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Jun

10

2009

Android eReader App Coming “Mid To Late Summer”

1

by Chris Moor

ereader android appScott Pendergrast from Fictionwise has revealed that an Android version of eReader will be ready in “mid to late summer”.

The Android eReader app won’t be able to read ePub from the start, but according to Pendergrast a similar capability will be introduced shortly after release.

The new Android eReader will also be able to handle ePub wrapped in Fictionwise’s DRM as well as non DRMed ePub.

A Linux version of eReader is also currently in development.

[via teleread.org]

» See more articles by Chris Moor

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Comments

  • http://www.howdoisavemymarriage.net Richard G. Allen

    I purchased Kindle 1 on the second day it was offered; I have enjoyed it so much that, after only a brief hesitation, I plunged in and purchased this new version. I’m glad I did.

    Others have already covered the most salient new features. I will concentrate on a few points.

    One: Text-to-Speech: A winner and the main reason I chose to purchase the new version. It reads anything on the screen. Chose the article you wish to have read aloud; press the Menu button; toggle down to “Start Text-to-Speech”, and press the button again. Within a few seconds the Kindle will begin reading at the top of the page. When the voice reaches the bottom of the page it `turns’ the page to the next. The default is to the male voice. If you wish the female voice, while it is reading press the `Aa” button (used to change the font) and you will see three options: 1) turn off or pause text-to-speech; 2) speech rate (slower, default, faster) and 3) Speaking Voice (female, male). Toggle to female, press the button, then bit the `back’ button. I agree with those who claim that the male voice seems to sound less `robotic’ than the female voice.

    Listening to a novel is not real satisfying, since the voice does not give much inflection to the words, and you will not be able to tell readily the difference between `conversation’ and descriptive text. However, for newspaper or magazine articles it shines. The male voice does an almost perfect job of reading articles. As I sit here at my desk the Kindle is reading the New York Times to me; when it finishes one article, it moves right on to the next, reading headlines, byline and text. Note that while it is reading the `next’ and `previous’ page buttons are inoperative.

    Two: the newspaper experience on the new version of Kindle is head and shoulders above the older version. No more awkward attempts to get back to the article list and thus find what you wish to read. At the bottom of the new Kindle, while you are in a newspaper, are three small titles: “Previous Article”, “View Sections List” and “Next Article”. The “View Sections List” is, by default, highlighted, hence to go there you simply `press the button’. To go to a previous or next article you simply `toggle’ the button to left (previous) or to the right (next article). Plus, just above these selections you are given the headline of the next article. For instance, I am now reading the article “Obama to Seek Higher Tax on Affluent to Pay….” (the heading is at the top of the page, in small print, to remind you of the article you are reading), while at the bottom you have “next article: Revenues Threaten Rebuilding and Stability in Iraq”.

    Should you press the `View Sections List” option you will be presented with a very nice layout, on one page, neatly arranged, of the various sections with the number of articles in each section. Simply toggle to the section you wish to go into, `press the button’ and you are off (I keep getting the voice of Jack Lemmon in my mind, from that marvelous movie “The Great Race”, where he would often say “Max, press the button!”).

    Third, I am impressed by the improved `print quality’. I believe it is a significant difference due to the `sixteen shades of gray’ .The letters simply look crisper and easier to read. Plus, I like how I can now enlarge photographs of maps (I like to read the Richard Sharpe books; often the author will stick a map in, and on the old Kindle you could not really make out anything). Now, simply `toggle’ to the map and, when the small magnifying glass appears within the middle of the photograph, `press the button Max’ and within seconds you will have a full-sized photograph. Press the button again to revert to normal size.

    Finally, I, like many others, am impressed by the way the buttons have been redone; it is much more difficult to accidentally hit a previous or next page button, since you now press on the inside of the button, instead of the edge. I also like how thin the new Kindle is.

    As I said, others have extensively reviewed other features of the Kindle, so I will limit my thoughts to the foregoing. In summary, if you do not have a Kindle, now is the time to get one. If you have the original version, you have a difficult choice before you. I am so pleased by the text-to-speech feature (literally, as I sit here the Kindle is reading the whole newspaper to me) that I feel that feature justifies the new version. I will retain my old one and loan it out to friends who wish to read one of my books.