Quote:
Originally Posted by askyn
What would be the advantages / differences about using coolreader vs the fbreader thats on the PB360?
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The differences are mostly a matter of personal preference and, on the PB360, of the maturity of the app.
FBReader is already a polished app, fully-integrated into the PB reading environment (uses the PB dictionary functions, note-taking, start-up page option, etc). It also has a built-in GUI front-end for its extensive customization options. Oh, and FBReader supports Mobi/PRC files, which Coolreader 3 doesn't.
Coolreader, being still in beta, lacks the PB360 integration and the cosmetics are likely a work in progress. It does offer two compelling features:
1- like the Adobe Reader, it respects epub embedded CSS formatting (like the AdobeReader app) while allowing basic end-user overides for baseline font, margins, line-spacing (which requires the hacked app on PB360). It also has a toggle that lets you choose to ignore the embedded CSS the way FBReader does.
2- it offers a dual-column landscape mode. It might seem like a novelty but on larger screen devices the feature is useful. On 6" readers the scan width is a tad narrow unless you use a small font size; on the PB IQ it starts to be reasonable and on 902/903 it should be really useful.
For those that don't mind getting their hands dirty, Coolreader offers full external overides, similar to FBReader, but by file type. It references a separate CSS file for each supported file type: epub, fb2, rtf, chm, txt, html.
I've used both Coolreader and FBreader on my old BeBook 1 and IQ and it is nice to see the PB360 get the newer Coolreader 3 version (at last! No superscript/subscript bug on rtf!) at about the same level of functionality as the Android version that runs on the Pocketbook IQ. Very nice job!
On the Pocketbook IQ Coolreader 3 and FBreader are roughly neck and neck with FBReader's mobi and OPDS support counterbalanced by Coolreader's embedded CSS support and dual-column landscape options.
Which to use is mostly a matter of preference and specific need; how much end-user control do you want/need?
The fun part is that the PB360 now has 5 ebook reader apps to choose from; two FBReaders, two Adobe readers, and Coolreader 3.
Unfortunately, there's *still* no LIT support.
