WAP-based eBook Site Launched

Wisewalk release RoamingReader.com ebook site for readers who read on the go

Wisewalk has announced the release of the RoamingReader.com ebook site for WAP (wireless application protocol) device users, and it will allow them to access free ebooks anywhere using their WAP service. The site has opened with around 200 (public domain) books but the plans are to quickly increase this number to 1000.

WAP phone and Pocket PC
WAP phone and infrared ports
let us display ebooks
wirelessly on a handheld device

WML is designed for small screens and one-hand navigation without a keyboard. It allows users access instantly via handheld wireless devices such as phones and communicators. By connecting your WAP-enabled phone to your handheld device (which has a WAP browser) you can improve the reading experience, and reduce the amount of scrolling markedly.

Like OEB, WAP uses an XML-based markup language (WML), so in theory OEB formatted books could easily be made to work in these devices. WML (Wireless Markup Language) is supported by almost every mobile phone browser around the world but as well as that there are WAP browsers appearing for handhelds like Pocket PCs and Palms, which can be connected to WAP-enabled devices.

WAP phone and Pocket PC
The WML format ebook
displayed on a Pocket PC

Planet eBook tried out RoamingReader.com through a couple of methods - a WAP-enabled phone, as well as a WAP-enabled phone combined with a handheld computer (a Pocket PC with a WAP browser installed).

Reading from the WAP-enabled phone is reasonably difficult when you have a maximum of four lines of text displayed

To test RoamingReader.com we tried a WAP-enabled phone, as well as a WAP-enabled phone in conjuction with a handheld computer (a Pocket PC with a WAP browser installed). Using the infrared ports on the WAP phone (Nokia 7110) and the Pocket PC, connecting to the WAP service from the dialup settings in Pocket PC and then running a WAP browser (EzWAP), we could surf to the site (wap.roamingreader.com) and read the ebooks.

The large screen phone used in testing displays four lines of text about as clearly as a phone can, but the brevity of the passages one gets to read before needing to scroll makes it next to impossible to get immersed in the book. SMS (short messaging service) messages are fine on phones but its hard to see readers sitting down to read any large books on a screen so small.

Using the WAP phone with a handheld device changes the equation -- it is much the same as reading from any document reading/viewing software made for handhelds.

The prohibitive cost of reading wirelessly

Today unfortunately a common practice for WAP-providers is to charge you for the time you are connected, and each minute costs a small fortune. Why didn't I take that speed reading class!

Based on the price of 30c a minute (in Australia on the peak time rate), and assuming it would take the average reader about 1 hour to read 45 pages, it would mean an average-sized 200 page novel would cost more than a whopping $80 to read.

The day WAP usage meters the amount of info downloaded instead of the time spent online the wireless internet will probably be the day we start reading ebooks through phones and other wirelss devices.

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