Exploring Android-friendly eBook Readers
Image Source: http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hDUNFjhnMvo/TS3O_LBuKEI/AAAAAAAAEr4/l1xuS-ir4VY/7-Inch-Android-Tablet-real.jpg
A colleague asked recently, “Are there any ePub readers available for this 7 inch Android tablet?”
This question caught me by surprise…could an Android tablet really work well as a Nook? Although I hadn’t really thought of it, it appears that a Nook is 7 inches in height and 4.x in width. Why couldn’t it?
This is a question I’ve asked myself in the past, but I realize that I hadn’t explored it in the detail needed to provide a comprehensive answer (not that this one will be that comprehensive!). Although I’ve played with ePub reader software, or apps, in the Google Market, as I am a fast reader, I found the screen of my Android phone (Motorola Cliq) to be a tad small for comfortable reading…flicking the page forward a zillion times just didn’t make for an enjoyable reading experience.
Let’s see…for an Android tablet to be worthwhile as a reading platform, it would have to be at least as good as my Nook:
- About the same screen size so I wouldn’t have to turn the page 1300 times for a 300 page book. Maybe 600 page turns would be acceptable.
- It would have to have an ePub reader, the format I primarily have all my ebooks in and that is popular on the Web.
- It would be easy to get the ebooks from my computer onto the Android tablet…maybe, as easy as plugging the Android in so that I could access the SD card as a USB drive on my computer’s desktop. My motorola Cliq—an Android device—does this now, so how hard it could it be for an Android tablet?
From this short list, maybe the following questions:
- What are the screen dimensions of the Android tablet?
- What ePub reader is available through the Market?
- Is there an miniSD or SD card slot available on the tablet?
- Does it come with a USB cable connection?
- What version of the Android OS will run on the tablet?
I’m not sure what other questions would be helpful to ask, but these are certainly a start!
CHOOSING EPUB READER FOR ANDROID DEVICE
At this time, not having been able able to lay hands on the Android tablet, about the only question I can answer is “What ePub reader is available through the Market?” I’ve played with a few on my Android phone, such Aldiko and Laputa. Of the two, Laputa is my favorite.
View a lot more screenshots online
Get Laputa:
Of course, there are many other ebook readers that will work on Android; here are a few that are no-cost:
- Laputa - This allows you to access book online, but more importantly, import books you may have stored on your SD (mini or not) card.
- Aldiko - Aldiko supports ePub and PDF, as well as Adobe eBook DRM technology.
- Cool Reader - Supports epub (non-DRM), fb2, txt, rtf, html, chm, tcr formats.
- FBReader - This supports ePub format, as well as other more eccentric ones. There are desktop apps available for Windows and GNU/Linux.
- Nook/Kindle for Android - Since I own a Nook, I’d probably install Nook for Android…and I’m sure a Kindle owner would do the same for Kindle app on Android.
You can find a comprehensive list online here, but these are the top 5 I would try first (and in this order) if searching for an ebook/ePub reader for an Android device, such as a tablet.