WikiReader - first impressions

[Sean Moss-Pultz]

On Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 4:38 AM, Torfinn Ingolfsen <tingox at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 3:55 PM, Sean Moss-Pultz <sean at openmoko.com>wrote:
>
>>
>> Are you running the latest kernel? (The way to tell is if you have
>> kinetic scrolling, yes == latest kernel)
>>
>
> I am running whatever version the device was delivered with.
> It doesn't look like scrolling is kinetic.
>

Great. Then you can be even more impressed when you upgrade :)


>
>
>>
>> http://cloud.github.com/downloads/wikireader/wikireader/kernel-2009-10-30.zip
>>
>>  You can hold down the backspace key. It will delete the word extremely
>> fast. We're working on a few minor UI changes for the next release.
>> Clear will be more obvious
>>
>
> I really hope you will implement a "clear" button - one button press is
> faster than holding down the backspace key, IMHO.
>

We on the same page...


>  We didn't want to add another button. We might use left to right
>> swipes in a later release. Not sure yet...
>>
>
> Swipes might work.
>
> It doesn't have to be a physical button - how about using a corner of the
> screen for that purpose?
> Not really sure it would work - if I am right handed, I will use the thumb
> of my right hand to scroll on the right side of the screen, and a button on
> the lower left corner of the screen wouldn't interfere. However, if a left
> handed person used the device, he or she might use the left side of the
> screen to scroll. Hmm, this idea needs more thinking.
>

Good idea. We'll try this out.


>  > Annoyances:
>> > - it is impossible (for me at least) to take out the microSD card
>> without using a tool (pliers or something). Why do I want to take it out? To
>> actually show people the small size of a Wikipedia database. :-)
>>
>> Push it in and it will pop out (beware it will *really* pop sometimes)
>>
>
> Not on mine. I have tried - it never pos out. I also tried shakking the
> device - no, the card doesn't want to come out. My workaround is a handle
> made of tape - see my other post.
> Without that, I need something that can grab the cardon the sides - my
> fingers / nails doesn't fit in there (ok, I can do it, but it takes almost a
> minute, and a lot of cursing :-) ).
>

You might laugh but I think you have the break it in a bit. Mine was firm
the first 10 pushes or so. Now it's pop outs like crazy.


>
>> > - the buttons on the on screen keyboard is a bit small for my fingers
>> (it is easy to press the character left or right of the one I want). I don't
>> know how to solve this yet.
>>
>> Software. If you've used an iPhone, the keypad is 70% of WikiReader's
>> size. And typing is a lot better. So just bear with us. We're working
>> on this big time.
>>
>
> Cool. I never have used an iPhone - I have a FreeRunner (and a 1973).
> FWIW, I had this idea about the keyboard: if nothing else works, you could
> always "split" the keyboard in a left and a right half, and only show one
> half at a time (with a button to switch to the other half). Not ideal, but
> then the buttons could be almost twice as wide.
>

I think we can get the keypad great. It's just going to take another
release.

  Sean
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