best ereader app for phone

[shootist]

Not that I plan on doing a lot of reading on a 4.3" screen but I wouldn't mind being able to if need be. What is a good epub reader that I could put on my phone?

[AnemicOak]

I'd recommend Mantano, it's become my go to app for ePub. You could also check out Aldiko or Bluefire. These all also offer DRM support, if that's not needed you could also check out Cool Reader or Moon+.

[Kai Winters]

I'm using Mantano nearly exclusively because it does read drm's epubs. I also like Cool Reader and use Kindle reader for the few Amazon drm'd books I have.
I love Aldiko but once I added an external micro sd card my device, Samsung Galaxy 5, I got the dreaded multiple copy problem others also suffer from and had to uninstall it. But if you do not have an external sd card try Aldiko too.

Let us know what you use and how you like it.

[59abbot]

I try both Aldiko and Mantano, personally I like Mantano better.

[kyteflyer]

fbReader doesn't ever seem to get much love around here but I find it really good, and its free, too. It also doesnt demand that you keep your books in a particular location and will read them from anywhere on your sd card. Lots of features you have to pay for with other readers. I paid for Moon+, but still find fbReader to be my go-to when I am on an android device.

[RainingLemur]

I generally use fbReader, too. But, I haven't done much phone reading for quite some time.

[ilovejedd]

I've tried Aldiko, CoolReader, FBReader, Mantano and Moon+. Among those, Mantano is my favorite. Still doesn't quite handle OPDS the way I'd like it to - unlike Stanza (iOS), it doesn't recognize if a book from an OPDS feed has been downloaded yet and there's no download all feature. However, it's getting there and it supports advanced OPDS features that Stanza doesn't. I especially like the layout on tablets (e.g. Nook Color).

[shootist]

Okay I have given my needs some more thought. I need a reader that will work well with books I sideload onto my phones sd card. I don't care if it works with drm or not as the books I will put on it are drm free. Which of the apps handles that the best?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by shootist

Okay I have given my needs some more thought. I need a reader that will work well with books I sideload onto my phones sd card. I don't care if it works with drm or not as the books I will put on it are drm free. Which of the apps handles that the best?

For iOS and/or Android, Bluefire Reader as it contains ADE and will display your books like your readers do.

[Dopedangel]

Originally Posted by shootist

Okay I have given my needs some more thought. I need a reader that will work well with books I sideload onto my phones sd card. I don't care if it works with drm or not as the books I will put on it are drm free. Which of the apps handles that the best?

Everyone like different things we all can give opinions on what is the best. You might feel differently. I like and use coolreader you can just browse to the folder with the side loaded books or ask it to scan a directory and it will collect metadata and make a database for your books. It reads multiple formats you can change almost any setting in a book. So you can get most books to look like what you want without having to edit or convert the book.

[shootist]

I tried fb reader and Moon+. I kept Moon+. It does exactly what I need it to do. Very nice.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by shootist

Okay I have given my needs some more thought. I need a reader that will work well with books I sideload onto my phones sd card. I don't care if it works with drm or not as the books I will put on it are drm free. Which of the apps handles that the best?

All of them? I've tried several Android apps and accessing sideloaded ebooks was never an issue. One of the strengths of Android. It doesn't make you jump through hoops just to get ebooks (or other files) onto your device unlike iOS.

Really, what would probably determine which reader you go with eventually are the other things such as rendering, support for display themes, collection support, OPDS catalog support, etc. Most apps have free versions/trials. Just download those to see which one you like best. As can be seen from the different answers here, what works for A may not really work all that well for B or C and vice versa.

[shootist]

I'm loving Moon + reader. It lets me keep books on an external sd card, works seamlessly with colordict, and looks good. My only complaint is it doesn't show book covers for some books.

[Wyrmbyte]

I use Aldiko for ePub, Kindle for mobi , ezPDF for pdf's and Kobo for Project Gutenberg. I also have the nook app but don't really use it.

[delphin]

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

fbReader doesn't ever seem to get much love around here but I find it really good, and its free, too . . .

+1 for FBReader.

I agree with your comments that FBReader doesn't get the consideration it deserves.

With other options like Cool Reader and Moon+ that have a few more formatting options, FBReader doesn't get noticed, but it's a really good option for a phone sized device, simply because it's layout and interface are well suited to a smaller screen device.

FBReader doesn't go in for fancy two-page modes or 'auto scrolling', but it does let you select the exact path for your books (imagine that, an Android program that actually let's you SELECT the path, what will they think of next?)

FBReader also does a nice job letting you customize fonts and margins.

Some may object to FBReader's simplified EPUB formatting, because some books with really fancy layouts will render differently, but in most cases this works well on a phone's smaller screen, where you don't really have the space for fancy formatting.

FBReader also loads very quickly, and is light enough on resources to run on fairly low powered devices.

I would also have to give FBReader pretty high marks on stability and compatibility, since I have seen FBReader easily handle EPUBs that would crash other EPUB readers.

Like most other Android geekware the program is poorly documented, but unlike many of them, the options are fairly logically organized, so you can figure things out fairly easily.