App Request: E-book reader

[MOE-GUNZ]

Hey just thought a e-book reader would be a great addition to the Pre. Maybe with a night time mode, support of landscape and different fonts. I know this will be hard to develop but I think this is needed (at least until a kidle app comes hopefully).

If someone develop this, that would be great. Those of us with other devices can suggest some features we seen in othe ebook apps.

[rboatright]

an E-Book reader is my personal development project

As soon as I can let go of PreWare and trust that webos-internals wiki doesn't need two nearly full time sysops, I will be moving on it.

All the existing e-book reader apps, including the kindle app for the iphone, suck. The kindle app for the iphone sucks LESS than most of the others, but they -none-of-them- were developed for READERS.

They were either developed for people who LOOK THINGS UP or for people who occasionally read.

it's VERY annoying.

[ipodtouch12345]

There is shortcovers from the app catalog. Nothing else at the moment

[MOE-GUNZ]

Originally Posted by rboatright

an E-Book reader is my personal development project

As soon as I can let go of PreWare and trust that webos-internals wiki doesn't need two nearly full time sysops, I will be moving on it.

All the existing e-book reader apps, including the kindle app for the iphone, suck. The kindle app for the iphone sucks LESS than most of the others, but they -none-of-them- were developed for READERS.

They were either developed for people who LOOK THINGS UP or for people who occasionally read.

it's VERY annoying.

Great to know

I don't like shortcover

[pushin30]

please make it now shortcovers blows

[dmiller444]

ereader has always been my number 2 application on any Palm that I have owned. 1 being SplashID. I will be as close to the front of the line as I can to get one on the Pre...Since moving from the Centro, gone back to using my TX. So thx for any effort you do!

[JoshMend]

Count me in! I still lug around my old Treo 755p only for the ebook app on it. I use ereader.com for my book selections.

[prubin]

I use eReader on Classic. Not perfect, but it does work. they say they are working on a native reader for the Pre.

[MOE-GUNZ]

I sure we can think up something that will be pretty good.

Shortcover is terrible and the only thing that I really like about the Kindle app for the ITouch is Amazons prices.

Its still missing many features and is never being updated.

[stillgale]

Thank you for the choice of a e-book reader as your project. Am currently converting e-books to PDF and using Pre PDF reader but occasional freezes and poor use of page space make this method a stopgap at best. Thanks again.

[Paladin]

If possible can you include the ability to read the iSilo format? I have read a lot of books on my phone as it is always with me. I am still reading them with iSilo under classic but that half a screen is getting on my nerves. ii

[lilmexx323]

I have my tethering, now I only need a reader too. I figured something would have been out by now.. I dont know what people are waiting for..I have seen many posts requesting this...

[MOE-GUNZ]

I only need a few things for my Pre.

[x] Tethering
[ ] ESPN
[ ] E-Book Reader
[ ] A good Texas Hold'em App (like Zynga has for other devices)
[ ] Instant Messaging apps. (all-in-one with Skype, MSN, Aim ect)
[x] Fandango
[ ] Comic reader
[x] Weather

...and a few others

[rboatright]

Ebook reader specs:

1) on-pc conversion of various formats to pre-compatible format -probably using plucker distiller. Should support html, rde, doc, pdb (palm-doc), pdb (isilo), prc (unencrypted mobipocket), plain text.

2) on Pre conversion of html and text docs by download from the cloud.

3) Library supports user definable catagories for sorting and shelving

4) Book display page is minimally invasive making the most space available to read on as possible

5) Typography is bifocal friendly. User definable print sizes, and if possibletype faces.

6) user defined forground/background colors for text.

7) multiple bookmarks per doc.

8) shallow menus

9) smooth scrolling or page-at-a-time scrolling by gestures.

10) support for covers.

11) coverflow view of shelves.

12) easy rapid sorting of books onto shelves.

[lilmexx323]

Those options would be perfect. I love being able to read when I have a spare moment on my phone. This thread needs to stay at the top of the list, so maybe one of these brilliant developers will jump on this app!!

[MOE-GUNZ]

Originally Posted by rboatright

Ebook reader specs:

1) on-pc conversion of various formats to pre-compatible format -probably using plucker distiller. Should support html, rde, doc, pdb (palm-doc), pdb (isilo), prc (unencrypted mobipocket), plain text.

2) on Pre conversion of html and text docs by download from the cloud.

3) Library supports user definable catagories for sorting and shelving

4) Book display page is minimally invasive making the most space available to read on as possible

5) Typography is bifocal friendly. User definable print sizes, and if possibletype faces.

6) user defined forground/background colors for text.

7) multiple bookmarks per doc.

8) shallow menus

9) smooth scrolling or page-at-a-time scrolling by gestures.

10) support for covers.

11) coverflow view of shelves.

12) easy rapid sorting of books onto shelves.

Awesome list +1000

[nyrath]

On my Nokia 810, I use FBReader for eBooks. It does pretty much everything I want.
Unfortunately it is apparently written in C++ for Linux.
FBReader: News

[dangerskew]

I would love an e-book reader for the Pre. I've tried reading manga scans on my phone with the standard photo viewer which isn't bad until you have to turn the page. Since going to another file zooms out to 100%, it is rather annoying having to zoom in to the same level every minute or so.

[sumratio]

I would so jump on the e-book wagon if someone developed a good app for the Pre. You think a company with deep pockets like Amazon could fund a project like this. They would ultimately make out like bandits selling e-books. Great list of features rboatright.

[rboatright]

Ebook reader alpha project starts this week, now that the "porting older javascript apps" tutorial is done at webos-internals.org wiki.

It's going to be an open alpha... but I'm going to warn you, early functionality is going to (( cough cough )) suck as I'm going to spend rather a lot of time on design rather than import and conversion.

This thing needs to be reader friendly.

Saddly, since most people don't read, and since this is going to be a reader FOR READERS, it will never have the appeal of something like the home screen project or tetris. :-/

Still, if you're interested in helping, or participating in an open alpha, comment here.

Rick