Recent Mantano Pro Problems

Kai Winters · 07-12-2014, 05:26 PM

Hi all,
I recently, three days ago, allowed Mantano Pro to update it's app on my Samsung Galaxy 5 Player and the update crashed the app.
When I try to open a book, any book, to read I get the following window

Sorry
the application Mantano Reader Premium, process com. mantano.reader.android, has stopped unexpectedly. Try again.

Well I've tried numerous times including shutting down the reader with the same result.
I've sent off a report to Mantano but nothing yet.

I've also purchased Moon + Reader and am enjoying it after a learning and cussing curve.
In some ways it is better than Mantano, in other ways I still prefer Mantano and hope they fix the problem soon.

Anyone else experience this situation?

Katsunami · 07-12-2014, 06:00 PM

Have you tried removing the application, then rebooting the device, and re-installing it again?

DiapDealer · 07-12-2014, 06:22 PM

Mantano Pro just added support for epub 3. It's a separate reader from the epub 2 reader. Try opening up the reader settings and disable the "use epub 3 reader" setting (although it shouldn't try the epub3 reader if it doesn't detect a v3 opf). You can also go into the properties of a book (long-press in the library) and force epub3s to open with the epub2 reader.

I only get crashes with the new version when trying to open a full-blown epub3 when the epub3 reader is disabled in the settings.

It's working fine (besides the new epub3 features needing some work, of course) on my Nexus 7 (2013).

HarryT · 07-13-2014, 05:54 AM

Please post in the correct forum - you've been an MR member more than long enough to know what forum to post in.

Moved to the "Reading and Management" forum.

Kai Winters · 07-13-2014, 10:30 AM

Uninstalled it immediately after the "upgrade" with no positive results.
Uninstall and reinstall just now and it works as before.

At the least I now have two reader apps that I like and can move from one to another should the need arise.
Thanks for the help.

A bit cranky Harry?
sheesh, a thousand pardons for posting in the "wrong" area...

HarryT · 07-13-2014, 11:24 AM

It was the wrong place, Kai. No question about it. Posting in the "Android Devices" forum would have been OK. This forum is better, though. "General Discussions" is just plain wrong. 5 years as an MR member really is enough time to know that

.

bobstro · 07-13-2014, 12:56 PM

I've moved to Moon+ for most fiction reading, but Mantano still does the best job of formatting technical books (e.g. O'Reilly Press), so I'm keeping it around. As of the last update, I get crashes when importing large numbers of books. It's essentially unusable for now. They're pretty good about issuing fixes, so I'm hoping it gets resolved in the next few days. They are responsive to their online (though clunky) messaging system, so probably worth making a mention there.

DiapDealer · 07-14-2014, 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobstro

It's essentially unusable for now. They're pretty good about issuing fixes, so I'm hoping it gets resolved in the next few days. They are responsive to their online (though clunky) messaging system, so probably worth making a mention there.

"Unusable" seems a a bit harsh. I still read with it every day with absolutely no issues (except maybe when experimenting with the new epub 3 features). Business as usual for me from 2.6.0.0 to 2.6.0.1 to 2.6.0.2. Only crash I experienced was when trying to force a version 3 epub to be opened with the epub2 reader. *shrug*

bobstro · 07-14-2014, 12:24 PM

Unusable in the sense that I wasn't able to get any books into it! Books already present before I tried reinstalling were fine, but I uninstalled and tried a fresh install. It would get to 1-2% of the import process, then crash. I finally got it to complete importing ~200 books at one sitting, but it took several attempts and was very slow throughout the process.

I've used Mantano for years, including their paid cloud service, and this isn't the first time they've had issues with a new release. It usually gets updated and works fine after a few days. This release just had more issues than I've experienced from them lately.

DiapDealer · 07-14-2014, 01:25 PM

That probably explains it. I rarely import more than a handful of books at any one time in any reading software/device.

Still, you have to admit ... "trouble importing 200+ books in one go" hardly qualifies as unusable.

Hope you get some relief soon.

bobstro · 07-14-2014, 01:55 PM

Well... if you can't get a book into it to read, it's a bit of a problem reading with it!

Overall, I like Mantano a lot. Their page rendering is excellent. I'm still going to use Mantano for technical books, but otherwise, I'm finding Moon+ less work. It just seems Moon+ is moving past it in some areas that are important to me. This latest hiccup hasn't helped.

DiapDealer · 07-14-2014, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobstro

Well... if you can't get a book into it to read, it's a bit of a problem reading with it!

My bad, I thought the problem was importing 200 books. Are you saying that once you uninstalled/re-installed, you couldn't import a single book and start reading?

I keep Moon+ Pro around to see if I can ever warm up to it, but so far, no luck. It seems more concerned with helping readers utterly defy an ebook's formatting rather than just displaying it. Which is all well and good when the internal format needs defying, but not so much when the ebook's internal formatting is already the way a reader prefers it and Moon displays it every which way BUT the way they want to see it (even when using the publisher-defaults mode). *shrug*

Moon's a great reader for "homogenizing" all the books a reader throws at it, but it just flat-out refuses to give me the "don't f*** with the formatting of this particular book one single bit" option I'm looking for.

HarryT · 07-14-2014, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Moon's a great reader for "homogenizing" all the books a reader throws at it, but it just flat-out refuses to give me the "don't f*** with the formatting of this particular book one single bit" option I'm looking for.

You're absolutely right, but personally I rather like that. I can set it up the way I like it, and then all my books look like that. It does very odd things to a small number of books: I have a couple of Agatha Christie books that look fine in every other reader, but which Moon+ decided that the book was so good, that it would display it twice

- the book displays normally, chapter 1 to whatever, and then starts all over again at chapter 1 again. That weirdness apart, I really like Moon+.

Personally I'm not bothered about importing lots of books into my reading app, because I maintain my (large) library in Calibre Companion, and just read books one at a time in the reading app.

DiapDealer · 07-14-2014, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

You're absolutely right, but personally I rather like that.

There's no doubt that the homogeneous ereading typographic experience is attractive to a great many people -- hence Moon's growing popularity. I'm just one of those readers who are still interested in a little variety when it comes to electronic "typography"; just as I was with physical books. Show me what the creator of the book intended first and foremost, and then if there's something about the formatting I just can't live with, I'll tweak it. I have no desire to beat all my ebooks into the same typographic mold. But to each their own ... absolutely.

I also only have a book or two in Mantano's library at any given time. I use CC as well ... but mostly just to forgo the USB cable (or to connect to the calibre content server where my library resides).

bobstro · 07-14-2014, 05:49 PM

I've pared my Mantano collection back to only the aforementioned technical titles in epub format, plus PDFs, for a total of about 500 titles. This is my reference collection that I like to have available at work and home. I don't plan on reading these all cover-to-cover, but do need them at odd times.

In the past, I've always used Calibre (or CC before KitKat complicated things) to squirt processed ebooks directly onto my device in the Mantano directory, then tapped the Import button in Mantano to discover and add new titles without having to create a second copy for Mantano. This has worked for some years since Mantano was new and I purchased it originally.

Today, after struggling through the process of importing the collection of ebooks already on the device, I tested by dragging three new epubs into the Mantano directory and tapping import. Apparently, it discovered 250+ titles it missed last time (it must have crashed). After many minutes, it's at 2% and not looking too promising. [Edit: It seemed to complete, but pressing Import again reveals 180 titles to be imported.]

While I can open individual titles through Mantano's file explorer, or presumably using something like CC, it is essentially unusable in the way that I've used it for years. Whatever broke seems to be related to the new version, as I never had this difficulty with recent previous versions.

Again, I still like Mantano and prefer its formatting for many of the same reasons others mention. I just want to confirm to the OP that there seem to be issues with the latest version.

I do like the consistency of formatting for fiction and light reading that Moon+ provides. Mantano provides some basic formatting control through theming, but some ebooks are just poorly laid out and I'd rather not fiddle with settings when switching books. For technical titles where indentation and formatting really matter, Mantano is definitely better. I find Google's reader and B&N's handling of complex formatting the best, but each of those has its own set of complications. Mantano is still (assuming it gets fixed) my preference.

07-12-2014, 05:26 PM	#1
Kai Winters Lover of Books Posts: 218 Karma: 1073074 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Northern NY Device: iPhone 7+	Recent Mantano Pro Problems Hi all, I recently, three days ago, allowed Mantano Pro to update it's app on my Samsung Galaxy 5 Player and the update crashed the app. When I try to open a book, any book, to read I get the following window Sorry the application Mantano Reader Premium, process com. mantano.reader.android, has stopped unexpectedly. Try again. Well I've tried numerous times including shutting down the reader with the same result. I've sent off a report to Mantano but nothing yet. I've also purchased Moon + Reader and am enjoying it after a learning and cussing curve. In some ways it is better than Mantano, in other ways I still prefer Mantano and hope they fix the problem soon. Anyone else experience this situation?

07-13-2014, 05:54 AM	#4
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Please post in the correct forum - you've been an MR member more than long enough to know what forum to post in. Moved to the "Reading and Management" forum. Last edited by HarryT; 07-13-2014 at 06:27 AM.

07-14-2014, 12:24 PM	#9
bobstro Zealot Posts: 100 Karma: 440392 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: MA Device: Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014,Hisense Sero Pro 7,Kobo Aura, Kobo Mini	Unusable in the sense that I wasn't able to get any books into it! Books already present before I tried reinstalling were fine, but I uninstalled and tried a fresh install. It would get to 1-2% of the import process, then crash. I finally got it to complete importing ~200 books at one sitting, but it took several attempts and was very slow throughout the process. I've used Mantano for years, including their paid cloud service, and this isn't the first time they've had issues with a new release. It usually gets updated and works fine after a few days. This release just had more issues than I've experienced from them lately. Last edited by bobstro; 07-14-2014 at 12:29 PM.

07-14-2014, 05:49 PM	#15
bobstro Zealot Posts: 100 Karma: 440392 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: MA Device: Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014,Hisense Sero Pro 7,Kobo Aura, Kobo Mini	I've pared my Mantano collection back to only the aforementioned technical titles in epub format, plus PDFs, for a total of about 500 titles. This is my reference collection that I like to have available at work and home. I don't plan on reading these all cover-to-cover, but do need them at odd times. In the past, I've always used Calibre (or CC before KitKat complicated things) to squirt processed ebooks directly onto my device in the Mantano directory, then tapped the Import button in Mantano to discover and add new titles without having to create a second copy for Mantano. This has worked for some years since Mantano was new and I purchased it originally. Today, after struggling through the process of importing the collection of ebooks already on the device, I tested by dragging three new epubs into the Mantano directory and tapping import. Apparently, it discovered 250+ titles it missed last time (it must have crashed). After many minutes, it's at 2% and not looking too promising. [Edit: It seemed to complete, but pressing Import again reveals 180 titles to be imported.] While I can open individual titles through Mantano's file explorer, or presumably using something like CC, it is essentially unusable in the way that I've used it for years. Whatever broke seems to be related to the new version, as I never had this difficulty with recent previous versions. Again, I still like Mantano and prefer its formatting for many of the same reasons others mention. I just want to confirm to the OP that there seem to be issues with the latest version. I do like the consistency of formatting for fiction and light reading that Moon+ provides. Mantano provides some basic formatting control through theming, but some ebooks are just poorly laid out and I'd rather not fiddle with settings when switching books. For technical titles where indentation and formatting really matter, Mantano is definitely better. I find Google's reader and B&N's handling of complex formatting the best, but each of those has its own set of complications. Mantano is still (assuming it gets fixed) my preference. Last edited by bobstro; 07-14-2014 at 06:24 PM.

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07-12-2014, 06:00 PM	#2
Katsunami Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,111 Karma: 34000001 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: KPW1, KA1	Have you tried removing the application, then rebooting the device, and re-installing it again?

07-12-2014, 06:22 PM	#3
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 27,550 Karma: 193191846 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	Mantano Pro just added support for epub 3. It's a separate reader from the epub 2 reader. Try opening up the reader settings and disable the "use epub 3 reader" setting (although it shouldn't try the epub3 reader if it doesn't detect a v3 opf). You can also go into the properties of a book (long-press in the library) and force epub3s to open with the epub2 reader. I only get crashes with the new version when trying to open a full-blown epub3 when the epub3 reader is disabled in the settings. It's working fine (besides the new epub3 features needing some work, of course) on my Nexus 7 (2013).

07-13-2014, 10:30 AM	#5
Kai Winters Lover of Books Posts: 218 Karma: 1073074 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Northern NY Device: iPhone 7+	Uninstalled it immediately after the "upgrade" with no positive results. Uninstall and reinstall just now and it works as before. At the least I now have two reader apps that I like and can move from one to another should the need arise. Thanks for the help. A bit cranky Harry? sheesh, a thousand pardons for posting in the "wrong" area...

07-13-2014, 11:24 AM	#6
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	It was the wrong place, Kai. No question about it. Posting in the "Android Devices" forum would have been OK. This forum is better, though. "General Discussions" is just plain wrong. 5 years as an MR member really is enough time to know that .

07-13-2014, 12:56 PM	#7
bobstro Zealot Posts: 100 Karma: 440392 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: MA Device: Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014,Hisense Sero Pro 7,Kobo Aura, Kobo Mini	I've moved to Moon+ for most fiction reading, but Mantano still does the best job of formatting technical books (e.g. O'Reilly Press), so I'm keeping it around. As of the last update, I get crashes when importing large numbers of books. It's essentially unusable for now. They're pretty good about issuing fixes, so I'm hoping it gets resolved in the next few days. They are responsive to their online (though clunky) messaging system, so probably worth making a mention there.

07-14-2014, 01:25 PM	#10
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 27,550 Karma: 193191846 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	That probably explains it. I rarely import more than a handful of books at any one time in any reading software/device. Still, you have to admit ... "trouble importing 200+ books in one go" hardly qualifies as unusable. Hope you get some relief soon.

07-14-2014, 01:55 PM	#11
bobstro Zealot Posts: 100 Karma: 440392 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: MA Device: Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014,Hisense Sero Pro 7,Kobo Aura, Kobo Mini	Well... if you can't get a book into it to read, it's a bit of a problem reading with it! Overall, I like Mantano a lot. Their page rendering is excellent. I'm still going to use Mantano for technical books, but otherwise, I'm finding Moon+ less work. It just seems Moon+ is moving past it in some areas that are important to me. This latest hiccup hasn't helped.

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