non-Amazon ebook readers on $50 Fire

[bcbob]

edit: I bought one of these as was able to install Google Play and from there the 3M Cloud and Axis 360 ereader apps. See post #8 in this topic.


I am interested in buying one of the new Amazon Fire tablets as a gift. Reading library books is important to my giftee so has anyone been able to install an app, download and read a book on it? I see a lot of apps listed on the Amazon Appstore but when I read the comments there are many complaints that they do not work on Amazon tablets so I am looking for hands on experience.

I am interested in some specific Apps (I have used these on a non-Amazon Android tablet and they do work):
Overdrive
Freading
Axis-360
3M Cloud Reader

other apps used by your library may also interest other forum users.

TIA

Bob

p.s. Amazon's naming of their tablets is really confusing. That is why I call it the $50 tablet. I think there is only one of those.

p.p.s If this is the wrong forum, please move it to the right one.

[AnemicOak]

I don't have that specific Fire, but Amazon has OverDrive and some of the other library apps in their appstore and do not block OverDrive from working on my Fire (HDX 8.9). If they don't have the specific app you need, I don't think they have Freading, most free apps can be sideloaded.

Amazon does block 3rd party readers like Moon+ and Mantano (it says they're "incompatible"), but sideloading can be done if one of those is needed.

[bcbob]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

I don't have that specific Fire, but Amazon has OverDrive and some of the other library apps in their appstore and do not block OverDrive from working on my Fire (HDX 8.9). If they don't have the specific app you need, I don't think they have Freading, most free apps can be sideloaded.

Some questions:
Have you been able to get other ebook reading apps besides Overdrive to work on your device?

By "sideloading" I assume you mean to download the app's apk file directly to the tablet using the Silk browser and then somehow installing it. Can you provide a link to some specific instructions for an Android newbie?

[Josieb1]

I have sideload kobo and moon reader pro onto my HDX, but to do that you need the apk from your Google app. I have an old Asus I use as my portial.

I download the app to my Asus.
Back it up using Clean Master
Locate the back up using ES File Explorer
Send the Apk backup to my Fire using ES File Explorer. For this you need the ES app on both the Android device and the Fire, it's in the Amazon app store.
You could also transfer it via your PC if you copy it from the Asus to your pc then from the PC to the Fire via USB

I then install the app on my Fire. First you need to allow the Fire to install apps from other sources in settings.

[bcbob]

Thanks for the information. I take it HDX is not the $50 tablet?

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I have sideload kobo and moon reader pro onto my HDX,

I found these detailed instructions on how to sideload:
http://www.lovemyfire.com/google-pla...ndle-fire.html

Looks pretty complicated requiring installing programs on my PC and helper apps on the Fire.

It might be doable though. I do have to consider whether perhaps just buying a general purpose Android tablet that can download from the Google Play store directly is a better idea.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by bcbob

Thanks for the information. I take it HDX is not the $50 tablet?



I found these detailed instructions on how to sideload:
http://www.lovemyfire.com/google-pla...ndle-fire.html

Looks pretty complicated requiring installing programs on my PC and helper apps on the Fire.

It might be doable though. I do have to consider whether perhaps just buying a general purpose Android tablet that can download from the Google Play store directly is a better idea.

You don't need to get anywhere near that complicated for most apps.

You can download the APK for any apps that are free on Google Play by going to http://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/ and pasting in the Google Play URL to get a download link.

For paid apps it can get more complicated.

There is a thread in the Fire forum that has a link to installing the Play store on your Fire which people have reported success with too so that might be an option as well.

I run OverDrive (from Amazon's store), Moon+ Pro, Mantano & Zinio on my Fire and have run others like Aldiko, Alreader, Pocketbook, Scribd, etc.

There are also third party app stores that can be installed to get apps from as well.


That said. If the majority of the apps you'll want aren't available directly from Amazon for the Fire then it doesn't make a ton of sense to go the Fire route, not when there are plenty of "regular" Android options out there running the Play Store by default.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by bcbob

Thanks for the information. I take it HDX is not the $50 tablet?



I found these detailed instructions on how to sideload:
http://www.lovemyfire.com/google-pla...ndle-fire.html

Looks pretty complicated requiring installing programs on my PC and helper apps on the Fire.

It might be doable though. I do have to consider whether perhaps just buying a general purpose Android tablet that can download from the Google Play store directly is a better idea.

If you need or want specific Android apps then don't get a Fire, the frustrations will just annoy you in the end. My HDX is a 2013 model, I did buy it early this year but when it was heavily reduced.

[bcbob]

I couldn't resist the Black Friday $35 special so I broke down and bought one. I had found a video that shows how to install the Google Play store that looked doable: http://youtu.be/a0gNU595b-g
See written instructions at http://www.troypoint.com/how-to-inst...th-gen-tablet/

The tablet arrives so I girded my loins and started following the instructions. When I got to the part about installing the Universal ADB driver I stopped since I hate installing software on my computer. So I went to my old XP computer and tried it but it did not work. I was determined by this point so I went back to my Windows 7 machine and tried the driver install but that did not work either. I did not see the 'Android device option.' I fooled around for a couple of hours and finally came across an answer to the comments by others having the same problem. The guy, Troy Point, who authored the original post suggested the driver installer at http://adbdriver.com/

That worked great. I then followed the instructions and they worked. In the batch file, I just went directly to installing Google Play instead of testing the driver like Troy suggests in the video.

So now I have a tablet with google play store. I installed the 3M Cloud Library and the Axis 360 app and they both work. I also installed some of my must have google apps like Keep. All working fine.

The tablet is good. Fast, decent display, well built. It is a little heavy, 313 grams but I can work with that. Of course I also have access to the Amazon stuff like Kindle ebooks, videos, music and so on.

So after all that work I feel like buying another one to amortize the effort