Database Users

[Q] PoV / Vega and PDFs in portrait

I'm looking to pick up a PoV / Vega, mostly for the viewing of graphically intensive, A4-sized PDF documents but since the usual stockists in the UK no longer seem to have any of these on display I can't try it out for myself..
..so can anyone comment on PDF text readability in full screen and portrait? Does the screen width of 600 necessitate constant zooming, and does the viewing angle make it a generally difficult or unpleasant experience?

Hi there
I use ezPDF to view magazines on my vega. It does a good job, there are black bars top and bottom, viewing A4 docs in portrait due to the 16:9 screen. But the text is perfectly viewable without zooming in. If the PDF is large in size and contains a lot of images, it does take the vega a second to switch pages. I can only put this down to the amount of ram in the vega, or a problem with ezPDF.
On a different note comic reader mobi works great on the vega. If you like that sort of thing...
Hope it helps
O_G

On a different note comic reader mobi works great on the vega. If you like that sort of thing...
Hope it helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do.. and it does!
I mostly plan to replace my bookshelf of roleplaying games with PDF equivalents (thankfully most publishers launch print and PDF versions of their products at the same time, now) and I'll be changing over my magazine subscriptions to PDF downloads once they become available.
So it seems like the Vega is going to be a good choice. Thanks again!

I'll echo most of what OG said. ezPDF reader is the best, Adobe's own one runs a little slow on it and the touch screen goes a bit funky. I would say the only problems with viewing PDFs (or anything else) in portrait are the 16:9 orientation (most tablets go for 16:10 now, or 4:3 for iPad) leaving so much unused space, and the viewing angle. The viewing angle isn't much of a problem in landscape but in portrait I can't actually seem to find an angle where it actually looks right... at all. If your PDF is just black type on white you probably won't notice though.

[Q] Handwritten Notes

Does anyone know of an app for Android tablets that can do this? I have just switched from an iPad1. I used Noteshelf for taking notes and it was very very smooth. There were plenty of others too.
I have tried all the ones I can find for Android:
Genial Writing
PenSupremacy
Handrite
Freenote
and more
They are incredibly bad with text not appearing until seconds after you lift the stylus/finger or curved lines being squared off. Even the drawing apps are terrible. My guess is either the Asus TF is very under-powered to be able to do this smoothly or there's just no developers focusing on this.
Anyone?

Try:
Writepad
Anripaper note
For drawing I use Sketchbook Pro

I've started using Antipaper, and I like it. I'm unsure of whether or not I wanna pay for the full version though (when it becomes available). I like my tf, but I'll probably use it to supplement with notes, not to take actual notes in class..

you can change the delay setting in freenote to reduce the delay between you stopping writing and it showing the text.
try it again and play with the settings.

CarsnGadgets said:
you can change the delay setting in freenote to reduce the delay between you stopping writing and it showing the text.
try it again and play with the settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed you can....
I found the best speed for my use was 400ms. This cleared up the delay issue.

You can use Myscript notes mobile it can be ported of a lenovo ideapad.
http://www.visionobjects.com/en/myscript/personal-notes-and-forms-management-applications/myscript-notes-mobile/description/

I would look into writepad stylus, he has a thread over on the Xoom forum where you can follow his progress.
Writepad forum thread
Otherwise DrawPro is great for TF for just drawing, otherwise your best bet is still FreeNote right now.

OK, Antipaper looks usable. Looking forward to the PRO version. Shame it can't email the complete notepad, but I can cope.
Thankyou very much for the recommendation.

What do you use the S pen for?

Thought it would be interesting to make a thread on how people are using the S-pen. Give people some new ideas or whatever.
I rarely use it. My handwriting sucks so the Note has no idea what I'm writing. Although normal people can't read my writing when I write with pen/paper anyway, so no surprise there.
I mostly use the S-pen to play Nemo picross actually, ha ha ha! It sure is nice to shrink the grid to a tiny size (20x20 visible) and use the pen to play. When I used my fingers on my mytouch 4g, I'd have to use a 9x9 visible grid, and I'd have to scroll all over the place.
- Frank

Nose & ear hygiene

Keep my girlfriend busy drawing while I'm watching football.
Sent from my Galaxy Note through telekinesis

pjm77 said:
Nose & ear hygiene
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HAHA my granddad uses his car key!
To be honest I only pulled it out to show people what it can do, doubt I will ever need to use it which is a shame considering the time and energy that must have gone into implementing it so nicely!

thebigak said:
HAHA my granddad uses his car key!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is so 1980s! You've got to keep up with times, for godssake

Playing World of Goo.
Japanese handwriting recognition.
Faster typing with Swype.

Handwritting with Graffiti Pro recognition method. Works way better than inbuilt one as you use simplified characters.
Also drawing and photo masking/editing.

i use it for swypeing - i rly like it.

GTD. Any time something comes up that I have to do, I do a quick memo and send to evernote inbox. each day I open evernote inbox and process all items. I make a handwritten lists of the task for that day and save the other ones to a next actions folder in evernote.

I use the stylus for Swyping and everything else, any time my fingers are a little damp and not sliding smoothly over the screen.

djowett said:
Keep my girlfriend busy drawing while I'm watching football.
Sent from my Galaxy Note through telekinesis
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol.... I do the same thing except I watch cricket.....
But she got so addicted to it that she wants one now....
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App

I use the pen for selecting small items on web pages where zooming is not allowed and where a laptop and mouse would be needed e.g. in charting packages. I also find it useful for selecting text during editing where you need to be precise.

removing earwax, my finger is much more accurate than the s-pen to draw with

I figure it's a tool that needs to be learned like a musical instrument.
A little bit every day, until you get to the point where you're fluid, expressive, and extremely efficient.
Right now, I'm practicing here and there. Here's what I hope to be able to do very quickly with the S-pen in a couple months:
-- pull up S memo, jot down a quick note or 5, save in a "pile"; convert to text to be scheduled/organized later; shared to Evernote/Skitch/class notebook
-- screen capture pages and images, then edit/crop them to share later (like in the fancy demos)
-- sketch quick ideas, like charts and graphs, to import into a presentation form (ppt, email to group, into a video tutorial)
-- learn to draw (How to Draw app), to make quick flyers, invites, and ads
-- be very familiar with photo editing, exporting
-- be very familiar with video editing, exporting
-- annotate PDFs, whiteboards
-- be fluent enough to demonstrate all this to gawkers
As of now, I'm just dipping my toes in the all these pools. So much to learn, so little time...
I will say that I'm finding the tiny stylus and the inconveniently placed button difficult. I think the larger Samsung pen accessory into which the stylus can be inserted is somewhere in my future...
-

I use it to use the note when the temperatures are very low and I have my gloves on.

I love drawing and sketching with the s pen...
I also use it to write out messages quickly. Once you get used to using the s pen, handwriting input can be pretty fast - I manage to fit 4-6 words even on the portrait version of handwriting input for msgs and that works out pretty well; it's even better in landscape..

I use the pen for selecting small items on web pages too and also some games are much easier to play using the pen.
In the winter I imagine not having to take gloves off to use my phone (except to get the pen out of the slot of course!)
If you're asking though "Is it a gimmick?" then I will say NO. It is genuinely useful.

Nothing
My 9 year old daughter used it once to draw and keep herself busy whilst waiting for the main course to arrive

show off in front of my freinds it serves no other purpose.

I was so impressed by this I'm pseudo bumping it:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1354191
I kind of suspected that either you the stylus a LOT or you don't use it much at all.
- Frank

possible buyer, simple question!

i'm really interested in this e-reader.
i was about to seal the deal with a kindle touch but saw the android support for this e-reader, and me being the android dude i am (samsung galaxy s2) i HAD to give this a shot.
quite briefly: i have a lot of pdf's already, and NEED good pdf support, or at least a good way to convert them to a good readable format.
also, I know with android I can use Google docs, Gmail, etc. how is typing on this thing? I have a great ics multi touch keyboard, would it work on the rooted nook?
oh and how much does android effect on battery life?
is this is e-reader for me?

Out of the box it has pdf support but not necessarily the best support. Here is a review with a video showing stock and rooted nook abilities with pdfs.
http://www.the-ebook-reader.com/nook-pdf-review.html
once you have it rooted you have the market to test a lot of different pdf programs. Probably is going to depend on what your looking at. i personally convert all of my pdfs to epubs with calibre. Every so often one doesn't format right but the majority are readable. I've been happy with this reader. I have a 6in eclair eink tablet which is pretty awesome.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

thanks for the response, it seems a rooted nook touch will be able to do quite a lot, I updated the first post to reflect my typing and battery concerns.
Hercules was here

For typing, I use my Nook to take notes on during class. It took a little bit of getting used to, but it's not that bad.

darkness122 said:
[...] i was about to seal the deal with a kindle touch but saw the android support for this e-reader, and me being the android dude i am (samsung galaxy s2) i HAD to give this a shot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You will be able to do more than with a stock NOOK or Kindle, but don't expect too much. I've had mine rooted for about a month now, and have found that it offers a few more options that work very well as a reader with a few goodies added.
quite briefly: i have a lot of pdf's already, and NEED good pdf support, or at least a good way to convert them to a good readable format.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the readers, and they do work. I settled on Repligo. That said, these readers are definitely not designed for a device with an eInk screen and lacking multitouch. You can read a PDF, but there is a lot of flickering.
also, I know with android I can use Google docs, Gmail, etc. how is typing on this thing? I have a great ics multi touch keyboard, would it work on the rooted nook?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Be aware that it runs Android 2.1, so many apps do not work. I'm using Maildroid for corporate Exchange, Google and IMAP email, and find it works very well. My favorite, Enhanced Email, will not run on this device. I found that Smart Keyboard Pro with a high-contrast display (black letters on white background) works with minimal flicker. Prediction does not work. Any keyboard animation generates a lot of flicker, which I don't like. Auto-prediction does not work correctly -- suggestions do not display -- so I've had to disable most of the automatic correction features. It does work well, though, once I get used to "typewriter" (all manual) mode.
oh and how much does android effect on battery life?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's up to you. With wifi off and allowed to sleep normally, it sips battery life. After extended testing, I find that it consumes something like 0.1% battery per hour. With wifi and screen on and in use, consumption goes to 4-8% per hour. If you load it up with widgets, background polling and the like, battery life will be very disappointing. Again, don't think of it as a feature-laden tablet. I've used Tasker to only enable wifi when a few specific apps are running, and to disable it when they exit, or the screen goes off. I'm good for at least several days, and I suspect a week or more before charging is required. It's hard to gauge, because every time I plug it in to USB to sideload content, it charges up so quickly.
is this is e-reader for me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. It's MINE!

bobstro said:
I settled on Repligo. That said, these readers are definitely not designed for a device with an eInk screen and lacking multitouch. You can read a PDF, but there is a lot of flickering.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are eink-optimized pdf readers, like ---
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1186949
--- that incorporates partial freshes, significantly reducing flickering. The URL has links for the freeware; there is also a version on the market that makes better of our hardware, for a very low price (no, I'm not the developer!)
Be aware that it runs Android 2.1, so many apps do not work. I'm using Maildroid for corporate Exchange, Google and IMAP email, and find it works very well. My favorite, Enhanced Email, will not run on this device. I found that Smart Keyboard Pro with a high-contrast display (black letters on white background) works with minimal flicker. Prediction does not work. Any keyboard animation generates a lot of flicker, which I don't like. Auto-prediction does not work correctly -- suggestions do not display -- so I've had to disable most of the automatic correction features.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to clarify: Auto-prediction does work on some apps. In fact I wrote an app (for generic 2.1+ devices) that calls the most basic auto-complete macros and it works like a charm on NST, so there is likely to be an issue with how a specific app was implement.

bobstro said:
I'm using Maildroid for corporate Exchange, Google and IMAP email, and find it works very well. My favorite, Enhanced Email, will not run on this device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just use the gmail app and it doesn't give me any problems, works the same as it does on my E4GT
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

in all honesty, i never planned on buying my books via kindle or b&n so it really came down to the hardware itself for me.
simply put, after much research, the two are basically identical hardware wise (no sound on the nook but whatever i dont need it) and the fact that I can further customize a bit with android just put the nook touch over for me.
im gonna do a 2-3 hour charge, then root this badboy right away. im assuming this is the latest n greatest way to root our ebook atm?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1351719

darkness122 said:
im assuming this is the latest n greatest way to root our ebook atm?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not, actually. The author of TouchNooter made a comparison of the different rooting methods here. Ignore the TorimuNooter in that list, as it doesn't exist anymore.

[Q] Is the Nook right for me?

I'm close to buying a Nook Simple Touch. These are my criteria and what I'm expecting:
I already have an iPhone. I want the Nook mostly for reading eBooks and viewing lecture slides in class.
I have owned a Palm Zire 71 before. How is the IR touch screen like? I'm not expecting the responsiveness of a capacitive touchscreen. Does it work by detecting pressure like a Palm? Does it have multi-touch? It's not really necessary as long as pan and zoom can function well. Can you annotate on it like on a Palm?
This is taken from what I posted in another forum:
How's the contrast of E-Ink Pearl? Is the background the colour of recycled paper or closer to optical white?
I feel a Nook is good value for money because I actually buy classic novels at 3.50 USD a pop and Project Gutenberg will save me money in the long run. Furthermore, my textbooks (limited to 10% of the content to comply with Australian copyright laws) have been put up online.
Also for viewing lecture slides. I print out 6 PowerPoint slides a page on my B&W laser printer and at that size, the diagrams in the slides are not clear. I only need the touch for zoom and pan. Rather than annotating on my printouts (which can be 6 pages or longer), I could save paper by viewing them on the eReader and taking notes separately on a sheet of paper.
My classmates use iPads or laptops in class. It's hard to navigate slides on a laptop by scrolling. Love the smooth navigation of the iPad but on both devices they struggle to type notes/draw using a capacitive stylus. Not to mention the temptation to browse Facebook/play games on them!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What Android apps run on it after rooting? I'm thinking Chess and simple word-processing apps. Not expecting Angry Birds, but would something like amateur Angry Birds clones (so many of these on iOS e.g. Angry Pig Daddy) work because they have very low framerates?
Can I load files from Dropbox instead of over USB?
Hardware keyboards need to be connected by USB, right? I guess USB headsets won't work because the Nook lacks an audio chip.
Can it be compared to a Palm (albeit with a greyscale eInk screen)? For reading eBooks, browsing the internet in B&W and running simple [Android] apps and simple annotation.
Would the Nook Simple Touch meet my needs?

Technically multitouch is supported with the latest update, but I have yet to see it actually work.
The touch screen is pretty responsive, but a pen won't work; you need something bigger. There's also no film over the screen, and the actual IR beams are just above the screen, so if you want you don't have to touch the actual screen.
As for contrast, the color of the screen when blank is pretty close to white, with just a very slight shade of brown.
The Nook runs Android 2.1, so most apps won't be available, but I use my Nook to take notes in class (high school) using a free office app. Angry birds is available and is pretty playable if you change the orientation and turn off the background from the main menu.
The Dropbox app is in the Market, and I think there's an app that will sync folders on your SDCard (or maybe your Nook's file system) with Dropbox.
I also have a Palm Zire (31?), and I still use it to record homework and for its calendar; haven't found a decent working calendar app yet for my Nook. Maybe I'll just make one sometime.

How do you zoom and pan? By dragging on scroll bars?
I'm more and more impressed!
I'm amazed that Angry Birds is playable! I've seen the YouTube video. Why do you need to change the orientation? To decrease the resolution? How about instead making the app run in a 320 * 480 window like a low-end Android phone?
(Can't post links yet. Search "nook simple touch stylus". It's the Blogspot blog in the first result.) Nice! I'm leaning towards using a paintbrush! Maybe I'll trim the barrel of a fat pen and stick a silicone earplug in there like what he did in the first photo.
Do you type in class on the touchscreen keyboard or using an external keyboard?
I had a B&W Palm Zire 31 as well from when my mum used it for work. Not the same as yours.

Googie2149 said:
haven't found a decent working calendar app yet for my Nook.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try Calendar Pad? Working fine for me.

Has anyone's Nook ever broke? I'm buying it from someone who's bringing it in to Malaysia from the US. I have to ship it to B&N and B&N will deliver it to a US address, which will forward it to me in Malaysia.
Can you boost the contrast in Android so that similar colours won't have the same shade (look 'flat') when converted to Grayscale?
Does JavaIDEdroid work on a rooted Nook? The site says it seems to run okay on Android 2.1. I just want to use this to do light editing on assignments (I study CompSci). All my Java programs are only command-line based.
ETA: I might have found a good stylus! The rubber tip of Pilot FriXion pens (that are used to erase the ink by friction).

tehriddler said:
How do you zoom and pan? By dragging on scroll bars?
I'm more and more impressed!
I'm amazed that Angry Birds is playable! I've seen the YouTube video. Why do you need to change the orientation? To decrease the resolution? How about instead making the app run in a 320 * 480 window like a low-end Android phone?
(Can't post links yet. Search "nook simple touch stylus". It's the Blogspot blog in the first result.) Nice! I'm leaning towards using a paintbrush! Maybe I'll trim the barrel of a fat pen and stick a silicone earplug in there like what he did in the first photo.
Do you type in class on the touchscreen keyboard or using an external keyboard?
I had a B&W Palm Zire 31 as well from when my mum used it for work. Not the same as yours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For zoom, I haven't had much luck with it, but the office app I use has a slider for zoom (Kingsoft Office. Terrible, but works). I use GO Keyboard to type, and after installing it to an Android emulator to get to the settings it works well.
I change the orientation so the screen refreshes more than once every two seconds, but it does make trails to be made behind the birds. When a bird jumps while waiting to be launched, it can only be described as a flaming bird.
The Zire 21 was B/W, the 31 is blue and has a color screen. (I have both for some reason)

good for epub. screen is small for detailed slides.
tehriddler said:
I'm close to buying a Nook Simple Touch. These are my criteria and what I'm expecting:
I already have an iPhone. I want the Nook mostly for reading eBooks and viewing lecture slides in class.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The nook is great for reading ebooks (epub) -- that's what it was designed for. PDF support is very disappointing (IMO). zoom is extremely limited.
This assumes you are using the default app on a stock nook. I'm still working on getting mine to run other apps.
The small screen size might be disappointing for viewing lecture slides.
---------- Post added at 08:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:05 AM ----------
tehriddler said:
Has anyone's Nook ever broke?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes.
The nook is pretty fragile. I recommend buying a good case.
The "designed for nook" case in the store looked to me like it would pop open too easily, so I got a Kindle case with a zipper (M-Edge Latitude). It's a tight fit, but it works.
Kindle 4 and Nook Simple Touch have the same H and W dimensions, but the Nook is thicker (11.9 mm vs 8.6 mm)

I just bought my Nook ST yesterday! I love it but I find the ghosting and the blinking refresh annoying and I hope the NoRefresh tweak would fix that.
How do you zoom in on images in the stock app? Can you pan/scroll instead of turning the page? IS there any way to rotate so that PDFs display in landscape mode?
Does highlighting work in PDFs? I can get the text to zoom in but am unable to select the text.
I'm holding off rooting until I get a microSD card. I also don't have a microSD card reader on me at the moment. Can you just write the disk image when the card is in the Nook? I see an external drive show up in Windows Explorer.

tehriddler said:
I just bought my Nook ST yesterday! I love it but I find the ghosting and the blinking refresh annoying and I hope the NoRefresh tweak would fix that.
How do you zoom in on images in the stock app? Can you pan/scroll instead of turning the page? IS there any way to rotate so that PDFs display in landscape mode?
Does highlighting work in PDFs? I can get the text to zoom in but am unable to select the text.
I'm holding off rooting until I get a microSD card. I also don't have a microSD card reader on me at the moment. Can you just write the disk image when the card is in the Nook? I see an external drive show up in Windows Explorer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't write the image to the mSD when it is in the Nook! This will damage your Nook! /bold text
I don't think you can zoom in the stock reader, but when you root you can get a PDF app and use that, and you can force the screen to display in landscape when you need to. Also, you cannot pan in the stock reader, only pages.
As for NoRefresh, that app is advancing by leaps and bounds, and should work well for most apps.

Okay I hear you. I just read the warning in another thread after posting this about potentially bricking the Nook when writing the disk image to the microSD inside.
Is the screen refresh annoying in third-party PDF readers? Would be a shame to lose colour depth to just black and white by using NoRefresh.

cceerrtt said:
Did you try Calendar Pad? Working fine for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that recommendation. Calendar Pad is a good replacement for the stock Android Calendar program. Not having a giant SD card image is nice.
Are you aware of a way to enable/disable specific account calendars that are displayed. I can do this on other devices with the stock app, but haven't found an equivalent function in Calendar Pad.

i think NST is just right for you.
I also have iphone and ipad. but they just for game or chatting.
NST is for reading.

bobstro said:
Thanks for that recommendation. Calendar Pad is a good replacement for the stock Android Calendar program. Not having a giant SD card image is nice.
Are you aware of a way to enable/disable specific account calendars that are displayed. I can do this on other devices with the stock app, but haven't found an equivalent function in Calendar Pad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, use the stock Calendar application (with giant SDcard image) to select your calendars (menu -> More -> My Calendars). This setting has effect also for Calendar Pad.