Comments on: eReader for Android Available

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:09:47 +0000

The news about eDGe using Adobe...what's the source? I thought they do books DRM-free.

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:26:12 +0000

Further word is that the eDGe will use Adobe Digital Editions, which can authorize up to six devices on a single account. So you could read an ebook purchased from Entourage on your eDGe, your work desktop, your home laptop, etc. DRM is at the publisher’s discretion, so expect most items to be DRMed, I’d guess.

By: johnkzin

johnkzin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:19:19 +0000

I hadn’t noticed that the eDGe added their own ebook store. Looks like they’ll have textbooks, soon, too. Very nice.

I’m thinking this is all making the eDGe look very good :-) If only it had some form of video out…

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:33:13 +0000

My thought exactly, although I also think that there are likely to be far more Android phones in circulation for the next year or two than larger-format devices. Speaking of the eDGe, have you been to Entourage’s website lately? The first batch of their ebooks are up – over 100K titles – and they appear to all be in PDF format. No indication whether they’re DRM-free or transferrable to other devices, but that’s a *huge* step up in commercially-available ebooks to my mind.

By: johnkzin

johnkzin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:46:21 +0000

I’m willing to bet that UI issues that seem like “tiny text” or “way too small” on a phone will all work fine on a larger, actual e-reader, screen (such as the “Alex”, “nook”, and Entourage eDGe, for example).

By: Brad

Brad — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:41:05 +0000

Yay, finally. Its okay so far, could use a little polish, and doesn’t seem super fast, but acceptable. However, why didn’t they implement page scrolling use the up-down volume switch like other ebook apps have done, and like was always done on Windows Mobile and Palm devices? Makes for better one-handed operation.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:10:50 +0000

First thoughts:

1. The online bookshelf “next page” button is way too small to hit with a finger. I had to use the trackball on my g1 to highlight it.

2. The tiny text tracing out the current status of what you’re doing in the online bookshelf is funny. Obviously developers put that in as a stand in until design could come back with how it’s supposed to look. Or at least I’m hoping that’s the case…

But whatever, 1.0. Baby steps, I get it. Some percentage progress updates on the current book download would be nice.

3. No themes! I know I know….but they could have put “inverse” in the menu to throw us a bone. Black on white = no reading on this for me yet.

4. Really no settings at all beside font and size. I await the next version to allow me to change the page turning triggers.

5. Slow dictionary lookup. I grabbed my merriam websters unabridged over wifi. I looked up a random word in the book i opened and it took a good 5 seconds for the screen to switch to the dictionary and another 11 or so for the entry to show up.

By: TaxMan

TaxMan — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:59:01 +0000

It does work on the Archos 5IT.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:36:51 +0000

Why isn’t this in the market yet?

I don’t want to be handling updates manually…(spoiled ubuntu user)

I’m installing it now

By: James Kendrick

James Kendrick — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:26:49 +0000

I wanted to get the word out fast, Mike. No time for video.