Back when I got my first Android tablet a few years ago, and converted from a dedicated eReader device to the tablet, I sampled quite a few Android apps for book reading. One of those was FBReader, which back in those days, you had to install manually (called side loading) on your Android device. As I fully transitioned my reading activities from my trusty Pandigital Novel ereader over to the LePan tablet, I eventually settled on the Kindle App for ebook chores. Looking back I would say that a major factor in this decision was because although FBReader could easily handle .epub files, it could not handle .mobi or .azw files.
As my reading habits evolved some things changed. I set up a calibre server on my home network to handle the chores of cataloging, converting, and distributing my growing collection of ebook titles. Another thing that changed is that the Kindle app grew larger and larger, and eventually became a fairly bothersome resource hog on my LePan tablet, even though the basic reading functions were still just fine. Constant error messages about sync failures, having to access my calibre server through a tablet browser and then do a manual download and subsequent file move to the kindle directory, in an app that had grown to nearly 100MB (one of the largest apps installed on my tablet) finally forced me to start looking for alternatives to the Kindle app.
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| screenshots courtesy of FBReader |
Enter the "new and improved" FBReader app. Not only can you download/install FBReader direct from the Google Play Store, it's also available for installation on a wide variety of non-Android devices. Windows, Mac, LINUX, and Blackberry users can all install FBReader. And the list of new features? Simply amazing-
Personal Cloud Storage (integrated with your Google Drive)
Support for numerous other ebook cloud services
Plugin to access your local or remote calibre server directly
Bookshelf Display plugin
Multiple Languages Supported
Around 20MB with Bookshelf & calibre plugins
Supports fb2, epub, mobi, text, rtf, html and other ebook file formats
Now that I have made the switch back to FBReader, my reading habits continue along just like before, but maintaining the selections on my tablet are simpler, and the resource friendly FBReader makes my hard working tablet a LOT happier! If you are an avid ebook reader, you owe it to yourself to check out the "new and improved" FBReader.
Check it out here on Google Play
or go the the main FBReader website for non Android devices
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