The prior versions of the Color Nook software did not let you read in portrait mode, only landscape, so I"m glad to see that the new update (1.4) finally lets readers use either mode. I'm wondering if they've finally included tap-to-zoom capability for pictures?
The Nook Tablet does let you double-tap to zoom in on images, so I'm hoping (as a writer) that the stock Color Nook 1.4 update includes the zooming capability, but I haven't seen that spelled out anywhere. If someone who is using the 1.4 update could check that, I'd appreciate knowing. (Just to reiterate, I'm not talking about pinch-to-zoom in the browser or when viewing regular images or PDF files...I'm talking about when you're reading an ePub book in the built-in Nook reader app, can you double-tap a picture in the book and have it pop out so you can then zoom in and out to examine it.)
I know the FBreader app on the market allows zooming pictures in ePub's, but I just want to know if a typical non-rooted user with the 1.4 update can now zoom them as well.
Thanks,
JT
Related
Hi,
Has anyone found a browser that allows you to read the on line archives of the New Yorker magazine? The built in browser only shows part of each page and does not let you move the screen around to see the rest of the page. Have tried all the UA strings but no joy.
I did find that I could read using the Dolphin browser as long as I use the URL of archives.newyorker.com/ipad and set the UA string to ipad though the display is still less than ideal. Sometimes portrait mode single page display shows the full page but reduced in size to about 75% of normal so it does not fill the screen and the type is quite small. Other times it does actually fill the screen but has a flashing white bar at the bottom.
Perhaps someone who is more familiar with Dolphin can suggest what adjustments to the settings in Dolphin will optimize the view. I'm perfectly happy using the built in browser for everything but the New Yorker and Dolphin for only the New Yorker if I could just get it to display clearly on a consistent basis. In Dolphin's page content settings, I have text size set to Large and Default Zoom set to Medium. I switched the ipad applet settings so that portrait mode shows a single page - just wish I could get rid of the flashing white line at the bottom.
On the other hand, clearly the people at the magazine don't care about Android users since the display in most Android browsers has been garbled since the first time I checked, a year or more ago but they were quick to jump on the iApple tablet bandwagon with a page optimized just for the iApple. Even the archives on DVD don't display properly when saved as a PDF since they're actually djvu files so I can say New Yorker hasn't exactly been technology-savvy or else they just want to keep selling dead-tree magazines even though they finally have a chance to ditch the paper, ink, and distribution/postage costs with a digital model if they could just embrace modern browsers and tablets.
Rob
Rob
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.
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.
Hey guys,
I've been wanting to snag an e-Ink based reader for quite sometime now. I have an iPad 3 and reading on it is a bit of a chore since its a bit heavy (with a case). I came across this Kobo Aura HD and decided to buy until I realized that the Nook Touch can be rooted and actual Android apps can be run on it.
I also have a ton of books on PDF, so how do the Nook and the Kobo (if any of you are aware about) handle them?
Is the Nook Touch worth getting over a high-rez e-Ink screen?
Also, where can I get the Nook Touch online?
Thanks in Anticipation.
I have a Nook Simple Touch that I read on all the time. I rooted it a couple of days before its warranty expired. Honestly, I don't really run any Android apps on it. I have 5 or 10 installed including Kindle and coolreader and pageturner. I always end up using the stock reader. I have been able to make some modifications using root that allow the Nook to work more to my preferences, but as far as running Android apps, I will take my wife's Nexus 7 every time, or even my Driod 4. If you have an iPad already, I personally would look at the Aura HD or a Kindle Paperwhite depending on the funds you have available. My Nook is not a glowlight and I do wish it had the built in front light. As for a "HD" screen, my personal opinion is that they are very nice, but honestly, my NST has sharper text than most printed books so I am not sure if the higher resolution is necessary. Now, with regard to your PDF books, if they are basically text with few or no graphics, I believe that most e-readers will handle those. If they are graphics intensive, like technical manuals, then I would wait until I see reviews of the Aura HD to make a decision. I think most small e-readers and even "HD" tablets are too small to read graphics intensive PDFs.
If you are in the US, you can buy the Nook online at http://www.barnesandnoble.com
amjazz said:
Hey guys,
I've been wanting to snag an e-Ink based reader for quite sometime now. I have an iPad 3 and reading on it is a bit of a chore since its a bit heavy (with a case). I came across this Kobo Aura HD and decided to buy until I realized that the Nook Touch can be rooted and actual Android apps can be run on it.
I also have a ton of books on PDF, so how do the Nook and the Kobo (if any of you are aware about) handle them?
Is the Nook Touch worth getting over a high-rez e-Ink screen?
Also, where can I get the Nook Touch online?
Thanks in Anticipation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWBcvWuWw_w
[read the description]
The quality is poor, the sound is irrelevant. Still, it shows some of the PDF viewers in action using different screen refresh modes.
Main advantage of NST is good handling of badly converted PDF's or PDF's with lots of images/tables.
Most E-book reader try to perform a 'text reflow' on PDF's which means it converts them to text.
If the PDF is made from photographs, it's unreadable using 'reflow'.
The stock reader which is not shown in the video uses "text reflow" and is pretty good at converting to text.
If you want to buy NST outside of US try one of the British shops or Ebay
I use my NST for virtually all my ereading, the display resolution is very good and each battery charge lasts several weeks. I rooted it so that I can install and use better ereader (Mantano) and browser (Opera Mobile), plus a couple of news/weather apps (NPR, Weather Channel). I also love the fact (with a modded kernel) it can play audio via a USB audio adapter (although I have not yet found a working volume-control app so that I can listen using earphones).
digixmax said:
I use my NST for virtually all my ereading, the display resolution is very good and each battery charge lasts several weeks. I rooted it so that I can install and use better ereader (Mantano) and browser (Opera Mobile), plus a couple of news/weather apps (NPR, Weather Channel). I also love the fact (with a modded kernel) it can play audio via a USB audio adapter (although I have not yet found a working volume-control app so that I can listen using earphones).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried reassigning the page-turn buttons to volume up/down? That's what I did because most reading apps use the volume buttons to turn pages. When I press those reassigned buttons outside of a reading app, the volume bar pops up and lets me adjust it.
Here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18113297&postcount=4
The only question I have is if the factory reset by pressing the two bottom buttons at startup still works after this tweak.
LoopyDood said:
Have you tried reassigning the page-turn buttons to volume up/down? That's what I did because most reading apps use the volume buttons to turn pages. When I press those reassigned buttons outside of a reading app, the volume bar pops up and lets me adjust it.
Here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18113297&postcount=4
The only question I have is if the factory reset by pressing the two bottom buttons at startup still works after this tweak.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://nookdevs.com/Nook_Simple_Touch_restore_to_stock
Methods 2 and 3 work fine.
Just so everyone knows, the Kobo Aura HD can have Android installed on it! It's just Gingerbread 2.3.4 but man the hardware is way better than the Nook ST
So I recently rooted my nook using nook manager. However, I've been disappointed so far because I can't find a decent PDF app that allows zooming or scrolling.
I've already tried all the readers I could find via searchmarket or sideloading, I've got aldiko, ezpdf reader, temblast reader, and one just called reader. However none of them seem to allow zooming in or out, and if put in landscape mode everything is cut off and it only allows flipping pages, not scrolling. PDF's are simply unreadable. I just want to go into landscape mode and scroll regular, and zoom in or out if needed.
This guy seems scrolling and pinch zooming just fine with fastmode2 and APV, but I cannot find this "APV" app. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWBcvWuWw_w
I did find fastmode2 here - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=39529578&postcount=140&nocache=1&z=7383330913478812
Can anyone point me in the direction of this apk or any other good reader app that will work?
PS: I'm not quite sure if I should have used a different method for the root, since I've seen some others out there that use clockworkmod to flash a new kernel.
I use Orion for PDFs. It both scrolls and zooms in either aspect.
Edit: you need multi-touch enabled to pinch-zoom
Thanks for the reply finally got it to work, thanks to your suggestion and reading that you were using Latuk's kernel.
If anyone else is having issues, heres what I did.
I was already rooted with Nook Manager, and had installed the GApps attack package.
Then I ended up using clockworkmod to install Latuk's kernel.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=43212551&postcount=164
For some reason it would simply fail to install giving me an error. I installed this 176 kernel first.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=35049488&postcount=93
Then installed Latuk's kernel.
I still did not have pinch zoom in any of my pdf readers (I had installed all the ones I could find, but apk's that work seem scarce). Luckily the recommendation for Orion viewer was a good one. Used the search market app to install it. Now I can put it in landscape, scroll, and zoom. Win!