yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] sensboston:
It's sounds great! BTW, fb2 image support isn't so hard (except inline images); could you fix it in next version?
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] :
Looking forward to a UI update, Freda is the most capable ebook reader but I always felt it was a step behind in terms of design. Any chance of overhauling the icon a little? It seemed rather low-res, and the splash screen felt like a quick resize job.

I know these things are super nitpicky, but I'd also love if Freda-Unfree dropped the dash.
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
The icon and splash screen will both get changed - hopefully an improvement.

I need to see what is possible in terms of changing the name of an app on the Marketplace. What I want to do is rename the paid-for version of the app to 'Freda Plus' (and the iconography is then the regular Freda 'f' with a + sign top left).
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] :
Sounds amazing, exactly what I've been waiting for! I'd be very interested in beta testing, may I PM you my Live ID and other details?
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Sure - or email me at jim@turnipsoft.co.uk .
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] pvt_nemesis:
I'm a big fan and longtime user of Freda, but sold out to Bookviser (& im sure in not the only one). Given this is free, you need to make sure the new Freda has an edge and that this is clearly detailed in release notes.

Sent from my HD7 using Board Express
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Fair point. My problem is that I'm not sure what features are important from that perspective. (after all, *I* am still a committed Freda user ;-) ). So you could help me there by answering the question:

What are the features that Bookviser has, that make it better than Freda? (and so presumably if Freda improved in those areas, you'd consider switching back)

Conversely, I think the advantages of Freda include:

Works properly with book sources that require cookie or digest authentication

Makes a decent stab at doing proper layout of text (based on CSS and XHTML info from the EPUB book)

Lets you store as many books as you like on your phone, and search by author/title

Allows you to customise layout and control gestures

But I don't know which features matter most to you - so again, I would welcome your feedback.
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] pvt_nemesis:
Sure! Glad to help... In BV I like; its very Metro styling, the quick menu tools (centre tap), very good online catalogue search. In F I love the animation, detailed appearance settings. Damn this is hard lol. F needs something extra; TTS? Speech page turn? Gimmicky I know... Any help?

Sent from my HD7 using Board Express
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Theseasonswither:
I'd love to join.

I don't know if I am too late to join the beta testing, but if not, I would love to give it a go. I just got my Lumia and this is hands down the best ebook reader I have found so far. :fingers-crossed:
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] irfanindian:
I agree that it's one of the best I've seen yet. Will look forward to a new version releasing soon!
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Alekim91:
i love this appls thanks u guy
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] tchoper:
Hi all

thanks to Jim for this app that I use for few months now.

Any idea when will be the final release ?
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Just started the second round of beta-testing. So far, there are no blocking bugs reported, so during the weekend I will start the Microsoft App Submission process (after all, I can always stop it, if someone finds a catastrophic problem during the beta testing). Assuming the update passes Microsoft's certification tests (this is not certain), that means the update probably rolls out to all users some time around 12th July.

If it's going to be very different from that, I'll post again with an update.
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Omnia7xdax:
Qestion,where are the books stored? I found with roottools 0.9 the destination of freda,but when i loaded a epub book by opera mini and copied it into applications/data/(number of freda)/(upperst folder)/(folder sth with cache,was the folder where the examplebook of jane austin was placed),but after launching freda the book wasn´t shown anyway,so where must i place the epubfile to read it?
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
It's not going to be at all easy to get Freda to pick up EPUB files from a folder in isolated storage, I'm afraid. Freda doesn't scan any particular folder to find EPUB files, and in order to keep track of which EPUB file belongs to any particular book, it relies on rows in a SQL database.

Files downloaded by Freda (including EPUB book files, but also pages of OPDS catalogs) are kept in a cache folder "Freda/Temp/!!fredacache/", but to know which cache file holds the contents of which book, you'd need to look in Freda's database ("FredaDBv25.sdf"). I'm not sure what it is you're aiming to accomplish, but I think it will be easier to just download the books using Freda's regular book source mechanism (particularly since the update coming in a few days will allow you to 'bulk download' all the books in some location - e.g. all the books in a certain SkyDrive folder).
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] GeekBoy:
having touble loading Smashword epub books

Hi Jim, Great App but running into some issues that I'm not sure I understand. Currently using the wp7 v2.5 version.

I'm attempting to load/read ePub books from Smashwords. These are free books. I've tried several methods all without success.

1) Have attempted to download after logging in to Smashwords. The download worked successfully but when I opened to read from the bookshelf I get (Sorry, we couldn't open the book etc ... message).

2) Have attempted to open directly from the source. The first time I got the circular loading animation (& even some numeric k indicator up to 300+k in the center briefly before disappearing) but then it just hangs with the load animation on screen. It never comes back.

3) Have downloaded to my PC from Smashwords website. Uploaded to SkyDrive and attempted to both download & open from SkyDrive but receive same as above.

So sometimes I get a stuck on the loading screen icon but most often get the "sorry, we couldn't open the book..." message.

Have attempted this on at least half-a-dozen Smashwords titles (all free) and experience the same with all.

I'm pretty sure these books from Smashwords are DRM-free. Is anyone else experiencing this behaviour? Is there something I'm missing here Jim?

Am a long time user of Freda but this is the first time I've attempted use of Smashwords and their content.

Have sent you a couple of emails with the log files if you wouldn't mind looking into.

cheers,

mick.
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
I just took a look at your log-files and tried downloading those two books from Smashwords myself. Both of them opened OK on my phone, so I don't have a quick answer for you.

Can I ask you do a few things for me (I'm posting here rather than simply emailing you because these things are generally good advice for anyone having issues with opening a book):

1) Please email me the EPUB files (possibly Smashwords is serving you a different version of the file that the one it's giving me, though I really can't see why it should do that!)

2) Please delete the book(s) from your bookshelf (long-tap the book on the bookshelf, and select 'delete'), to ensure you get a fresh download

3) Could you also check your encoding settings (on the 'settings/advanced' screen) - the settings I have (which worked for these books) include 'encoding=ISO-8859-1' and 'override encoding=no'.

Thanks,

Jim
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] GeekBoy:
Ahh, Cheers Jim.

Seems it was the encoding. I didn't think to check that.

I've been using "Unicode" since I read a lot of Word Docs that are formatted in HTML and are encoded/saved with Unicode. Originally when I moved from Freda WM 6.5 to WP 7.5 I believe the default was ISO-8859 but that didn't format my HTML documents very nicely so I had changed to Unicode.

Now what I've done though (and just tested) is changed Freda to encode with UTF8. That seems to be a happy medium. My HTML docs are formatted nicely for the most part and the Smashword ePub books are now loading & displaying correctly, though I dont' see page #'s.

No need to complete your recommended steps 1) & 2) I think. Thx.

Hope this helps anyone if they experience the same.

Looking forward to the new version Jim :)
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Freda v2.6 Update now published on Marketplace

Version 2.6 adds new features including:

Improved Metro-style appearance (including a jump-list view of the bookshelf)

FB2 format

Ability to backup and restore the bookshelf using SkyDrive

Better handling of CODE, PRE and DIV elements

Advertising no longer displayed on the main front screen

Bulk-download feature to get multiple books at once

Low-memory mode for better performance on low spec phones

Password lock

French, German, Swedish and Slovak UI localisation

Numerous stability and performance fixes

For more details, head over to http://www.turnipsoft.co.uk/freda , and to download the app, find it on Marketplace at http://windowsphone.com/s?appid=c1e312da-52d6-df11-a844-00237de2db9e . There is a video demo at http://youtu.be/tWFH8mkGZ3Y .
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] henry084:
Nice to see the update, I would like to know when "Freda-Chinese v2.6" will be available on the market.:p
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
If all goes well, it will be about one week.
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] sergtot:
problem

I set up the lightness level to 100%, but it is changing all the time.

:confused:Is it OK?
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Not quite sure what you mean here. I can think of two issues you might be experiencing:

1) Screen brightness changes depending on the level of lighting around you. This isn't a Freda setting at all - it's what you will see if the phone's brightness setting (Settings->Brightness from the main start sceen) is set to 'Automatically adjust'.

2) When you go to the Freda settings page, you find the brightness level (slider at the right of the main 'settings' screen) does not stay at 100%. That could happen because when you're touching that screen (for instance swiping left or right) you're inadvertently tapping on the brightness slider. I've fiddled around with different layouts for that screen, and with trying to customise the slider behaviour to avoid this problem - but without success so far. The work-around is just to keep your fingers clear of that part of the screen, unless you're actually trying to adjust the brightness.

I hope these comments are helpful - but if I have misunderstood, please post again to explain what's happening.

Thanks,

Jim
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] sergtot:
Sorry, that was the second case. I double checked.

Everything is OK.

Thank you for your answer! :good:

One little question: Is it possible to decrease the size of page number at the bottom of the screen or to make it the same as the size of time in the upper right conner? The size of my font is 25 and page number is much bigger. That doesn't look good.
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Well, it got to be the way it is because I decided the clock display should follow the phone's style (size and font) for displaying the clock, whereas the page number display follows the same style as book text. So it's logical, sort of. The app doesn't have any settings that let you change this behaviour - but I guess I could add such a setting. In a while, I will be surveying Freda users to see what changes they'd like to see to the program, and I will add this to the list.

Thanks, Jim
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] sergtot:
Thank you again.

"I will be surveying Freda users to see what changes they'd like to see to the program, and I will add this to the list." :fingers-crossed:
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] sensboston:
Jim, could you please add zipped .fb2 support (plain zip, file extension is .fb2.zip)?

Thanks!
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Did you try it? It should work already (and if it doesn't, please email me the example book that doesn't work).

Thanks,

Jim (jim@turnipsoft.co.uk)
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] sensboston:
I'm so sorry, it's a false report (my friend told me, he can't see Russian characters by opening zipped Russian fb2). Just tried, everithyng work as expected!

P.S. Could you please make a long filenames in the list (DropBox etc.) vertically aligned to the top (instead center)? Or just do not specify height in template.
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
It's mildly tricky to implement, which is why it's not done right at the moment. The logic I want is:

"If the text doesn't break across lines, center on the image; if the text does break across lines, align top". You can combine that with the fact that I need to explictly set the height of the text element to make sure that successive rows fall neatly on the 'metro' grid (intervals of 25 and 12 pixels), and the fact that I really want to do all this in the template and not in code-behind ... .

Result: I spent 30 minutes trying to get the logic working right, and after that I just put it back onto the 'to do' backlog, as I had more pressing issues to deal with. (you'll notice it had been a long time since the last Freda update, and I was getting impatient to actually ship some of the new stuff I'd added over the months!).

Anyhow, in the next release I will probably aim to make the 'source browser' screens follow the visual style of the Office Hub and the official SkyDrive app. (and if I go down that route, long file names will just get truncated). I'm open to user feedback on that point (and in fact some time soon I will probably launch on on-line survey to collect votes for various possible changes and features, this among them).
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] sergtot:
Hope that in the next release support of fb2 format will be improved. I mean pictures and so on.

Just bought your Freda+ :good:
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] sensboston:
Jim, it's absolutely not necessarily or urgent! So if you have some troubles with implementation - forget about it please :)

P.S. And thanks for renaming from Unfree to Plus! I hope, may be my apps bring you that idea ;)
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Yeah, not really sure what I was thinking of when I initially called it "unfree". How lame!
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
It hasn't gone well; Microsoft rejected the Freda-Chinese update. For a good reason, I have to admit.

I've fixed it, and submitted again. It will take another week for them to process it, I expect.

P.S. In this update, I've added a couple of extra Asian fonts - for Korean and Japanese.
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] DavidinCT:
Does this support PDF ebooks or do I need to convert them ? I need a good reader for these ebooks and to be honest with you, the Adobe item is good for looking at a quick doc but, not a ebook...
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
It doesn't support PDF, so you would need to convert them (using Calibre for example)
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
The updated version of Freda-Chinese is now published.
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] henry084:
Thanks for your update! The MSMincho font is simply nice!

However some books in Chinese and Japanese cannot be imported in Freda-Chinese readers, while one of other reader in WP7 can (but format seemed wrong).

And I would request the ruby remark (Hiragana reading above Kanjis) for Japanese in next update.:p

I am not quite sure how the epub files are read, but when I checked out one of the android software which can display epubs in Chinese and Japanese (with ruby) correctly, I was thinking whether Freda-Chinese can do it also.

Even by converting epubs into XML format should not cause problem for showing ruby remarks as I know.

Thanks again for your attention.;)
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Thanks for the feedback. If you'd like to email me example books (that don't open, or that display 'ruby remark' in other reading programs) I will take a look at them.
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Windows 8 / RT

Not really an 'XDA' topic, but maybe of interest - at least as an excuse for my lack of WP7 activity in the last couple of months:

Freda has now arrived on Windows 8 / RT. Link to Store: http://apps.microsoft.com/webpdp/app/freda/fcd5a822-22a7-48e9-8726-eec07c5056fb
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] sensboston:
Good news! At least one good reader for that platform :)

P.S. I do have Qualcomm's WinRT development tablet for test but have no plans to buy any WinRT device for myself, even for $200 (he-he, it will be a Surface price at January 2013, I think so) ...

P.P.S. Little mistype at the app description: Access to on-line book catalogs (Feedbooks, Smashwords, Gutenberg, Manybooks, Ebooksgratuits, Fibusta - should be Flibusta
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Freda Development Roadmap Update

Folks, I just thought I might offer a quick update on where Freda development stands, across Windows Phone 8 (WP8) and Windows 8 (W8).

Right now, I am working on debugging some issues with Freda for WP8 (the XNA renderer goes strangely wrong when you launch from a pinned secondary tile, and the DropBox file browser fails on filenames containing some special characters, such as brackets). A bug-fix release for those issues will appear in the next week or so.

So, across WP8 and W8, the development roadmap looks roughly like:

Next week: W8 version 3.2, adding bookmarking/annotating/selecting of text, deleting books and book sources, custom OPDS book sources, pinning of books to start menu, and a bunch of UI improvements ...

Next week or two: WP8 bug-fix version 2.9, for secondary tile and DropBox issues

Within the next month or so: W8 version 3.3, adding all remaining WP features to the W8 program (backup/restore, dictionary lookup, define presets ... )

Some time early 2013 probably: W8 version back-ported to WP8, which will bring both versions onto the same code-line (and, crucially, the same underlying database, SQLite). At this point, the WP8 version will be a real native WP8 app (so it will support all screen resolutions properly, and will allow you to register Freda as the app for opening EPUB and FB2 file types).

Not very long after that: Features for selectively synching across all devices you're using, covering: settings/presets, bookshelf (including last read location), book source details. It will be based on using special SkyDrive files and folders.

Longer term: Features for sharing book lists, annotations etc. ('book club' use cases) - using an Azure cloud solution, if I can figure out a way to pay for it.

As and when I can: Fixing assorted bugs and formatting concerns (line spacing and margin issues, the proper handling of PRE and CODE elements, broken image path logic, clean management of the choice between 'block' and 'indent' paragraph layout ... )

All this, approximate though it is, is subject to some variation, dependent upon the vagaries of the Microsoft certification process, and the competing demands of my day job.

If you have questions or any other suggestions, feel free to contact me at jim@turnipsoft.co.uk
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] DavidinCT:
Just a small request. I picked up a HTC 8X with Windows Phone 8...720P display on it. The top of it has wasted space, wondering if you could update it so it could take advantage of this space / larger display size?
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
This will get fixed at some point - but not immediately. The problem is that Freda is still a 'Windows Phone 7' app, and when running such apps, Windows Phone 8 just scales the screen size up uniformly. So for phones with a different screen shape (aspect ratio) from 800:480, you end up with a black band at top/bottom of the screen. So this issue will be resolved when I produce a 'native Windows Phone 8' version of Freda.

I think I'd better offer an update on the development roadmap for the next few months, as it has changed somewhat - firstly because my day job (telling an investment bank what technology to spend its money on) has been busy these last few weeks, and secondly because I had a lot of users asking for the 'highlight text' feature in W8.

So, across WP8 and W8, the development roadmap looks roughly like:

Next week: W8 version 3.4, adding selection/highlighting of blocks of text, a 'copy' button and improved handling of CODE/PRE blocks (book text that must be shown in a fixed-width font).

Within the next few weeks or so: W8 version 3.5, adding all remaining WP features to the W8 program (backup/restore, dictionary lookup, define presets ... ). Also I will spend more time on improving the range of 'text sharpness' options.

Some time in April probably: W8 version back-ported to WP8, which will bring both versions onto the same code-line (and, crucially, the same underlying database, SQLite). At this point, the WP8 version will be a real native WP8 app (so it will support all screen resolutions properly, and will allow you to register Freda as the app for opening EPUB and FB2 file types).

Not very long after that: Features for selectively synching across all devices you're using, covering: settings/presets, bookshelf (including last read location), book source details. It will be based on using special SkyDrive files and folders.

Longer term: Features for sharing book lists, annotations etc. ('book club' use cases) - using an Azure cloud solution, if I can figure out a way to pay for it.

As and when I can: Fixing assorted bugs and formatting concerns (line spacing and margin issues, broken image path logic, clean management of the choice between 'block' and 'indent' paragraph layout ... )
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Atropos91:
Freda is no longer available for WP7.x users?

I've done a hard reset and I see that I can't reinstall the app and says is only comp. with >WP8. Could you at least bring the .xap or something?

I understand that you bring your focus in WP8 now that WP7 is dead, but ffs, at least don't **** the people that doesn't have money to buy new phones every year and let in the store a version of the WP7 compatible Freda.
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Sorry about that. There was an issue with the last release, and the WP7 version got dropped incidentally.

I will put the WP7 XAP back on the store now. If you have any issues with that please email me at jim@turnipsoft.co.uk and I will send the XAP over.
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Atropos91:
OH! Thanks man. I hope other developers will follow your example.

best regards!
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
OK it should be on the update servers now.
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Atropos91:
There it is. Thanks man! All the devs. should be like you :D
[Windows Phone 7 Apps and Games] Jim Chapman:
Freda Ebook Reader now available on Android

Just in case anyone is still watching this thread: Freda is now updated and available on Android. Please see the relevant new thread in XDA:

https://xdaforums.com/android/apps-games/app-freda-ebook-reader-available-android-t3711102
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] Linkzz:
i have a T-Mobile Garminfone and its stuck on the startup logo after powering up the phone.

i have tried to hard reset it but it sticks on **WIPE USERDATA** with the startup android logo.

i have searched many forums trying to find out how to flash this phone but i am not getting any success. can someone help me with this.

best regards
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] dbm0361:
I have the same issues if anyone has a idea please let me know my phone is not modded full stock just powered off one day now won't boot past logo and gets stuck when I try wipe. Data