off every time. And I believe frequent switch on and off will drain battery too.


- Instant on/off. When I push the power button to turn it on, ectaco immediately returns me to the page I was reading. No load screen, no menu, just the same spot. With the eSlick, it's annoying to first stare at the logo, then have to push the "continue reading" button, and if it's a reflowed page, I have to find my spot again. Starting to read takes 2 seconds with the Ectaco and 30 seconds with the eSlick. Reading the ectaco is like opening a book, but the the delay makes eSlick seem more computery. Maybe eSlick can do this in the next firmware.

- Fonts Ectaco uses a sans serif font for txt. It's ugly, but it hides some problems. The Roman-type serif font on the eSlick makes bad kerning, unequal spacing, and "dumb" quotes glaringly obvious. You should work on improving text rendering. Also, when reading a PDF book that has well-prepared text, reflow tends to break it. Reflow is a good idea, but it doesn't work properly, so I almost never use it.

[Daphni]

I would like an initial display options menu to choose how the eSlick would display at power on. Some choices could be
1. Last page viewed
2. Main Menu
3. Last folder viewed

And then a view settings option menu

1. Default view
2. Last view settings
3. Set zoom level
4. Set orientation

It may save a little battery power navigating at first.

[christina]

Thanks. Your suggesion has been forwarded to our development team for reference. Suggestion Matis ID:0010693

[Jux__]

Here is one suggestion, that I hope you consider.
There are lot of PDF medium out there that are very heavily decorated with graphics, such as RPG books, game manuals, magazines, etc.

Since you have improved the Reflow feature that much, the text is completely readable. What makes it uncomfortable experience with those PDFs is the graphics between the text. On every page where are graphical decorations for header, footer, background, etc. Those images get displayed every time, each picture separately per page. So with heavy graphics you read one page of text and then you must skip next 5 because all of them show the pointless decoration content.

What would fix that and this is my suggestion: have an option in the configuration section for Reflow mode for disable/enable image content. That way when images are disabled, the Reflow should skip all the pictures and show only text content.

[christina]

Thanks. You request has been passed to our team for reference. Suggestion Mantis ID:0011215

[Niels]

I only have my eSlick for 1 day and it still has the initial firmware version (build 0408) but there are two features I would love to see:

* Currently the eSlick remembers the last book you opened. I'm switching books often and would love to see a "history" of 5~10 books and the last page viewed as starting point.
* When you zoom in to fit the content width, it might display 75% of the page. When I click down, I would love to see only the remaining 25%. This omits the need to search the sentence you were reading.

Kind regards,
Niels R.

[yaraher]

I only have my eSlick for 1 day and it still has the initial firmware version (build 0408) but there are two features I would love to see:

* Currently the eSlick remembers the last book you opened. I'm switching books often and would love to see a "history" of 5~10 books and the last page viewed as starting point.
* When you zoom in to fit the content width, it might display 75% of the page. When I click down, I would love to see only the remaining 25%. This omits the need to search the sentence you were reading.

Kind regards,
Niels R.

You should update your firmware to the last one and will be happy to find out those features are there :)

[budo01]

Hello,
A "home" button shortcut would be a great addition to the eslick: I appreciate the superb folder support, but having to press return a bunch of times to get back to the main menu when searching for a file is a serious pain. Thanks.