e.Digital Corporation (fka EDIG)

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PSION REVIEW EBook 2.2

Reviewer: Brian Higgs
Posted: 4/3/01
http://www.geek.com/hwswrev/psion/ebook/index.htm

At A Glance
Description Excellent etext reader for the Psion with the ability to read a variety of formats, including TCR, .txt, Psion Word, and Aportis doc files, both prc and pdb.
Highlights Can read almost any type of text file there is, especially for the Palm and Psion handhelds; very fast in displaying new pages, forwards or backwards, even with larger documents; scroll bar navigation, auto scroll, bookmarks management, and copy file to clipboard capability
Lowlights Does not highlight a found word or phrase--you have to search the displayed screen for the searched item; display choices are only Horizontal and Vertical, with no option to change the vertical from right to left
Manufacturer Simon Quinn

Location http://www.geocities.com/ebookepoc/
Size The EBook folder takes approximately 94 KB of disk space and the program approximately 110 KB of system memory when running.
Price 10 UK pounds


Installation
Installation was, as always, straightforward and flawless. Copy the Zip file to the Psion, unzip it, and run the .sis file. Of course, you can use either the Mac or the PC, with the appropriate software, to install the unzipped .sis file for you, right from your respective desktop. An icon appears in the Extras bar--just click on it and away you go.

Running the program
EBook comes with an EPOC recognizer (on ER5 machines). Because of this, files that have the appropriate extension(s) will show up with the EBook icon and can be double-tapped or started with the Return key. EBook can also be started from the Extras menu or you can go directly to the Sys/Apps/Ebook folder and start it from there. If it is the first time you have used EBook then it will ask you to navigate to the file you wish to open.

New to this particular version is the option of choosing from one of the last 5 files that EBook has recently opened. This is nice because you typically have a couple of files that you may want to go back and forth between and now you do not have to navigate with the Open browser to find them. You can do it nice and quick from within the program itself.


Tools menu with Autoscroll

Once opened you can move through the file by way of the scroll bar, which gives you a visual idea of how far into the document you are. You can also use the arrow keys to move one line at a time or hit the Return key or the space bar to move a page at a time. Another way to move a page at a time is to touch either the last or the first 25% of the screen. And last but not least there is auto scrolling. In the General Preferences menu you can choose a time interval at which the program will scroll the text all by itself--you never have to touch a thing, just keep on reading. Your choices, in terms of time, are from 1 second to 10 seconds before the program moves the text down a line. This is a very nice hands-free feature that I have used many a time while eating, not wanting to touch the computer at all while I was doing so.


Vertical mode
(all pictures are courtesy of Simon Quinn's www.geocities.com/ebookepoc/ site)

The other nice thing I like about EBook is the ability to view the text in vertical mode. With the physical shape of the Revo being what it is, it fits my hand perfectly and is just like reading a small novel. The very first version of this program did not have this capability but it is nice to know that Simon is upgrading this program all the time and making it better with each new version.

The other feature that I have used is the copy and paste feature. It allows you to extract all or some of a document and paste it into a format or save it into a format that you can then print or save to your desktop, where you can edit and/or print.

Not that I am encouraging any level of copyright infringement, but there were times when I found a document in one of the Palm or Psion formats and wanted to print it out for myself so I could have a copy of it for future reference. However, I couldn't do it because the files were compressed and the readers did not and still do not have the ability to print from within themselves. EBook's copy and paste feature gets us around this.


Bookmarks window

A nice way to keep track of where you are or want to go to in a document is to use bookmarks. EBook looks for any bookmarks when the file is opened and allows you to set bookmarks for your own use. The help file says that a maximum of 80 bookmarks is available to the user. This should satisfy most of us.

When reading a doc made especially for the Psion, like Handheldcrime editions, you can jump to the various chapters by viewing the bookmark window and choosing the chapter you want to read. Of course, you can also bookmark particular passages yourself for future reference.

Unless you stipulate otherwise the program will save your place in the document when you quit out of it so that you may pick up right where you left off. Not having to remember where you were and then manually scroll down and find the place where you last stopped reading is very nice.

The ability to find words or phrases is quite a handy thing to have, especially if you are looking for something in particular and it is in a rather large document. EBook can do this with relative ease, forwards or backwards. It just does not highlight the serched item for you on the displayed page--you have to look for the word or phrase yourself. If it were to highlight the searched item that would speed things up a bit.

Rating Defense
For Quality, I give Simon Quinn's EBook (version 2.2) 5 Geekheads. I would have to say that this is one of the "must have programs" that anyone should consider having on his or her Psion. The quality is outstanding and the technological advances Simon is slowly adding will only make this a stronger and even more useful application. There is little or nothing wrong with the newest version of EBook. If you bear in mind that Simon has released a number of versions of this program in the last year alone, it stands to reason that it will only get better with time. My favorite parts were that it:

runs very fast, displaying new pages as fast as I could look up to the top of the page.
remembers where I was and displays paragraphing properly.
never corrupts the document and has the capability to display fonts other than EPOC ones, even from other languages.
As for Geekness, I give EBook 4 Geekheads. I think that the ability to read compressed and non-compressed text files for both Psion and Palm platforms is a major accomplishment. It is backwards-compatible with the .tcr file extension, which was used on the Series 3 Psions, thus opening up a vast array of ebooks for us to read. What with its many options and preferences, EBook is a major bit of work technically speaking.

Simon Quinn's EBook v2.2 gets a Geek.com Pick.