Mobipocket Releases 4.9, and 5.0 Enters Beta

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.mobipocket.com/dev/beta/windowsmobile.asp?ID=1' target='_blank'>http://www.mobipocket.com/dev/beta/...mobile.asp?ID=1</a><br /><br /></div>If you're a Mobipocket Reader, some interesting updates are coming up. First off is the new 4.9, which is a minor point release -- several bugs have been fixed, and you can get that version <a href="http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/DownLoadReaderStep1.asp">here</a>. However, PPCT reader hishamh noticed something far more interesting: a Mobipocket 5.0 beta release, with full VGA support, a revamped UI, and lots of other features.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20050626-Mobipocket5.0.jpg" /><br /><br />Officially VGA-designed ebook readers are few and far in between, so this is a very promising step. If any of you give it a shot, let us know how well it works.

[CESkins]

v5 beta is a big leap forward for the MobiPocket Reader. The interface has been refined and many options that help speed up finding the book of interest have been added. Will definitely be on my update list once its out of beta. Will continue to use the beta in the interim as vs 4.9 still doesn't appear to work at VGA resolutions w/o a hack on my Loox 720.

[TheWolfen]

I'm very happy to see VGA support. I've been using eReader Pro up to now so I could get it, but the palm doc format doesn't usually handle graphics as well as the Mobipocket format. There is one major change I don't like - they've changed the color palette available for the background and eliminated black (and other dark colors). I really prefer white text on a black background. Hopefully they'll listen to the suggestion I made and put that choice back in.

[yildi]

I have installed the beta on my hx4700 (I have been asking for the VGA support for some time!) and I am now doing a hard reset :-( I have first tried to eliminate the problem by uninstalling MPR5 (safemode allows me to do it even if my PPC was blocking during the boot!) but this has not solved the problem. I have tried to reinstall the version 4.9 using the same trick (safemode) but again, this was helpless. So the pleasure of a HR... Fortunately, I have a very recent backup!

MY

[yildi]

Well, after a HR and a restore, I have done another trial with this beta and I doubt my preceding judgement. I have stability problems with my HX4700 since the weather became very hot at my city... I have let it to cool down (mainly stop charging it) and it became stable again. This new version is very promising; it is much more usable and beatiful on the screen. I regret that mobipocket does not give a full control on the character sizes (you just use a cursor to choose between a given set of sizes). This was problem for the last version, it continues to be a problem under the new version :(
But an overally nice version!

Murat

[zilla31]

i noticed there is only a cab install for the beta - will this run off a mem card like the prev version?

[Nurhisham Hussein]

I'm very happy to see VGA support. I've been using eReader Pro up to now so I could get it, but the palm doc format doesn't usually handle graphics as well as the Mobipocket format. There is one major change I don't like - they've changed the color palette available for the background and eliminated black (and other dark colors). I really prefer white text on a black background. Hopefully they'll listen to the suggestion I made and put that choice back in.

They must have been listening to you, build 458 released today with the following improvements:

* A bug which caused the Beta Version to expire just after the installation has been fixed.
* The large tables and the entries in an index view will now be scrollable as in previous versions.
* Select boxes in forms will now have an arrow icon and a scrollbar if needed as in previous versions.
* Input boxes will now be displayed again in forms.
* A bug which caused the progress bar to disappear when opening the Options window has been fixed.
* The alignement of text, images, table cells, etc. will now work correctly.
* The black color has been reinserted in the background setting colorpicker.

@zilla31

Try using cabinstl:

http://www.geocities.com/s_k_s_k_s_kru/util.html#ci

[TheWolfen]

That's great!! Thanks for letting me know - I'll go reinstall right now! Maybe I'll be able to switch back after all.