HTC HD2 to get eBooks?
February 7th, 2010 | 
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Some interesting things are occurring in the HD2 ROMs!
In some of the latest ROMs (2.05 and 2.07 have it) HTC have added an eBook reader built in to manila in much the same way as the documents tab.
There’s also apparently a torch application (though I’ve not found any screenshots yet).
Maybe HTC are feeling threatened by the iPad (I highly doubt that) or they’ve just seen a new revenue stream, and a way to make the HD2 even better than it is already! Either way, this is looking good!
If anyone out there happens to have either the 2.05 or the 2.07 ROMs, shoot us a message, and I’ll add this stuff into the WMPU HD2 ROM!
Via 3gin.net.
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If anyone knows where to get the ROMs PLEASE post.
eBooks on this thing are going to suck worse than they will on the iPad… backlit LCD, small screen size, battery life/controls not optimized for reading long books, etc.
Seriously, I hate how they're all moving to combine eReaders with phones and media players and whatever they can, like how phones and PDAs morphed to become the smartphone early in the 2000s. Except mixing eReaders with other devices doesn't work, because an eReader is very specialized in its easy-on-the-eyes screen and everything being geared to reading books and nothing else. I mean, I think people are having a hard enough time moving from traditional books to eBooks on eReaders designed specifically for reading… let alone moving from reading traditional books to reading books on a colour computer monitor.
Except for the iPad… that piece of junk will still sell even though it's about as good at reading eBooks as my home theater PC hooked up to a 42 inch LCD (i.e. not good at all). And funny thing is, since the iPad was announced, it's pretty much resulted in most eBooks going from $9.99 to $14.99 on Amazon's Kindle store thanks to Apple – makes my head spin why so many consumers revere Apple when Apple treats them like absolute dogs.
Anyway, thankfully since leaving university I haven't had the desire to read in any capacity, even purely for my own enjoyment. So I can thankfully sit back and let this impending eBook BS run its course… and even if I was a reader, I'd probably stick with traditional books. Whatever is the problem with them? Sure, with an eReader you can carry thousands of books at a time, but unlike an MP3 player which allowed you to take your whole music with you and at better quality than a tape or many CDs, an eReader is definitely a worse experience in my mind than reading a paperback other than the size and weight of old books.
Foamy Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 4:32 am
Have you tried reading on the HD2? i thought it would really suck but i tried reading something on acrobat with reflow and it's fantastic. I've red several books on there now.
Foamy Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 4:32 am
Have you tried reading on the HD2? i thought it would really suck but i tried reading something on acrobat with reflow and it's fantastic. I've red several books on there now.
I prefer books to ereaders, it's cheaper and I don't need power, though I can see the advantage in being able to read a little bit on a single device without having to carry an ebook reader. For prolonged reading, an LCD is crap.
With ereaders, the battery life of most of them is less than the length of the book, so that doesn't make sense to me.
As far as I'm concerned, dedicated ereaders are dying (and will probably be replaced by real books).
I've been reading books on my PPC since I had a Loox 720. It was great, so was the Touch HD, and the HD2 is even better because of the screen size.
I've read for hours and hours and never had eye-strain.
I get the impression that the people here slagging off e-readers haven't actually tried them.
Same kind of thing people were saying when CDs came out. Vinyl sounds so much richer! Valves sound so much better than transistors.
I won't be paying the ridiculous prices they're charging though. Charging the same for an e-book as for a hardback is disgusting. Rather than learning from the mistakes of the music industry they've decided to repeat them.
fards Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
I agree entirely..
try reading a paper book in bed with the lights off, then do the same thing with an ebook..
I know which I prefer..
Much less likely to get moaned at for A) having the light on B) making so much bloody noise rustling paper!
I suspect most of the anti-ebook people don't share a bed with another
Jos Dewey Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
You obviously didn't buy a Snuggie, because you get that awesome reading lamp which is basically even cooler than the Snuggie itself.
Jos Dewey Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
You obviously didn't buy a Snuggie, because you get that awesome reading lamp which is basically even cooler than the Snuggie itself.
fards Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
I agree entirely..
try reading a paper book in bed with the lights off, then do the same thing with an ebook..
I know which I prefer..
Much less likely to get moaned at for A) having the light on B) making so much bloody noise rustling paper!
I suspect most of the anti-ebook people don't share a bed with another
Torchbutton can be downloaded from xda-developers here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=...
Thanks to NetRipper! I would definitely enjoy this ebook tab on my HD2, the resolution + screen size makes reading very nice so I'm curious when these new official roms will come out. Will keep my eyes open!
About the torch application: it is the same as on the screenshots of this custom rom:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=52...
I've tried it on the chinese custom 2.07 based rom and it's very nice. A touch on the screen switches between: off/on/very bright.
One, its still a phone and dont loose sight of that. So if your phone can all of a sudden read books, what is there to complain about? At least it can instead of cant…
hope to have this new rom also into the italian version of the hd2! http://bit.ly/d7IDep
I have read lots of books on my Axim PDA – when I am away form home. Certainly I prefer a good book when sitting in an armchair, but it is great to have books available whenever you want them. I find the HD2 quite good for reading, although it took me a while to work out how to turn pages in MS Reader with it. Which reader will be on the HD2 rom? You can download the actual readers for free anyway.
i got experia x1 and i been reading books on it using some free reader call Freda , got to say it is way better than carrying 10 books around.