Google Android e-Reader clients

[Michael Kozlowski]

Android eBook reader clients

When I originally posted this back in January, I was waiting for my nook to arrive from Barnes & Noble. Since I had already sold my previous eReader, I was using my Android phone to keep up on books. Since the nook came in, I haven't used Android that much for reading. I'm still trying to keep this post up-to-date, though, for those who do. They are (more or less) organized by popularity in the Android Market as of the date last edited. I have removed the "pros" and "cons" sections, limiting myself to notes on a few, popular clients. If you use Android and would like to review another, let me know and I'll update this post.

Links will take you to the Android market description with screenshots, ratings, and a QR-code for easy downloading via the Android barcode scanner.


The Big Booksellers

Kindle
Cost: Free
Formats supported: azw, mobi, topaz
Online catalogs: Amazon

Notes: The best feature for those already using Amazon's Kindle is that the Android app "knows" where you stop reading. If you read a bit on your Kindle at home, you can pick up where you left off on your smartphone on the commute to work. When you pick up your Kindle at home, you guessed it. It syncs.


nook
Cost: Free
Formats supported: ePub, prc
Online catalogs: Barnes & Noble

Notes: If you own a nook, this is the mothership. It has a refined interface, not quite up there with Aldiko, but definitely a good experience. Unfortunately, it weighs in at a whopping 17MB installed, and doesn't even integrate the B&N store into the app, sending eBook purchasers to the website instead. For Android users without apps2sd (via hacks or froyo) it's not worth it yet, but shows promise.


Borders
Cost: Free
Formats supported: ePub, prc
Online catalogs: Borders/Waldenbooks

Notes: Powered by Kobo (see below), Borders adds a nicely-styled reader with an integrated catalog complete with day/night mode. It it's your favorite bookstore, you can now read them on your phone, as well as sideload certain content from the phone to your nook or Sony reader.


eBooks by Kobo
Cost: Free
Formats supported: ePub, prc
Online catalogs: Kobo (formerly Shortcovers)



General Purpose Readers

Aldiko Book Reader
Cost: Free with $2.99 "premium" edition available
Formats supported: ePub
Online catalogs: feedbooks, O'Reilly, All Romance, Smashwords

Notes: Sports the best interface of all readers for Android, using a cover browser on wooden library shelves. Has multiple methods of turning pages and a great night mode. I don't think there are any differences in functionality between the free and premium versions. Instead, the premium version is more a "donationware" idea. The only cons I've found is it's impossible to click on links in the text to footnotes and it requires its books to be stored in a specific spot on the SD card, making book sharing or comparing among clients a pain.


FBReader
Cost: Free
Formats supported: ePub, oeb, fb2(.zip), mobi
Online catalogs: None (see note)

Notes: This is perhaps the best dedicated reader client for Android. It has multiple page-turn options, a great night mode, and the ability to click links in the text for footnotes. It also allows you to store books where you like on your sd card. It doesn't search online catalogs directly, but if you browse to feedbooks.mobi and click on an ePub link, it will automatically download and import into FBReader. There doesn't seem to be any meaningful progress indicator to let you know when the end of a chapter or book is coming, though it does give whole-book indication.


Laputa Book Reader
Cost: Free
Formats supported: unknown
Online catalogs: Gutenberg, Manybooks

Notes: Nice interface and highly rated in the Android market, but untested yet.


iReader
Cost: Free with $1.99 premium version
Formats supported: txt, chm, umd, pdb, (mobi/ereader)
Online catalogs: Unknown

Notes: Premium version adds support for mobipocket/EReader formats.


Reveal Reader
Cost: Free
Formats supported: ybk, oeb
Online catalogs: YanceyWare, Gutenberg, Mormon/Bible/Christian downloads.


Wattpad
Cost: Free
Formats supported: Unknown
Online catalogs: Wattpad

Notes: Downloads happen by obtaining a "wattcode" for a particular book from the Wattpad mobile site. Entering the code in the reader will download the book.


PalmBookReader
Cost: Free
Formats supported: txt, pdb (no eReader or iSilo)
Online catalogs: None


UltraReader
Cost: $2.99
Formats supported: txt
Online catalogs: None


txtr eBook Reader & Store
Cost: Free
Formats supported: ePub, PDF
Online catalogs: txtr.com


Wordoholic Reader
Cost: Free
Formats supported: ePub, fb2, txt
Online catalogs: feedbooks


Compact Reader
Cost: Free
Formats supported: txt, html, ePUB, umd, zip
Online catalogs: None


Moon+ Reader
Cost: Free
Formats supported: txt
Online catalogs: Claims multiple online sites

Notes: Simple text file reader with bookmark support. Remembers last page read and allows user to control font, color, etc.


Libris Lite
Cost: Free
Formats supported: Unknown
Online catalogs: Unknown

Notes: Built-in dictionary.


iSilo
Cost: $9.99 (Currently $10 off)
Formats supported: iSilo, pdb, txt
Online catalogs: Unknown

Notes: iSilo is a large, proprietary format made popular in the days of Palm devices. Clients are available for a wide variety of devices, making at least older books widely available. iSilo, as a format, is hard to convert *from* but easy to convert *to*.


Nightbook
Cost: Free (with £0.99 premium version)
Formats supported: txt
Online catalogs: Unknown


Gecko Reader Lite
Cost: Free
Formats supported: txt
Online catalogs: None


AEPReader
Cost: Free
Formats supported: txt, pdb, prc, mobi (html, epub)
Online catalogs: Unknown

Notes: Premium version adds support for html and epub.


Gutenberg eReader
Cost: Free
Formats supported: txt
Online catalogs: Project Gutenberg


MultiReader
Cost: €3.50
Formats supported: pdf, ePub, txt, doc, rtf, ppt
Online catalogs: Gutenberg

Notes: Uses the text-to-speech functionalities of the Android device to speak the text of the eBook. Works with multiple languages as well as several different voice services. In other words, it's not limited to just the Android speech synthesis system.


Readers for non-Latin Script

Check out 91Panda Reader, Veader, MyBooks, and the below for a wide selection of readers supporting Asian scripts in horizontal and vertical modes. Searching for the popular format, aozora bunko, will also yield many results.


Tulip Reader
Cost: Free
Formats supported: pdb (haodoo, palmdoc, ztxt mode 1), txt, umd
Online catalogs: None

Notes: Primarily a Chinese reader.


SnowLamp reader
Cost: Free
Formats supported: ePUB
Online catalogs: Unknown

Notes: Korean


Cbook
Cost: Free
Formats supported: pdb (big5 Chinese encoded)
Online catalogs: www.haodoo.net

Notes: Strictly a Chinese reader with vertical text layout.


Comic viewers

jjComics
Cost: Free
Formats supported: zip, cbz, rar, cbr
Online catalogs:


Droid Comic Viewer
Cost: Free
Formats supported: zip/cbz, rar/cbr, acv, jpeg, png, bmp, folders
Online catalogs:


Manga Browser
Cost: Free
Formats supported: Unknown
Online catalogs: MangaFox.com


Vintage Comic Droid
Cost: Free
Formats supported: Unknown
Online catalogs: Unknown


eBook Tools

eBook Optimizer
Cost: Free
Formats supported: ePUB
Online catalogs: N/A

Notes: Not a reader app, but claims to optimize ePUB files, making them 5-15% smaller for smartphone storage.


Bookfm Reader
Cost: Free
Formats supported: claims any, but client reads ePub
Online catalogs: none

Notes: You upload your ebook in most formats to www.bookfm.com. The website does the conversion to ePub and syncs with the phone client.

Scribd Agent Lite
Cost: Free (with £2.99 premium version)
Formats supported: scribd
Online catalogs: scribd

Notes: The only client for scribd, though not specifically eBook oriented, is a nice resource to have. Premium version allows upload/publish capabilities.

via Mobileread

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If you use Android and would like to review another, let me know and I'll update this post.