So I'm sure there are similar threads out there dealing with general android devices, but I thought since I spent a good majority of my day yesterday looking through some ebook apps specifically for my nook, I'll post my findings.
First off, I'm going to talk about my top finds. Trust me, there are a lot out there and I didn't download them all, but I probably went through a good 15-20 apps. If you have an app that isn't listed that you like for whatever reason, post about it and I'll look into it! Make sure if you post an app below, that you give as much info as possible about it (and you've tried it on your nook)
App: Nook
Pros: Has a wide variety of books from major publishers, store sync's well with app, many options for viewing, allows you to import epub and pdf books.
Cons: Kinda basic, changing pages via the scroll bar doesn't work well, don't seem to be able to export books easily.
Bottom Line: Although it's a solid app, it doesn't have nearly as many books as the Kindle nor does it have as good a reading experience as other apps. With that said, it does offer some books that the Kindle store doesn't. I recommend this if you're loyal to B&N.
App: Kindle
Pros: Nice interface, huge store with major publishers (more than the Nook), good viewing options, allows import of epub and pdf books.
Cons: The app redirects to a webpage for the store, which doesn't work as flawlessly as other apps, Like the NOOK app, changing pages via the scroll bar doesn't work well. The mobi format isn't that common and doesn't add for easy exporting.
Bottom Line: The Kindle app offers more choice in books than any other app, but the reading experience still lacks somewhat. It has just as much options as the Nook, but being able to customize it more would have been nice. It is very similar to the Nook in terms of usage. If you are loyal to Amazon, it's great.
App: Overdrive
Pros: Free books rented from local library, also offers audiobooks.
Cons: Selection varies depending on your area, Library account needed, there is a wait on most books, the app itself sends you to a webpage.
Bottom Line: This is a good complimentary app IF they offer anything for you in your area. Out of the three area's I have tried, only one had support for it. Free is always nice!
App: Laputa (free version)
Pros: Free books from both major publishers and independent writers, many Public Domain books, support for Chinese books, allows for easy import/export (due to epub and pdf file types), Multiple sources from which to get books from, Virtual shelf interface.
Cons: Reading experience lacks, most books are bootleg (therefor illegal), small buttons make it almost impossible to touch, many links in the stores are broken, misspelled/missing text within downloaded books.
Bottom Line: If you don't mind getting books illegally, it has a lot of major series (Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Sword of Truth series, Holmes, and many more). Most (if not all) of the downloaded books are in epub format so importing them into another reader is easy. Right now (apparently with the last app update), book covers is broken, so to utilize that feature in any reader, you have to manually download and add them. Not many reading options don't help the reader at all. Good way to get free books, but not to read them.
App: Aldiko
Pros: Best reading experience, many many options (from font size to margins), multiple library views, categories, and tags, Store works OK with a lot of public domain and creative common books, along with paid books, importing books is really easy, as is setting up cover art (if the book doesn't already come with it), Support for Catalogs and easy "Last Read" button, also support for Adobe DRM (which I have not tried out)
Cons: The paid section of the store doesn't offer as many books as Nook or Kindle, but still has a good amount, plain Home interface and store.
Bottom Line: Although the store lacks compared to a big company such as Amazon or B&N, you can find many books with this app. There is no reading experience as good as this one, with options to change text, brightness, orientation settings, day/night colors, margins, and even advanced formatting to override the books initial formatting to suit your style. The library offers both "bookshelf" view and "list" views, which can be sorted to your desire independently. List view also offers tabs to view by Author, tags, and Collections (some books come preset with tags, others don't. Either way you can add your own, and your own tag types) By far the best way to view epub and pdf books, I just wish they had support for mobi and other formats so that I could import my kindle and nook books that I have.
Each of these offer different reasons to use them, but if you can find your ebook in epub or pdf format, Aldiko gives you the best reading experience by far. The fact that it makes it so easy to import, download, and use ebooks is refreshing compared to the Kindle and Nook. Although I do not fully understand Adobe DRM, because Aldiko supports it, it seems to only enhance it. On a final note, I downloaded the first book from Harry Potter from Laputa and imported it into Aldiko and read the first 4 chapters. The file was OK, with some spacing, spelling, and formatting errors that I KNOW and official release of the Harry Potter book would NOT have.
I will be updating this with further information and maybe other apps when I can. Let me know what you think and if you have different experiences than me (or I got something wrong)
PLEASE NOTE: I'd like to say that I do not condone getting ebooks illegally, however one of the apps I talk about above (Laputa) does allow you to do so (at the cost of spelling errors, formatting errors, etc.). I also believe (not 100% sure, but it makes sense) that the law on ebooks would be similar to the law on video game ROM's, that is if I won the book I can technically download a free version of the ebook if I can find it, such as the case with the Harry Potter book I mention.
I don't know about your legal interpretation of that. It's a different platform/format. If I buy a movie on DVD, I'm not entitled to download and burn a blu-ray copy of that same movie.
I prefer Nook from Android Market combined with Calibre ebook manager on the PC. You can pretty much feed Calibre any ebook format and it will not only convert it to which ever device you wish to read it on but it will load it onto the device in the directory that the device expects to find ebooks. (unless you tell it otherwise) Killer ebook combo.
Hi,
I have been using FBReader for my eBook reader and find it works very well. It
handles epub and a variety of other formats. (but not PDF). It has a good 'night
mode' and the ability to dim the backlight in the app.
There is a third party called FBSync in the market that will use the web to sync
book mark progress in books and/or the books to Dropbox. Particularly useful when
changing ROMs too often on the Nook Color!
I use Repligo for pdf reading, the reflow works reasonably well.
I know you are looking mainly at eBook readers, but you haven't mentioned Calibre
an opensource PC/MAC ebook library management program:
http://calibre-ebook.com/
Calibre will also download and manage covers, reviews and do format conversions.
Calibre works well with an Android app 'Calibre library' (paid) and FBReader.
I like your writeup and plan to try some of the other apps you suggested.
Thanks,
Peter
I'll put another vote here for FBReader.
I used Aldiko since I first got an Android phone in 2009. It was awesome, the absolute best reader software on Android. And then they lost their damn minds.
It is now 10 times bigger. And has one third of the options it used to have. I still haven't figured out what they did to accomplish that. When that happened I went looking for another option.
I had already given up on the Nook reader software because I keep a lot of books on my phone (and now on my Nook). The Nook reader software just couldn't handle it and basically self destructs when I try to load up my library. Laputa sucks in so many ways it isn't even worth mentioning.
I had tried FBReader way way back and it just wasn't good enough, but to my surprise when I tried it again all of the original issues were gone. It is easy to use, easy to configure to your liking, and can handle my 500+ book portable library with ease.
A. Nonymous said:
I don't know about your legal interpretation of that. It's a different platform/format. If I buy a movie on DVD, I'm not entitled to download and burn a blu-ray copy of that same movie.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I just looked this up and you're right. I guess because I was thinking about digital rights and not literature rights, I thought that way. I'll update my post to reflect this.
Atahachi said:
I prefer Nook from Android Market combined with Calibre ebook manager on the PC. You can pretty much feed Calibre any ebook format and it will not only convert it to which ever device you wish to read it on but it will load it onto the device in the directory that the device expects to find ebooks. (unless you tell it otherwise) Killer ebook combo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The nook app, IMO, lacks both features and usability. I'll have to check out Calibre, sounds like something i was looking for, thanks!
pmilford said:
Hi,
I have been using FBReader for my eBook reader and find it works very well. It
handles epub and a variety of other formats. (but not PDF). It has a good 'night
mode' and the ability to dim the backlight in the app.
I saw FBReader but decided not to download it after reading all the negative reviews of it. However, after seeing what you guys have said, I'll check it out and probably post my thoughts on here maybe tomorrow.
JMMusic said:
I'll put another vote here for FBReader.
I used Aldiko since I first got an Android phone in 2009. It was awesome, the absolute best reader software on Android. And then they lost their damn minds.
It is now 10 times bigger. And has one third of the options it used to have. I still haven't figured out what they did to accomplish that. When that happened I went looking for another option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What more options could they have? It has more than any of the others I've seen.
JMMusic said:
Laputa sucks in so many ways it isn't even worth mentioning.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only reason I mentioned it was because of it's store. Also, the app used to work pretty well when it first came out, but basically has not been updated since then.
Thanks guys for your input, I'll check out FBReader!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the write up.
I'd like to note that Aldiko's PDF viewer is quite limited (no zooming or panning whatsoever) unless the device is running Android 2.2 (Froyo) and up, which spoils it for me running the stock ROM (Eclair). Not finding any free alternatives, I purchased ezPDFreader, the least expensive option, and am quite happy with it so far.
For compiled HTML files (chm), iReader is a good option. It's very customizable and handles zooming and re-flow pretty well... and it's free
I'm on stock ROM and using Moon+ reader, lovin' it so far.
that moon reader seems pretty good. nice tip.
I also read (and documented somewhere) that you can set up Calibre in a server mode to serve up your own library of books. It seems that Aldiko will interact with it remotely in this manner. I read about it and intend to do it when I have a chance but haven't tried yet so that's about the extent of my knowledge on it
The three best reviewed Ereader Apps are Aldiko, Moon+ and FBReader.
FBReader was one of the original apps, from something like 15 years ago.
Of course, all of these are designed to read DRM-free books, so the "store" references in your review are not really relevant.
pmilford said:
Hi,
I have been using FBReader for my eBook reader and find it works very well. It
handles epub and a variety of other formats. (but not PDF). It has a good 'night
mode' and the ability to dim the backlight in the app.
There is a third party called FBSync in the market that will use the web to sync
book mark progress in books and/or the books to Dropbox. Particularly useful when
changing ROMs too often on the Nook Color!
I use Repligo for pdf reading, the reflow works reasonably well.
I know you are looking mainly at eBook readers, but you haven't mentioned Calibre
an opensource PC/MAC ebook library management program:
http://calibre-ebook.com/
Calibre will also download and manage covers, reviews and do format conversions.
Calibre works well with an Android app 'Calibre library' (paid) and FBReader.
I like your writeup and plan to try some of the other apps you suggested.
Thanks,
Peter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally support. Been using the FBReader for ages now and with FBSync app there's absolutely no fuss now with different gadgets I read on.
Been using Aldiko here. Though it is a little big size wise, I like the feature set as well as visibility. Looks and performs really well, and allows you to import any other online catalogs you favor.
Combining that with Calibre, got a pretty nice pair.
Also, theres a portable test version of calibre incase you wanna throw it on a stick, or even your phone:
portableapps.com/node/20518
Cool Reader
Seems to work well on Rooted 1.1 - lots of options and very little bloat.
Another vote for Moon+ reader here! Been using it since day one and it's awesome.!
Sorry it's taking me so long to update my post guys, I'll be doing it soon, I promise! It's been a busy week on my end and I haven't had much nook time. Thanks for everyone who has replied!
Still waiting lol
Since this thread has popped up again, I would just put out there that Mantano has replaced both aldiko and any other PDF reader out there for me. The PDF reading experience is the most complete I've found to date, and with its new support for OPDS catalogs, should now be able to interact directly with calibre in server mode (although I haven't tested this yet... been too busy to read anything in the last month).
I've been using Kobo for epubs, it's pretty cool it gives you stats on your reading. It works great with the default dpi, unlike the nook app. Also, there's no need to move your files around in the sdcard since the app searches for all supported files in the card.
Another vote for Kobo! Lighter than Aldiko and with similar options.
I have an issue with the PDF viewer. When you write on it with the pen, even with the smallest pen settings, it writes WAY to large. When you zoom into a specific paragraph and annotate it, it looks like a child's marker did the annotating.
Has anyone been able to use the native E-reader (which does not have the issue) to work on PDF's? Or any other solution?
The pen size in PDF Viewer is a known issue.
Never thought about converting into ePUB for annotation in Reader... I use Calibre to convert PDFs to epub on my desktop. For me the extra conversion steps would not be very convenient... Maybe a long pdf or reference... But not the "everyday pdf in a email for work" type doc. Worth a shot though.
That is true, just trying to find a reason to keep the flyer. I love most things about it, but I bought it specifically for pdf annotating.
I'm on the same boat.
If you check forum.xda-developers.showthread.php?t=1097375&page=2 Gathering uploaded some samples. These open fine in Foxit for me, and I can modify those annotations.
Using the app is a different story though. Unless Foxit/HTC update the app I think all you can do is wait.
I put some pdfs and an m4v and flv video on the device, organized in folders. I go in acrobat reader and it seems to find the pdfs, but just puts them in a single list, rather than showing the file hierarchy.
I would like to be able to browse the file hierarchy and touch a file and have it open. I have a lot of pdfs to put in the device and they need to be organized, not one big list.
Also would like to search for text in PDFs.
Ideally I am looking for something similar to ipad's Goodreader wher you can organize a hieararchy of mixed file types, PDF and video, and view any of them.
Acrobat reader and Quick Office seem to be a little slow to load. I am wondering if there is an app for this that is quick loading.
Any ideas?
Agree that Acrobat reader is one of the worst PDF readers all across the pad platforms. But unfortunately it seems that's the only choice on webos. Hope this wave of TP can bring some new PDF reader to it.
[Q] How to search through a PDF?
please excuse the question but I tried google a few times and couldn't get anything. Can the default adobe PDF viewer even search documents? If it can how the hell can I find the option? Is there anything 3rd party that allows searching through pdfs?
[Q] PDF Reading and Citrix?
To current owners, how is reading pdfs on the TP? Is it snappy like Ipad 2 and how about large pdfs like 100mb or greater? I dont really care about annotations.
Also does Citrix work? I saw an ad showing Citrix working. Thx
For the pdf file it's very fast and snappy,very usable, but only tested with a couple of 50Mo one, if you have bigger to test give me a link.
About citrix, take a look here:
http://forums.precentral.net/webos-development/190779-request-citrix-app.html
And
http://blogs.citrix.com/2011/02/09/...ake-webos-devices-enterprise-ready-at-launch/
Ok, I couldn't resist the temptation and got a Touchpad to play with. The two hospital pages where I use Citrix to access medical records don't work. The demo on Youtube looks so smooth . Adobe Acrobat on the WebOS is just as horrid as on the Android platform. There is no way, I can sit there read the PDFs in this condition. The letters all look fuzzy, and I don't think this is purely an issue with resolution and display. The software doesn't fully render it.
The good part is that flash works really well from the browser. Very well done. Also the cards arrangement of the overall OS is the best I have seen out of all 3 tablet platforms. It's unfortunate. I think it just take a little more work from HP to make it competitive.
1. A better screen. It's listed as IPS display but no where close to the Ipad.
2. Work out the small bugs in the WebOS
This pad desperately needs Alkido.
darkamulet said:
please excuse the question but I tried google a few times and couldn't get anything. Can the default adobe PDF viewer even search documents? If it can how the hell can I find the option? Is there anything 3rd party that allows searching through pdfs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to the best of my knowledge, I've looked through every option and nothing. I also asked this same question about searching PDFs and never got a response. FYI I have a few 40mb+ pdfs w/ schematic drawings and it has the tendency of chugging along or even worse it loses the menu bar uptop where I can select pages from. I'll get stuck on page 230 out of 500 and will have to close the card down and open it up again to get the number list.
I still have my wi-fi off and probably will until after holidays when I can concentrate on how to either block or root my NT. That said I am wondering about public library books and update 1.41. If someone does get stuck with that and/or are one of the ones that buy a new NT and it is already installed am I correct this is going to stop the use of public library ebooks or will they still work off our microSD card?
I have one under the tree and want to know that also. What about other sources of books. My Simple Touch can get those. Can we put e-books on the sd card from our computer and will the updated nook tablet read the PDFs?
It will read pdfs, however, it sucks. It does not do text reflow or work well with images. Ive converted a couple of pdfs to ebooks using calibre, and the experience improved, but it wasnt like reading a normal ebook. Frankly, i think the best device to view pdfs is an ipad. Btw i also have an asus transformer and im not impressed by its pdf capabilities either. Just my $0.02
** just got the adobe pdf reader update with text reflow. Works well on just text, but the pdf im viewing ( a byte of python) has a grey color behind the code that doesn tdisplay right with text reflow selected. Its either above or below the actual text. (***massive pet peeve)
mtemal said:
It will read pdfs, however, it sucks. It does not do text reflow or work well with images. Ive converted a couple of pdfs to ebooks using calibre, and the experience improved, but it wasnt like reading a normal ebook. Frankly, i think the best device to view pdfs is an ipad. Btw i also have an asus transformer and im not impressed by its pdf capabilities either. Just my $0.02
** just got the adobe pdf reader update with text reflow. Works well on just text, but the pdf im viewing ( a byte of python) has a grey color behind the code that doesn tdisplay right with text reflow selected. Its either above or below the actual text. (***massive pet peeve)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A devices ability to do anything with any file type is based on the app you are using, not the device itself (unless speaking from a form-factor POV). You should have noted that you are talking about the stock PDF reader on the NT, and try not to mis-inform people. I have a Transformer as well, with EZ PDF Reader on it, and it's great.
miniblue: Side-load EZ PDF Reader from the market. Best PDF app I've ever seen for Android.
I used multiple pdf apps and none of them worked right for ME.
Adobe
Quick office
Documents to go pdf to go
Aldiko
Reader
I would continue to list them but i just got the ota update pushed to my device. So sorry if you felt that i was spreading FUD.
-cheers
The questions still remains does an NT updated to 1.41 work with public library ebooks?
bluespire said:
miniblue: Side-load EZ PDF Reader from the market. Best PDF app I've ever seen for Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless you end up with 1.41, then you cant side load.
But back to the topic, i don't think it would effect library use, or that would be cutting their own throat as that would effect a large number of customers.
Mine is on 1.41 and i may try our local library next week just to see. I am able to still load free format PDF and ePub files that are on my SD card. Thankfully i installed ezPDF before the update.
Nurb432 said:
Unless you end up with 1.41, then you cant side load.
But back to the topic, i don't think it would effect library use, or that would be cutting their own throat as that would effect a large number of customers.
Mine is on 1.41 and i may try our local library next week just to see. I am able to still load free format PDF and ePub files that are on my SD card. Thankfully i installed ezPDF before the update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please let me know you you make out with this if you do try it. Hubby bought me this for more than just the ability to read library books but still that is important to me. Thank you for your input.
Hello everyone. I am new to the forum. I tried posting this under the Asus transformer section, but due to me having less that enough posts it said I must post in general.
So I tried looking on the forum for exactly what I wanted and could not find it. I want an app that will let me edit any office or PDF file and let me to do it with a stylus writing freehand. I don't want to merely edit and just write in text, or highlight I want to be able to use my stylus and actually circle a word in power point, or be able to write notes freehand with the stylus on the side of the PPT. I do notice that Adobe let's me kind of do it with it's reader, but it just feels really laggy for me. If there is an APP available for me to try I don't mind if I even have to purchase it due to it being used for school.
Please give me your input! and thank you for letting me be apart of your community!
Polaris Office which is included free with your Transformer Prime let's you create and edit Word, Excel and Power Point files. I don't know about scribble-annotating them since I don't believe that the Microsoft Office Suite knows how to display that kind of notation. Also for any meaningful editing you will need the onscreen keyboard or keyboard dock.
As for editing PDF files, I don't know of any apps off the top of my head that will do what you ask. You might try searching the Play Store.
almightywhacko said:
Polaris Office which is included free with your Transformer Prime let's you create and edit Word, Excel and Power Point files. I don't know about scribble-annotating them since I don't believe that the Microsoft Office Suite knows how to display that kind of notation. Also for any meaningful editing you will need the onscreen keyboard or keyboard dock.
As for editing PDF files, I don't know of any apps off the top of my head that will do what you ask. You might try searching the Play Store.
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Yeah I tried Polaris office...and I really want to do free hand scribble editing. PDF editing I am actually ok with Adobe as it lets me do what I want, but I really need something else for my office programs, because I am going to use this for school in lecture. I do have the keyboard as well, but I want to be as light as possible with just the tablet and stylus in hand.
I use ezPDF Reader Pro for PDF annotations for notes from my professors at school. I think it was $2.99 in the play store. It works great.
I havent found a good office app. Polaris Office, though it came on the prime free, is buggy and is limited on formatting. It works great for basic docs. You can only save in .doc format and docs i have created sometimes look way different when opened on a computer. But it does work.
I am still looking for the best app for an Office suite on android. Although SoftMaker Office mobile is coming along great. It is in beta still.
Find it at the following:
www.softmaker.net/down/TestMaker.apk for word
www.softmaker.net/down/PlanMaker.apk for excel
www.softmaker.net/down/Presentations.apk for powerpoint
Have you tried using the dedicated writing programs for use with the stylus already (just to see if you can even tolerate writing with the Prime)? Even with the apps to improve the TFP's response to stylus input they're still not something that's even remotely efficient to take notes with. If you just want to draw arrows or circle things or make quick (but relatively large) drawings, it's okay.
I generally annotated my pdfs using Repligo reader. I could do light annotations with the stylus and enter comments in stickies. You could easily convert powerpoints into pdfs and comment on them that way.
As far as I know there isn't any Office app that supports inking yet, which isn't that odd since most suites can't even do basic tasks like display charts properly in Excel and Powerpoint.
IMHO, Android is still pretty abysmal when it comes to doing this sort of thing.
The official adobe reader app lets you scribble annotate straight out of the box. I use it regularly
Office Pro 6
I don't know if it will solve your issues, but Office Pro 6 is on sale at the Amazon App store for $.99. It's normally $15.
http://www.amazon.com/Mobile-Systems-Inc-OfficeSuite-Professional/dp/B0051UP5NQ/ref=mas_6pack_productivity_Suite_link?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-5&pf_rd_r=054VF38RVZ32RE41XXGQ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1371696742&pf_rd_i=2350149011
I think it's better than Polaris, especially on spreadsheets.
BTW first off let me thank all of you for your responses! I did know about adobe having its native edit and I had stated above I was fine with that . Although on the other hand, the power point is the BIGGEST one I have an issue with. Although punitenshu I like your idea the most which is just to convert it over to PDF...I just didn't want to do that every time I received a new lecture.....Thank you everyone you have been such a big help!
Repligo Reader hands down. If you really fussy about accuracy, use it in conjunction with touchscreen tuner.