KOReader advantages?

[MGlitch]

So, I don't want to start an argument, but I was wondering what are the advantages/disadvantages of KoReader vs the built in epub reader for Kobo?

I've looked at the features list, which primarily seems to consist of existing features for the Kobo, with some exceptions. One of those exceptions being Calibre Companion support (which would be really nice, since the browser method is less than fantastic).

[booklover6]

I like the options that you can have show at the bottom of the page. I had it set to "show all", so I had a graphic bar, a clock, pages left of pages, and I don't know what else.

Time after time, though, on my devices, I ran into problems. Plus, I couldn't see the series information. So now I am not running Koreader on any of them. I simply use Calibre to send my epubs to Kobo via USB, so I see the series info, and can call up the book details. The only thing I miss is all the info at the bottom of the book page!

[latepaul]

I've tried it a couple of times but never found it compelling enough to keep. I suspect its killer features are things I don't care about - folders? ability to put text to the very edge of the screen?

[PeterT]

I sense that one item people like is the lack of the the database requirement for all material on the device. This means if a factory reset is ever required and you are unable to connect to the Kobo web site, as long as you have both the install file(s) for KoReader and your content (ideally all on an SD card) you can relatively easily get back to reading.

[GERGE]

Only time I tried it, I ended up factory resetting my Glo. I do not recommend it unless you *really* think you need it. Like reaaaaaaly need it.

Here is its features: https://github.com/koreader/koreader/wiki/Features-list

[Ken Maltby]

The Glo and original Touch may not be the best platforms for all versions of KOreader. I have done more fiddling with KOreader on my AuraHD, than most would on their devices, and I have had very few problems, all easily corrected. I have installed most of the over 150 KOreader download packages that I have, with no problems. I use KOreader every day to read epubs, pdbs, pdfs, and a few other file types. It is not that hard to include series info in file names. If you use calibre to transfer its library to your device, you can use search functions in Koreader to search the metadata file and select books matching calibre's fields and tags, including Series. Of course there is also the Calibre Companion Plugin and the OPDS support which lets you access your calibre library via WiFi.

Luck;
Ken

[jberd]

I don't have my Kobo (H2o) yet, but when I get it one of the first thing I plan to do is install koreader. From what I've read, the default pdf reader on Kobos isn't very good, and koreader is a vast improvement.

Since the question is about epubs, though, I'm curious about it, too. When koreader is working properly, I'm wondering how reading with it compares to the default reader. Comparisons seem hard to come by.

[GERGE]

I believe KOReader uses this to render epub files: http://coolreader.org/crengine.htm

It is much inferior to RMSDK.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by jberd

I don't have my Kobo (H2o) yet, but when I get it one of the first thing I plan to do is install koreader. From what I've read, the default pdf reader on Kobos isn't very good, and koreader is a vast improvement.

Since the question is about epubs, though, I'm curious about it, too. When koreader is working properly, I'm wondering how reading with it compares to the default reader. Comparisons seem hard to come by.

This was my issue as well, there's plenty out there about what KoReader does, the features it offers, etc. But little in the way of comparisons between it an RMSDK.

There's plenty out there about KoReader vs Kindle, because as I noted it seems KoReader offers most of the features Kobo offers some of which Kindle lacks.

I'm still on the fence. It seems largely preference based for Kobo users.

[Ken Maltby]

KOreader has no impact on the stock readers, so you loose nothing trying it out.

I don't know how much of, and what features of, The Adobe Reader Mobile Kobo has implemented as its epub reader. They also have their kepub reader program (not sure what that may be based upon). I haven't used the Kobo readers, in the last 5 years or so. I am still on FW 3.5.0 and haven't used the readers included in that. So, I can't speak to how Kobo's readers perform.

The KOreader makes use of several reader engines, (none of them the Adobe Reader Mobile one) but is built largely from scratch using mostly scripting languages. This makes it highly adaptable and transparent, from a programming point of view. For .epub the Coolreader 3 Engine (cr3) engine is used and has been updated a few times since Koreader was initially released. PDFs are handled by MuPDF engines with a number of updates, as I understand it.

I find the .epub rendering in KOreader at least the equal of the Adobe Reader Mobile stock reader software. I also find that KOreader allows for more fine tuning within the reader.

Luck;
Ken

[PeterT]

kEpub is based on the Netfront Access engine.

[pickyaxe]

ePubs? KOReader is first and foremost for PDFs.
And really, this software makes PDFs as usable as possible. Is the PDF mostly text? Use the reflow feature. Is the PDF mostly pictures? Use landscape and the pagination feature (disable panning). A huge amount of books are only available as PDFs, especially technical books. KOReader saves the day.

In many cases it's less of a hassle reading a PDF on Koreader than spending unreasonable amounts of time converting the thing into an ePub, which always requires a ton of manual corrections.

[embryo]

The advantages of koreader over nickel for me:

• You can read using all your expensive screen area. (If I needed an empty border around my text I could bought a white reader.
• With the bar at the bottom of the page (if you have it on) you can see the chapter structure of the book, the page number, the pages left, the battery percent and the time, all with one glimpse.
• You can easily see all your books (even if they are thousands - try this with Nickel!, you have to wait for hours ...) in a folder view, or you can search for a book using Series, Author name, Title (if you using Calibre for your library)
• If you read pdfs, you can crop and fit the pages, re-flow the contents, but thats something others reader do too (not nickel).
  The most unique feature is that you can re-flow and change the text size even for text in 'scanned' pdfs (where the text is just a picture).
  With Nickel you have no luck with pdfs at all.
• Last but not least, you can speak with the developers here in the forum, report bugs, or propose features and there is a chance that you will be heard.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by embryo

The advantages of koreader over nickel for me:

• You can read using all your expensive screen area. (If I needed an empty border around my text I could bought a white reader.
  
• You can easily see all your books (even if they are thousands - try this with Nickel!, you have to wait for hours ...) in a folder view, or you can search for a book using Series, Author name, Title (if you using Calibre for your library)
  

Hmmm... using Metazoas/GeoffR's patcher, the amount of wasted space on epubs is pretty minimal while keeping the page number at the bottom -- ~2mm at the top of the screen and ~5mm at the bottom. Side margins are pretty much having text touch the edge so I set a margin to keep text ~1mm from the edges. If I really want, I can enable full page reading and get rid of the page number at the bottom. Note that Kobo's ereaders do respect the ebook's CSS so if the epub says 3em side margins, you'll need to edit the epub to fix this.

I currently have ~2800 epubs on my Aura H20. Searching pops up results rapidly -- faster than koreader. As for viewing the raw library? Even with my number of books, it wouldn't take hours to page through the entire library if I was ever foolish enough to do that instead of using search and you do have the options of sorting your library by Recent, Title, Author, File Type and File Size (the last I've never used).

Hmm... quick check on searching for a specific book (We Few by John Ringo and David Weber filed as part of the Prince Roger series). Tap on search bar on the home screen and type letter p -- page full of results before my finger reaches for the next letter. Type 'r' and the Prince Roger series is on the page. Tap the series name and there are the four books in the series. Tap on "We Few" and the book opens Total elapsed time <3 seconds to find the book and 2 seconds to have it opened and ready to read.

The only wait for hours is when you first copy a large number of epubs over and then let them process -- something that koreader does not need to do so a point in it's favour. OTOH, that processing only happens when I've needed to do a factory reset and do not have a recent copy of the database to restore -- all my non-Kobo ebooks live on an external uSD card so they don't get wiped during the factory reset.

I do have koreader on my Aura H2O but I find less and less use for it -- my iPad is a better device for PDF files simpler due to the larger screen and I don't have many fb2, pdb, etc. ebooks and most of those I do have were converted to epub and edited quite a while back.

As for expensive screen area? I may be looking at it differently from you but what I have paid Baen alone for ebooks makes the cost of my Aura H2O a minimal part of my reading costs.

[MGlitch]

So, I tried it out, used the KSM method (thank you to Ken for making that an easy to follow guide).

The install went smooth, and was really easy once I found Ken's post using KSM since I've got an H2O.

Wasn't a huge fan of the UI of KSM, but eh, it's just a means to an end so not a biggie (I really wouldn't even count this as a reason to use KoReader or not, it's really not a big deal).

KoReader itself, well I can now say for certain I vastly prefer Kobo's library method, which includes 'collections' (which are adjustable using Calibre) to the default KoReader. I would investigate tweaking this further, but it's really just the start of the big issues.

The settings for reading, maybe it was just me using the last available nightly build for koreader but I didn't see a font size option, or margin option, or line spacing, etc. I did see the ability to change fonts and a number of other non-reader settings.

Opening books takes about the same amount of time, Koreader just tells you it's opening the book.

Overall I just don't think it's for me, I can see from some folks here that the PDF rendering may be better, but I'm only reading epubs. It was a fun little experiment, but I'll stick with the stock reader, which is actually quite good and those who haven't looked at it in some time may want to check it out.