ANDROID: What app do you use to read digital books?

[Deozaan]

Hi folks,

I have purchased a few eBooks in my time and after a very recent digital book purchase I realized that (to the best of my knowledge) I have never attempted to read an eBook in epub or mobi format on my Android device, with the possible exception of the books I've gotten on the Google Play store (most of which were free/public domain). I'm not sure what format those are.

So for all you Android users out there, what's a good Android app to use to read eBooks with?

Thanks!

[4wd]

FBReader - only one I've ever used since it suits my needs and was faster than any other I tried, (on my phone).

[Renegade]

I usually use Aldiko. It's ok, but I'd like to know if anyone has found anything better. It's just a tad slow for thumbnails, which is a bit annoying.

[cranioscopical]

CoolReader.
About a week after I put CoolReader onto my phone my Kobo went into a drawer and hasn't been released since then.
 

[Deozaan]

I didn't even try Aldiko since Renegade didn't have much good to say about it.

I tried FBReader and Cool Reader. After a minute or two in each I decided that FBReader seemed possibly very good and that I hate Cool Reader pretty much entirely because of this:

ANDROID: What app do you use to read digital books?

Yep! That's Cool Reader's "Night Mode." How the smurf am I supposed to read that?

But then I realized I should have tried CoolReader instead. In fact, I intended to, but inadvertently installed the wrong one. So after a minute using it, I decided that it's not very good either. It's only a PDF reader, even though the description has text in it so that a search for "ePub," "Aldiko," and "Cool Reader" (and more) will find CoolReader. Also, it left a bad first impression immediately when I started it and saw that it was designed to look like an iOS app. Ugh!

So for now I guess it's FBReader for me. Thanks for the suggestions!

[Ath]

Moon+ reader (free version), though I don't know how (well) it handles drm, as I have no epubs with drm  

[4wd]

After a minute or two in each I decided that FBReader seemed possibly very good

-Deozaan (August 10, 2013, 11:18 AM)

The only thing with FBReader I've found is that I'm constantly being surprised by, "I didn't know I could that!"

All depends where you put your finger on the screen...one day I'll read the manual.....or not 

[Renegade]

I didn't even try Aldiko since Renegade didn't have much good to say about it.

-Deozaan (August 10, 2013, 11:18 AM)

I wouldn't say "don't try it". It works fine and opens a lot of different formats. I've had zero problems with it. It's just the thumbnailing that I find a tad annoying as it takes longer than I'd like. (I'm not particularly patient.)

I think now what I'm looking for mostly is a GNU GPL reader. I'm kind of done with everything else, and more interested in freedom than other things. I didn't ask about that originally as I'm not holding up my hopes for this niche much. (Still need to track down some of the ones mentioned above - this is a backburner issue for me.)

[ewemoa]

For some formats I use a fork of EBookDroid called Document Viewer.

Supports the file in following formats:

PDF
DjVu
XPS (OpenXPS)
Comic Books (cbz) (NO support for cbr (rar compressed))
FictionBook (fb2, fb2.zip)

[xtabber]

Reading ebooks is the number one use for my Android tablets and I've tried quite a few readers over the past two years.  Aldiko was my reader of choice originally, but it has fallen so far behind that I haven't even bothered to install it on the tablet I now use most often for reading (Nexus 10).

The readers I use today are:

1) Mantano Reader Premium ($6.99 - there is free Lite version and an intermediate Essential version for $2.99). My favorite in most situations for both epub and pdf. By far the best document navigation and library management if you have an extensive library (as I do). They have a paid cloud service for synchronization which I tried and quickly dumped. Rendering is not quite as good as Nook, but it allows you to install many TTF fonts.  Reasonably good support with a user forum and  an actual manual.

2) Moon+ Reader Pro ($4.99, on sale through August 2013 for $2.49, the free version is much less capable).  Extremely flexible with many customization options, and very robust - it can handle malformed epubs that other readers choke on.  Also does CHM well. The interface is rather quirky and can take some getting used to: It breaks epubs by chapters and allows you to scroll smoothly within them, so it is my first choice for reading on a phone (one-handed), however that design also makes it hard to find your place within a large book.  Can synchronize using Dropbox.

3) Nook from Barnes & Noble.  Although meant to work with the B&N Nook store, this is an excellent free epub reader that allows side loading and can be used with any non-DRM epub file. Not as flexible as the two mentioned above, it has the best on-screen rendering of any Android reader and pretty good within book navigation.

All three of these support Adobe DRM, but I always convert purchased ebooks to DRM-free epub before loading them on my devices, so I have never tested this.  I buy books from both Amazon and B&N, and other vendors too (e.g., O'Reilly), but while I do use the Nook reader on my devices, I hardly ever use the dreadful Kindle for Android app.

[Renegade]

Just tried Cool Reader - and very much liking it so far! 

[ewemoa]

I think now what I'm looking for mostly is a GNU GPL reader.

-Renegade (August 10, 2013, 11:15 PM)

FWIW, here's a link to the LICENSE file for Document Viewer:

  https://github.com/dschuermann/document-viewer/blob/master/LICENSE


On a side note, if you haven't tried F-Droid already, may be you will find it to be of interest as a source of Android apps with source (including GPL ones).  I use it to help with not using Google Play (and similar things) but also as a source of example code

[Deozaan]

I just found out that you can upload your DRM-free eBooks to your Google Play Books account and use Google's eReader to read your books.

https://play.google.com/books/uploads

EDIT: I also just found out that you can download the books you buy from the Google Play store as EPUB or PDF format! 

[Renegade]

I just found out that you can upload your DRM-free eBooks to your Google Play Books account and use Google's eReader to read your books.

-Deozaan (August 17, 2013, 02:52 PM)

I'd be a bit leery to use their reader. Some of the stuff I read isn't exactly mainstream, and I don't think I'd like to be profiled for it.

[4wd]

Some of the stuff I read isn't exactly mainstream, and I don't think I'd like to be profiled for it.

-Renegade (August 19, 2013, 06:57 PM)

I would have thought that anarchy had become mainstream in recent years.

[Renegade]

Some of the stuff I read isn't exactly mainstream, and I don't think I'd like to be profiled for it.

-Renegade (August 19, 2013, 06:57 PM)

I would have thought that anarchy had become mainstream in recent years.

-4wd (August 19, 2013, 09:43 PM)

Well, that and some other things that I read that I'd mention in person, but not publicly.

[Target]

Well, that and some other things that I read that I'd mention in person, but not publicly.

-Renegade (August 19, 2013, 09:54 PM)

let me guess, you only read them for the 'articles' 

[Renegade]

Well, that and some other things that I read that I'd mention in person, but not publicly.

-Renegade (August 19, 2013, 09:54 PM)

let me guess, you only read them for the 'articles' 

-Target (August 20, 2013, 05:33 PM)

Hahaha! Actually, no. They're essays and the like. The kind that you get profiled for.

[Tuxman]

Adobe Reader. Actually, that's OK on *droid.

[ewemoa]

I occasionally use Adobe Reader, but I haven't found a way to get at a document's outline -- at least in the versions I've used.

[Tuxman]

Probably it has none then. TBH, I never needed one.

[ewemoa]

I checked the latest version (10.6.1) I was able to get and it looks like at least in three documents, an outline can be gotten at via the bookmark icon at the bottom right of the screen when the split action bar is showing.

[ewemoa]

Tried out EPUB3 Reader via f-droid...although it still feels like it's in its early stages it has the following:

the app allows the user to split the viewport, creating two separate viewing areas, mimicking the familiar interaction with paper books, where, at the same time, the user can read 1) a footnote and the main text, 2) multiple passages from the same book, 3) passages from different books, and 4) the original text with its translation in another language, on facing pages.

In the case of links, a single tap will follow them in the same window panel, while a long tap will split the viewport into two window panels, opening the link target in the second one. This mechanism makes footnotes (internal links) or other supplemental materials (internal or external links) visible at the same time with the referring text passage, exactly like footnotes in paper books.

If the XHTML files inside an EPUB comply with the naming convention described below, the app is capable of automatically showing facing pages in two languages, turning to the previous/next chapter in both panels simultaneously.

Finally, the user can split the viewport for reading two completely unrelated eBooks.

Another nice aspect to it compared to FBReader and Cool Reader was that it seemed to make use of the contained stylesheet more -- I still use the other 2 too though