Which e reader for android?

[turbotoes]

Hi guys,

I hope I'm asking in the right place, I'm looking for a recommendation for an epub reader for a new android phone.
I'm used to ibooks and just want a way of reading my existing ebook library on my phone.

I want the books stored on my phone not in the cloud. so I need to be able to 'sideload' via my network or via usb cable to my PC

I don't need access to a book store.

A bookshelf view and be able to create collections if possible.

I am happy to pay for the app, would prefer that in fact.

any ideas? I don't have the phone yet,, but have looked at and discounted 'play books' as it doesn't seems to allow me to add books directly to my device (checked with ios version)

thanks in advance

[kacir]

Have a look at CoolReader, FBReader, AlReader and Moon+ reader.
All are highly customizable, support many formats.
My favorite at the moment is AlReader, because it supports e-ink screen on my Android-based e-ink reader.

Of those only Moon+ reader is paid, but there is excellent free version missing a few advanced features.

Disclaimer: there are quite a few e-book reading apps out there. People have wildly different tastes. Some prefer ability to override publisher formatting, others like minimalistic features and perfect rendering of book format as done by publisher.
You have to try several apps to see what *you* like.

[spindlegirl]

I am a long time fan of Moon+ reader. In later August, (and I can't remember which other time of year) the premium version can be obtained for half price, but I bought mine in August.

Moonreader is not linked to any store, and is for non-DRM books only. I use this on my phone and tablet, and is a great accessory to my Kindle which I also use.

[Tikker]

once you get it working, Moon+ is great. it does a pretty good job of syncing reading progress between devices

[copyrite]

I'll be glad to help skew the votes towards Moon+, paid version. I use it on three devices. Very configurable. I wish my e-ink Kindle was as feature rich!

[barryem]

I also use Moon+ on my phone. I do most of my reading on my Kindle but when I'm away I use my phone and Moon+. I started using it because it has a really good selection of features. In particular I like that I can scroll instead of turning pages. I got used to doing that decades ago on my Palm, where most ereader apps scrolled, and always preferred that.

Another nice feature, not unique to Moon+ but that a lot of readers don't have is it's simple integration with Dropbox. I keep my current book and quite a few of my possible next reads on Dropbox and Moon+ lets me access them as easily as I can access books stored on my phone. I always copy the book to the phone to read it, and Moon+ makes doing that trivial as well.

I have a second phone that I use when my regular phone is charging and Moon+ syncs between them using Dropbox even easier and faster than my Kindles sync between themselves.

The big drawback of Moon+, in my opinion, is that it seems to be fairly hard on the battery. When I read with it I have to charge it more than when I watch Youtube on the phone. But I put up with that because it's otherwise so good.

Barry

[Cinisajoy]

Another Moon+ user here.

[church mouse]

Kacir's list above is very good. The only two I would add are Pocketbook (which works well once one has figured out the UI), and Gitden reader (this is quite simplistic but does honour the book css, unlike many reader apps).

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by church mouse

Kacir's list above is very good. The only two I would add are Pocketbook (which works well once one has figured out the UI), and Gitden reader (this is quite simplistic but does honour the book css, unlike many reader apps).

I use Bookari Premium on my tablet, mainly because it seems to honour the publisher's CSS. That is very important to me because I mainly use it to test ebooks I design.

Is there a list anywhere identifying the apps which honour the publisher's CSS?

[Terisa de morgan]

gitden honours css, as @church mouse. I prefer it to Bookari because I can get number of pages by chapter in an easy way (not showing directly in footer but with a touch).

I don't really know with options it has or how its library is, as I us CC for library and I customize my epubs in css, not in the app.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

I use Bookari Premium on my tablet, mainly because it seems to honour the publisher's CSS. That is very important to me because I mainly use it to test ebooks I design.

Is there a list anywhere identifying the apps which honour the publisher's CSS?

Good though Moon+ is (it's my preferred Android ePub reader) this is its weakness: it overrides the publisher's CSS whether you want it to or not. Not that that matters, of course, to the average user.

[stumped]

another vote for moon + pro
in my experience it overrides little or no publishers' CSS once you tune it to your liking
and it has anoption to display exactly as the publisher intended ( which usually looks awful ) via a simple switch
some old instructions for enabling that option are here: http://www.mobileread.mobi/forums/sh...d.php?t=242229

one thing it does lack is a decent manual. If stuff that is intuitive to everyone else is not so for you, then get used to posting dumb questions
Bookari does not really properly " honour " original CSS - instead it imposes it's own themes, as CSS overrides, but which are mostly well behaved enough to not make a mess. I abandoned it for Moon because I got fed up of Bookari's frequent glitchy upgrades and of unpredictable crashes ( usually towards the end of long chapters) on my Fire tablet

[kacir]

I am not using Moon+ at the moment, because it doesn't allow you to have hyphenation AND left justification at the same time. When you switch the hyphenation on it will switch to full justification. When you switch it back to left justification it disables hyphenation. I reported a bug and the author replied that it is a feature and not a bug.
I will have to update the app and have a look again. I haven't used it for quite a few months.

In the meanwhile, I use AlReader. It has all configuration options I want and lets me override publishers formatting. It even has slightly better support for e-ink and that is very important for me, because I use it on an e-ink device.

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by church mouse

...The only two I would add are Pocketbook (which works well once one has figured out the UI...

I use Pocketbook on both phone and tablet. As Church Mouse says it has a user interface that takes a little time to become familiar with, but for me I then found it very quick and easy to use, together with a lot of flexibility and is free. It also seems to be less well known.

For me the only way to choose for myself is to try all the commonly recommended ones and take it from there, then periodically repeat that exercise. A couple of months ago I ran again through the most commonly used alternatives and found Pocket book still suited me best.

[DiapDealer]

Been a huge fan of Bookari for several years, now. I use the premium version nearly exclusively for my reading.