I'm thinking of getting a Nook Touch, mostly for reading but also for a certain amount of web browsing (reading articles, e.g. NYT, not graphics). I stopped by B&N and played with the NT a bit, and scrolling web pages is a real pain -- hit and miss, and mostly miss. Maybe there's a secret trick for scrolling webpages that I don't know about, or it is a lost cause? What about alternative browsers? e.g. are there browsers that make use of the hardware buttons to advance/backtrack pages?
Thanks!
case-sensitive,
I have used the official browser for like 5 minutes. After rooting, opera mini became my browsing friend. You have to slide your finger up/down like an inch or so (2-3 cm for SI people) to scroll up/down page. More than that is more likely to take you to the bottom of the page. As you said, its a hit or miss, but with proper technique is more hit than miss.
And if you understand it, tweaking the screen refresh (instructions here) can help a little as it can make the device more responsive especially in web browsers)
Related
I like my HTC Touch Diamond very much, but in daily internet browsing I face these two annoyances and hopefully more of you experience the same.
1. Despite that Opera's main windows does excellent smooth scrolling/sliding, I find the bookmark window to be underwhelmingly useless. Compare its usability with the TouchFLO 3D internet tab where the bookmarks are also displayed.
In Opera, you get:
- a small font
- tiny icons
- no URL display (enough room for that!)
- extremely bad scrolling behaviour
What is Opera doing wrong here?
2. Another matter for me is the "Full QWERTY keyboard". For me, typing goes fastest in this one, except for the leftmost keys/letters. I *always* miss the 'a' and end up typing an 's' instead. They should have made some extra space around these buttons! The keyboard also uses up a lot of screen space and often covers the textbox I am editing. Why was it not made transparent?
Anyone that knows a hack to circumvent one or more of these issues?
Ditto here; Opera's bookmark organisation and usage is rubbish... is there any way to get a tiered folder system or mode like Firefox or IE? Bizarre that something so simple can let down an otherwise great browser.
Kind of agree about the keyboard, a's were a problem for me at first, but I've now mastered the art of getting them, and am almost at 100% with them now. Keyboard covering the screen too is a pain, but I'm learning to live with that one... reckon it will be a tough nut to crack.
Anybody know of an ebook reader for Windows Mobile 6.1 that you can scroll with a touch interface, like how Opera pages down on a web page?
Altough MobiPocket Reader hasn't finger scrolling feature,but it has feature of auto-scrolling,so you don't need to do anything while reading.
All reader
The soft Allreader+ do it and even in full screen mode
Ok - thanks for the suggestions - I've tried the Allsoft+ reader, and mobipocket.
Both have some nice features, but neither one lets you flick your finger to slide pages up and down like Opera works, or like the iPhone works with various pages. Allsoft+ has some great features, but not ones I'd be willing to pay that much money for when Haali Reader provides them for free.
I've been a long time Haali Reader user -- but unfortunately the AT&T Fuze doesn't have a scroll wheel, and the DPAD is kind of awkward to use for hours of reading. I may go with Mobipocket (free), and see if I can get used to tapping the screen to advance the page, unless somebody knows of another one.
Which Mobipocket reader version do you use? They haven't released one for WM6.1.
BigFeat said:
Which Mobipocket reader version do you use? They haven't released one for WM6.1.
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I am using v5.3 build582 on my Smartphones and that's working also on TP. For PPC I think is the same version(I have deleted my installcab accidentialy). It was working perfectly(till hardreset from different purposes).
I use mobipocket, and it's got a lot of bugs on the Fuze, mainly with pagination (it had problems with my previous device, but it's much worse with the fuze). I use GScroll, and it works nicely to scroll pages. If you just scratch downward on the bottom pad, you go forward a page. If you scratch upward, you either go back 1 page, or like 50, which is annoying as crap. Bookmarking your last page read is very important. Whenever your turn off the device, or close and re-open the application, for whatever reason, mobipocket has trouble figuring out what the previous page is. It's very easy to accidentally scratch the bottom pad upward, and then you'll shoot backwards anywhere from 10-50 pages. If you look at the progress bar, it'll say you just went back a page, but that's not so. Mobipocket has a lot of problem with pagination anyway, but this is really annoying.
I haven't tried ereader yet, but it does a much better job of pagination, in my opinion (it's nice to know how many pages you've read, and how many are left-you're pretty much in the dark with mobi). The bummer with ereader is that it doesn't have a full screen mode (unless it's been updated). With the small screen of the fuze, full-screen is important. It also looks a helluva lot better.
Edit: I should add, you can also use the d-pad to go forward and backward, but it's not as cool as using GScroll, and it doesn't alleviate the annoying pagination problems.
Yes,you're right. The last page made me angry all the time. Anyway on Smartphone it is everything correct and I have no alternative against. Maybe the SP version on PPC would work better,just try.
would very much like a decent ebook reader
mobipocket is impossible on touch HD
it is a bit odd that the ebook software market seems so undeveloped
maybe just not many people read books!?!
cheers
Does Gscroll work on the HD? I'd at least demo it (mobilesrc.com)-it's only live 5 min, but you'll see if you can scroll forward with it.
You can touch the page in Mobipocket to change pages...it's in the options.
yea a good ebook reader with finger swipe scrolling and zoom would be great.
uBook and Mobipocket both support touch scrolling, but not swiping. You just touch the screen and it changes the page. Both are excellent readers, but uBook requires a lot of messing around with it's options.
allreader +
allreader+ with gscroll is the best team
there is even a zoom
and more, you can switch from black text on white paper to white text on black paper and it's a bless when I read at night
alonroz said:
uBook and Mobipocket both support touch scrolling, but not swiping. You just touch the screen and it changes the page. Both are excellent readers, but uBook requires a lot of messing around with it's options.
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The only problem with tapping the screen to turn pages is that (at least with mobi) you usually have to tap a part of the screen where there are no words, otherwise you bring up the pop-up menu or you accidentally highlight text. If you hit a page with no paragraph breaks, it gets a little tricky and is annoying. Gscroll is totally the way to go.
any news of a new touch ebook reader (like this here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N-QsuGD4a4 ) Mobipocket isn't so good on an Windows Mobile phone without d-pad....
New touch program for reading ebooks
Hi,
I have just released a program that does what you want. See http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=4894085.
Let me know how you get on.
Cheers,
Jim
Check out iSilo. you can scroll up and down sliding the finger over the screen. Not sure if that is what you want...
I have read many books this year on Allreader+ and I love it. The night theme is great, the autoscroll is also great, and tap to change pages is much nicer than having to flick across the screen. Honestly the less effort to change pages, the better. You have to change pages a lot when reading on a small screen.
The only thing that Allreader+ lacks that I really wish it had is quick inline text editing for all those pesky errors from OCR. I could correct it and then next time I read the book it would be right.
Yeah Allreader+ was my favourite ebook reader until i found someone developed a speed reading app in the XDA Dev and hacking section.
The app is called wordstreamer and its all i use now to read on my pro!
Guys and Gals,
I have been testing for the last 48 hours the lovely Iris browser on my Touch HD and I must say this is the best browsing experience I have ever seen for Windows Mobile.
Those who know me know I am extremely anti-Apple but I must say that internet experience on the damned iPhone is fabulous.
Well, Iris is almost there. It features the same rendering engine used in the Safari for the iPhone. You can tell that as soon as you start using it.
The page renders so clearly and it follows your finger so easily that the only thing really missing is the multitouch feature (did anyone say anything about the HD having the hardware for that already?)
I think we all must support it and leave Opera as a second option for now. All these browsers out there seem to be still quite experimental, we'd better stick to the one which - while working - gives us the best possible experience. I vote for Iris.
Chefs: The software is free for non commercial use, please let's embed it to your cooked roms.
Everyone else: Let's give it a go, download the CAB and install and see what I'm talking about.
Download Iris Browser from the developer's web site www.torchmobile.com
Moderators: just occurred to me this post could be better on another sub-forum. Feel free to move. ;-)
BTW: I don't work for them. I used to work for the Carphone Warehouse and I am currently unemployed.
Hi,
interesting !
I have test it, on two site I use a lot :
www.clubic.com
gmail.com
I can say performance sucks, sorry
the page take a lot more time to load comparing to opera, and navigation on page it really slow, nearly unusable !
the text on zoom, doesn't fit automatically the screen for reading, so need to move and move, and it's slow, no really funny.
the rotation doesn't work, you can only stay in portrait,
well it's a beta 3, need more work to make it good, but it's a good start.
I hope for now cooker don't use it as defaut, opera is far from this browser in term of functionality.
see ya
mate, that is so not true.
performance doesn't suck. it's the best i've seen so far.
i think youre being a bit exaggerated when saying about the delay and nearly unusable. i didn't want to mention opera's flaws but the navigation in it is far from being good and the crashing problem is the worst thing since the invention of Internet Explorer.
the reason i went after another browser was that i was sick of resetting my phone when trying to use opera.
the text on zoom won't fit the screen perfectly on opera either. it's very likely to overflow or just appear misplaced as if opera had missed the target when zooming in.
the difference in this point is that iris has got such clearer picture that it's much easier to read even very tiny letters also it moves smoothly with your finger unlike opera all crispy as if it was made on java for an old 256 colour screen Ericsson phone.
i just love the effects: when you open a page on a new tab, it falls like a gate and bumps. when you click on a link (to open a link you have to click on it for a second - this should be faster) it moves like you just punched it and it's so cool the fading effect between pages... just a few nice things.
all good and well, but is there flash support????
ie6 now has flash support, but the browser itself is crappy as hell!!!!! And opera keeps refusing to support flash...... sigh.....
SlakerBoi said:
mate, that is so not true.
performance doesn't suck. it's the best i've seen so far.
i think youre being a bit exaggerated when saying about the delay and nearly unusable. i didn't want to mention opera's flaws but the navigation in it is far from being good and the crashing problem is the worst thing since the invention of Internet Explorer.
the reason i went after another browser was that i was sick of resetting my phone when trying to use opera.
the text on zoom won't fit the screen perfectly on opera either. it's very likely to overflow or just appear misplaced as if opera had missed the target when zooming in.
the difference in this point is that iris has got such clearer picture that it's much easier to read even very tiny letters also it moves smoothly with your finger unlike opera all crispy as if it was made on java for an old 256 colour screen Ericsson phone.
i just love the effects: when you open a page on a new tab, it falls like a gate and bumps. when you click on a link (to open a link you have to click on it for a second - this should be faster) it moves like you just punched it and it's so cool the fading effect between pages... just a few nice things.
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Well, I use opera on dutty's rom, which is the most advanced version of opera
never crash, speed excellent, highly smooth and fast
zoom excellent, can read anything quickly without any prob
I have just test 2 site, and this too one, take a lot of time on this. Perhaps I need extra conf
I will test it more to see
effect is nice of course, but it's best to keep "better" reading experience without scrolling, it's more functional
so, it's just my filling, I will test it more
thanks of course for info, nice to see opera monopol on mobile isn't true
Lots of potential
Hi mate thanks for link to the browser.
I like it... it has alot of potential even though its in beta it is showing alot of promise.
It is nice, reasonably fluid and renders pretty well... although I must say rendering engine does need some tweaking feels a little rocky still.
Transition from page to page is cool as it fades but again FPS seems a little laggy.
the second view when navigating with finger takes a little while to show the page as mini view it seems to load slowly on some some complex pages which shoudn'y really be the case as all it needs to do is load a snapshot of the actual page.
Dont get me wrong this is constructive feedback - I like it alot.
Some small UI tweaks, speed improvements, fix the secondary navigation snapshot so its instant rather loading like googlemaps then add Flash support and i think it could well be a contender (even winner) against Opera etc.
CutePinkSox said:
Hi mate thanks for link to the browser.
I like it... it has alot of potential even though its in beta it is showing alot of promise.
It is nice, reasonably fluid and renders pretty well... although I must say rendering engine does need some tweaking feels a little rocky still.
Transition from page to page is cool as it fades but again FPS seems a little laggy.
the second view when navigating with finger takes a little while to show the page as mini view it seems to load slowly on some some complex pages which shoudn'y really be the case as all it needs to do is load a snapshot of the actual page.
Dont get me wrong this is constructive feedback - I like it alot.
Some small UI tweaks, speed improvements, fix the secondary navigation snapshot so its instant rather loading like googlemaps then add Flash support and i think it could well be a contender (even winner) against Opera etc.
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totally agree!
i think the more users it has now the best it will be in the future and this forum is a great place to start cause everyone here seems to help a lot when it comes to tweaking apps, making them more popular. I really think Iris is the one, not just yet, but it's got what it takes, just need a little bit of improvement.
anyway, i found it better do disable the page overview thing. have used that on netfront before and found it to make the browsing experience a bit confusing. wouldn't know where to look at to find what i was after...
have you seen how it displays your bookmarks? it is in a cover flow style. not with the full cover flow experience but still easier to find what you looking for than just a list of sites.
Seems like a nice competition for ie6 but for me I like opera far better than this one, I know this is beta, but this had nothing to show for me.
It failed to draw few sites properly that I tried, used desktop mode and I setup it like it should be. First thing I dislike is that it puts itself into Startmenu without notice, second is that it is like IE6 or skyfire so that you have to press few places to write address into a small area, third is that it loaded page very slowly when compared to opera.
Loads stuff in wrong order or something, pictures before css and html.
Might be better later when more work has been done for it.
Kinda like skyfire this was, good but nothing special to show.
edit: one good thing though, mouse cursor. Seen it before so not new.
all in all not bad but not as good as opera for rendering graphics. Here are 2 screenshots of it rendering my website (www.swampthing.net) As you can see the logo for my site has a trnasparant background which renders correctly on opera (to the right) and incorrectly on Iris (to the left) The screen navigation is better than opera in my opinion but I would rather things look right then scroll faster I will keep my eye on this one though. Shows promise
Well, lets see Skyfire also shall we?
mallman said:
all in all not bad but not as good as opera for rendering graphics. Here are 2 screenshots of it rendering my website (www.swampthing.net) As you can see the logo for my site has a trnasparant background which renders correctly on opera (to the right) and incorrectly on Iris (to the left) The screen navigation is better than opera in my opinion but I would rather things look right then scroll faster I will keep my eye on this one though. Shows promise
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i noticed that when rendering png files too.
that's exact my point when it comes to iris, these guys managed to put on the first version some things opera took nine versions to never get. yes, iris is not flawless but it is very, very promising. by the final version it will be damn good.
sosojerk said:
Well, lets see Skyfire also shall we?
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the reason i avoid talking about skyfire is cause it's a browser which relies on their service to exist. if, in a very unlikely circumstance that they shut down you'll have a piece of completely useless software on your PDA. not mentioning it's not an original idea, microsoft tried that before with the now buried DeepFish (R.I.P.)
SlakerBoi said:
the reason i avoid talking about skyfire is cause it's a browser which relies on their service to exist. if, in a very unlikely circumstance that they shut down you'll have a piece of completely useless software on your PDA.
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LOL man, Opera does exactly the same. Both Opera and Skyfire pre-render websites through their proxies, the difference being that Opera is text-based and Skyfire is image-based.
That's why Opera loads slower and scrolls quickes (loads the whole text part of the website at once), while Skyfire loads quicker and scrolls slower (loads only the visible part as compressed image, google maps style).
Skyfire totally rocks because:
- is has full embedded video support out of the box
- desktop-like compatibility (online banking etc.)
- saves your bookmarks under your account so you never lose them
- file download
- feeds support
- customisable home page
They just released the latest beta 0.9.
HTC Touch HD unfortunately wont be able to enable Multitouch. It uses pressure to locate the point where you push. The iPhone or the Samsung F480 uses CMOS Sensors under the display and those work with the change in Resistance when you put your finger on the Screen! Thats why an iPhone doesnt work with a stylus! It works only with parts of a human body or anything that changes Resistance when made contact on the screen.
The Touchpad of a Laptop works with the same technology used in the iPhone!
dani31 said:
LOL man, Opera does exactly the same. Both Opera and Skyfire pre-render websites through their proxies,
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That's true for opera mini, but false for opera mobile. Look at http://www.whatismyip.com and you'll see from what proxy you connect to internet.
DarkWolve said:
HTC Touch HD unfortunately wont be able to enable Multitouch. It uses pressure to locate the point where you push. The iPhone or the Samsung F480 uses CMOS Sensors under the display and those work with the change in Resistance when you put your finger on the Screen! Thats why an iPhone doesnt work with a stylus! It works only with parts of a human body or anything that changes Resistance when made contact on the screen.
The Touchpad of a Laptop works with the same technology used in the iPhone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Close, the iPhone and touchpads measure capacitance, and in fact it is the Touch HD that works with resistance.
i am fairly new here but i have come to find this place to be the most helpful place on the net to get my HD2 running far better than the stock. I have come to have only one suggestion that i think could possibility make this place just a bit easier to navigate for us mobile internet users.... i have quite a bit of hassle trying to select the page numbers using my big fat fingers on this screen! now with opera 10 and its non finger zooming capabilities it is even worse. is any way that the font could be increased i would really appreciate it. or maybe just a big "next page" button at the end!
My suggestion,
Jyoti, hug me.
Opera Mobile 10 is absolutely terrible at detecting "clicks" on links. On average a text link will need to be tapped at least 10 times before it registers. Often the link will change color like it is being clicked but nothing happens. I'd suggest using the stylus but that is not an option on the HD2.
It really is pathetic how bad it is, especially considering Opera Mobile 9 and Opera Mini 5 detect link presses adequately. Still they pale in comparison to the Android default browser, which can accurately detect presses on tiny text links even on a fully zoomed out page.
She never hugs me. I don't know why. She used to, until she found out that i was keeping count ith my friends of how many hugs I could get a day. Then she stopped.
Is there a work around for this?
Basically, most web site that you visit to activate drop down boxes, the mouse hover function does this, as I am using my finger, I cant hover a mouse.... so the box snaps open and shut too quickly.
This is a problem in IE10 and affects the surface too I believe. Unfortunately we are stuck with IE10 on the device.... In IE9, it used to bring up a text box....
I spend quite a lot of time surfing, whilst travelling to work.... If this cant be fixed, soon, my phone will have to go back, as I believe it is not fit for purpose.
Other phones and in fact I-devices work around this. I think arrogantly, Micosoft believe that web developers should change their devices....:laugh::laugh:
On WP7 it usually works if I press and hold on the drop down, which opens the "copy url" dialog, then I tap elsewhere to get that to go away. The dropdown usually activates at this point.
You have to admit it is pretty dumb to have a dropdown menu be a link in of itself. There are a number of things besides touch devices that can't work with this correctly, and frankly it's just annoying because if the drop down delay is too long, I click it thinking it's like every desktop menu ever, and it brings me where I don't want to go. I don't know who thought it would be good to defy conventional wisdom and change up the way things work on the web vs in software.