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Ebook/PDF readers on Android

Started by Sebastian Cobb, March 29, 2021, 03:08:27 PM

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Sebastian Cobb

I've just signed up to Tribune as the digital subscription was only a fiver.

I usually read ebooks on my nook, but a quick squint at the difference between pdf/epub shows I'd be missing a lot of good pictures and graphics reading this on my nook, so will use my tablet to flick through it I think.

Do any of them offer sync? I quite like the idea of doing the bulk of the reading on my tablet, but being able to pick up where I last left off on my phone if I feel like it.

Zetetic

Moon+ Reader has worked pretty well for me on a janky underpowered e-ink device running an ancient version of Android, including for PDFs.

I've never tried the sync feature, claims it supports using either DropBox or any WebDav server.

touchingcloth

I have a Kindle, and I use Caliber to email books and documents over to it.

The Kindle app for iOS does a decent job at rendering things like if I ever have a need to read on my phone rather than Kindle. I can't vouch for colour documents with images specifically, but the email sync works painlessly.

Sebastian Cobb

Sorry, by sync I meant not only making the documents available - but also being able to pick up where I left off on another device.

I think kindle stuff might do this but I don't have one, I have a nook which while old and a bit clunky to get stuff on and off of, is fine as a reader.

I know there's a different format for digital comic books and associated software to view them. Maybe I should look at those too?

touchingcloth

The Kindle app syncs that way as well - I can start reading on my phone and pick up where I left off on the e-reader and vice versa without needing to do anything special. It syncs bookmarks and highlights as well.

Worth looking into, as I don't think you need a Kindle to use the app, just an Amazon account.

Zetetic

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on March 29, 2021, 04:06:55 PM
Sorry, by sync I meant not only making the documents available - but also being able to pick up where I left off on another device.
"Reading positions" sync, I've seen this referred to.

This is what I meant Moon+ supports, using either DropBox or any WebDav server as a backend.

Sebastian Cobb

Giving moon+ reader a go. Functionally seems OK but navigation is a little fiddly. Cheers.

Dex Sawash


Accidentally turned on kindle function that shows you the random words and phrases other people had highlighted. Give that a go if you are feeling over-optimistic about the future of humanity.

Zetetic

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on March 30, 2021, 10:00:07 AM
but navigation is a little fiddly
It is. I find it's one of those things that's very good if you can find a way to get it setup so that it suits how you want to use it, and it supports about 60-80% of the customisation needed to make that easy.

Sebastian Cobb

It's probably fine with single column e-books, but zooming to multiple columns just made it a bit clunky.

One of the major things that annoys me about my nook is its page count has no direct relationship to the the virtual page, so one screens worth is never really a single page. It should really recalculate that based on text size etc.

Zetetic

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on March 30, 2021, 11:45:20 AM
but zooming to multiple columns just made it a bit clunky.
Are these PDFs?



Zetetic

I don't think I've ever found a great solution for that. Have had intermittent success with pre-re-flowing but I suspect that this won't work so well with something image-heavy (but I might be behind the times).

Sebastian Cobb

The ePub will do that, but loses the pictures too and some of them are good.

Is this how most digital mags work? And people actually choose this over paper?

touchingcloth

Quote from: Zetetic on March 30, 2021, 11:54:33 AM
I don't think I've ever found a great solution for that. Have had intermittent success with pre-re-flowing but I suspect that this won't work so well with something image-heavy (but I might be behind the times).

PDF support on e-readers is the single biggest flaw I can think of. Refresh speeds of e-ink are too low to make the necessary panning and scanning a pain, and the file format doesn't lend itself to easily plucking out content. I'd love something with a hybrid screen which can switch between OLED and e-ink. Alas.

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on March 30, 2021, 11:56:51 AM
Is this how most digital mags work? And people actually choose this over paper?

Nah. They use things HPUB and .folio as formats.

Zetetic

Quote from: touchingcloth on March 30, 2021, 02:13:09 PM
PDF support on e-readers is the single biggest flaw I can think of ... the file format doesn't lend itself to easily plucking out content
It feels like a broadly tractable problem, but I just don't think there's enough interest. I'm not aware of any serious competition to k2pdfopt.

Wilbur

Not sure if this is of help but I subscribe to various publications that are in mainly pdf and I find Xodo is fine. The main thing it does which lots don't is horizontal display so you can read it across like a peper or magazine and has a decent resoltion when you resize it.