Samsung Galaxy 5 as an ereader?

[Kai Winters]

Hi all,
I'm looking for comments from those that are using the Samsung Galaxy 5 as an ereader.
What app are you using?
How do you like it as a reader?
Does it use the full screen?
I have Mantano on my Kindle Fire, sideloaded, and like it as a reader. Is anyone using it on the Galaxy5 and if so how do you like it?

While loving the KFire I find it a bit larger than I'd like as a "carry along" reader. I primarily use my reader at work and at home, reading in bed before sleep. I'd like something with a smaller footprint and lighter and am considering the Galaxy 5.
I was using the Sony T1 before the KFire and love the footprint of the T1...light and easily slipped in my pants pocket. I can't do that with the KFire but love the LCD screen for night time reading and the wifi is great.

Thanks to those that comment.
Merry Christmas to all and Festivus for the Rest of us...

Originally Posted by Kai Winters

Hi all,
I'm looking for comments from those that are using the Samsung Galaxy 5 as an ereader.
What app are you using?
How do you like it as a reader?
Does it use the full screen?
I have Mantano on my Kindle Fire, sideloaded, and like it as a reader. Is anyone using it on the Galaxy5 and if so how do you like it?

While loving the KFire I find it a bit larger than I'd like as a "carry along" reader. I primarily use my reader at work and at home, reading in bed before sleep. I'd like something with a smaller footprint and lighter and am considering the Galaxy 5.
I was using the Sony T1 before the KFire and love the footprint of the T1...light and easily slipped in my pants pocket. I can't do that with the KFire but love the LCD screen for night time reading and the wifi is great.

Thanks to those that comment.
Merry Christmas to all and Festivus for the Rest of us...

I use the Galaxy 5 with either Cool reader or Moon Reader - both work well but if you want to use Cool Reader at night you have to root and then apply the LED hack found over on XDA-Developers otherwise the "always on" back/menu/home buttons will drive you crazy at night.
With Moon reader you can set it to scroll (and thus you do not to touch the screen to turn pages) so the lights stay off.
Either reader is far superior (IMHO) than anything on any other reader - there is a great variety of formatting and control options to satisfy even the most fastidious reader. And the Galaxy 5 is very pocketable with a long battery life - I moved from a rooted Nook Color to the Galaxy and I like it very much - high quality build, great screen and very lighweight.

[graycyn]

I have a Galaxy 5 and have been trying out different reader apps, I think so far my favorites are Mantano, Moon+ and Aldiko. Have not had any trouble installing reader apps like the Barnes & Noble or Kindle apps. I think the device makes a very nice e-reader if your eyes don't mind a backlit screen. Reading apps do seem to make use of the full screen.

And even if your eyes *do* mind a backlit screen, I find this device easier to read on than any tablet I have tried. For me, I think the slightly higher resolution makes the difference.

The device fits in my hand nicely and it does give me an alternative to e-ink for when I want to read a book that has color photos or illustrations.

Sorry I couldn't post before today, but I was giving hubby one for Xmas, and he reads these forums.

[Jack Tingle]

I just got one today as a Christmas gift. I like it a lot, although page turning is awkward 1 handed. The size is excellent for a hand-held device, with a large, clear screen, and a good sized virtual keyboard. I've had no problems with the Kindle App, and I loaded Mantano and tried it briefly. Oddly enough, the only problem I've had with it is a tendency to hold it upside down when looking for the power-on button. The Samsung logo goes at the top. It is more distraction prone than my Kindle. The fast access to the network causes that. Since that was one thing I wanted it for, that's a feature, not a bug.

[Kai Winters]

Thank you for your input. I appreciate all of them.

[Jack Tingle]

Originally Posted by Jack Tingle

I just got one today as a Christmas gift. I like it a lot, although page turning is awkward 1 handed. The size is excellent for a hand-held device, with a large, clear screen, and a good sized virtual keyboard. I've had no problems with the Kindle App, and I loaded Mantano and tried it briefly.

After a bit more experience, I've added Cool Reader, so I can read fb2 and some other less popular formats. I have a lot of older books in diverse formats.

There is handwriting recognition, but you have to look in some fairly obscure places to activate it. It's DioPen, and seems to be as good as MS's Letter Recognizer, which it slightly resembles. I'd really like a version of Transcriber/Calligrapher for the Android, but apparently no one make that. Phatware makes something called WritePad instead.

The music player is very nice, as are the included earbuds, which have a mike if you want to use Skype. Both cameras work well. I haven't tried any videos of any size, so I can't tell you if I'll be watching "Cleopatra: The Director's Cut" (5 hr.) on it.

No games. Maybe never. I burned out on UT-Austin "Super Star Trek" on a CDC Cyber 70 installation in 1975 and pretty much never looked back. The set of games on the Android Market that pique my interest has approximately zero members; it may even be the empty set.

Battery life thus far is excellent. I keep the LCD on a very dim setting. For direct sunlight, I'd use the Kindle 3/K. For indoors, the G5 is fine.

Regards,
Jack Tingle

[MzTinaFL]

I'm torn...I've been using an iphone as my ereader (old, deactivated one) and thought I'd like to upgrade to something more the size of a paperback. Wow it's too big and I find myself not enjoying the reading experience too much.

I'm either going to stick with my old iphone (which I really wanted to switch out as reader apps suck) or I'll do some more research and see if there is anything similar that will work. Perhaps the Samsung 4.0.

Tina

[Jack Tingle]

Originally Posted by MzTinaFL

I'm torn...I've been using an iphone as my ereader (old, deactivated one) and thought I'd like to upgrade to something more the size of a paperback. Wow it's too big and I find myself not enjoying the reading experience too much.

I'm either going to stick with my old iphone (which I really wanted to switch out as reader apps suck) or I'll do some more research and see if there is anything similar that will work. Perhaps the Samsung 4.0.

The 4 is tempting because of the portability and the changeable battery, but I went with the 5 instead. I wanted a replacement for my old jetBook 5" ereader (smaller size, format flexibility). Go to Best Buy and compare the two. I found the 5" size tolerable and (as in many things) size matters.

Regards,
Jack Tingle