Comments on: Txtr e-reader: No vaporware if you go by this demo? I’m optimistic

By: rjh

rjh — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 23:07:15 +0000

Are all the input areas capacitive, ie, are there no physical switches?

I ask because page turn keys get quite a lot of use and I’m starting to find some keys on my BeBook feel like they are deteriorating.

Txtr looks great in the demo, good work guys.

By: Felix Torres

Felix Torres — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:11:18 +0000

Using an on-screen keyboard is fine. Nobody is going to be writing a novel with the thing, after all.
Just one query/request; paging won’t depend on swipes, I trust? Simple presses in a user designated spot would be optimum for reader immersion.
Also, while lots of supported formats is good in principle, less formats with deep/flexible user typography control on all is preferable to lots of supported formats with poor presentation controls. (Hint: true type font support in many sizes is good.)

Looks like your hardware designers have the right idea; now its up to the software folks to match them.
Looking forward to the product’s release.

By: Joscha

Joscha — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:58:10 +0000

Text input will happen through the slider interface, which is less convenient than through a keyboard (more like T9, in fact). The decision was made after we found that we rarely used the keyboard on our test Kindles…

By: Spencer

Spencer — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:29:11 +0000

“and we omitted the keyboard in favor of a touch solution” – Joscha

So there are note taking capabilities and Search Functions?

“to make the device much more compact. Also, we have built an accelerometer into the device, so you can use it left- or right-handed, or in portrait mode.” – Joscha

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Please, get them to America quickly. I buy! I buy!

By: HeavyG

HeavyG — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:26:24 +0000

“How about Textra?”

If they rename it to that do you promise to not title a future blog post about it:

“Textra, Textra, read all about it!!”

By: Joscha

Joscha — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:16:38 +0000

Let me try to answer your points:

First of all, the txtr reader is definitively no vaporware (although the Techcrunch article was funny). eBooks are a hot topic in Germany, too, and we currently get a lot of local press coverage. (More info and a spec sheet is on http://reader.txtr.com)

As you can perhaps see in the video, page switching is slightly faster than on the Kindle2, and we omitted the keyboard in favor of a touch solution, to make the device much more compact. Also, we have built an accelerometer into the device, so you can use it left- or right-handed, or in portrait mode.

We are going to keep the device as open as possible; if you like, you can write your own applications for it (runs on Linux and will have a built-in Python interpreter).

The name “txtr” stems from our online platform. It is pronounced “texter”, and we are quite happy with it, because it makes for short document URLs. We have pondered many names for the device:
— “What about ‘Napalm’, folks? Our answer to the Kindle…”
— “Aargh. No, let’s call it ‘txtr rdr’ instead!”
— “But, but – we could call the firmware ‘NapalmOS’!”
— “Forget it. Let’s use the name of some important German thinker. Someone without Umlauts and who was no Nazi.”
— “‘Heine’ is taken, that’s a publisher. What about ‘Kant’?”
— “Can’t use that in English, man! American TV would change the name into ‘Beep book’…”

Eventually, we stuck with “txtr reader”, for the time being. A lot better than, say, “PRS-505″, no?