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What is the best alternative to FBReader?
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Calibre
All
7
Experiences
Pros
4
Cons
2
Specs
Top
Pro
Powerful book management software, very customizable and scriptable
Features include metadata editing and downloading, coverpage downloading., book tagging and categorization, webpage-to-ebook converter for popular websites, etc. Lots of plugins available to extend functionality.
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Con
Average, non-power users might find the interface somewhat daunting
The interface, while functional is not the most attractive or intuitive which may put some people off and discourage their use.
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Top
Pro
Cross-platform
Calibre is available for Linux, OS X, and Windows, 32-bit or 64-bit.
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Top
Con
Can't save text highlights or annotate
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Top
Pro
Open Source
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Top
Pro
Portable
Calibre has an optional portable build that can be stored on external media along with the users library. It can then be opened from the external media on any windows device.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, MacOS, Linux
License:
GPL-3.0-only
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Experiences
Free
146
20
KDE Okular
All
14
Experiences
Pros
6
Cons
7
Specs
Top
Pro
Free and open source
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Top
Con
No XFA Adobe Forms support
Cannot fill PDF Forms created with Adobe.
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Top
Pro
Trim margins
Easily trim margins either automatically or manually for easier reading
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Top
Con
Requires many KDE libraries
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Top
Pro
Featureful
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Top
Con
No middle-mouse auto-scrolling
Instead of scrolling automatically when holding down the mouse wheel and dragging, it instead zooms in or out, in contrast with many other programs.
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Top
Pro
Table selection
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Top
Con
Poor HiDPI support
You may have to tinker with QT__SCALE_FACTOR environment variables to get the desired size and not blurry content (this is a bug; see https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=362856 and https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/54688)
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Top
Pro
Tabbed view option
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Top
Con
No search results overview
You have to navigate to next/previous hit one by one
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Top
Pro
Supports touch interaction
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Top
Con
No "fit to page" option under printing settings
You can only print the content as given so, when you receive a bigger or smaller image thant the default of the printer, you will have to edit it first on other editor.
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Top
Con
Slow scroll
Its new ultra-slow-scroll for PgUp and PgDn makes it unuseable.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, MacOS, Linux (KDE), BSD
License:
GPL-2.0-or-later
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Experiences
Free
315
38
Cool Reader
All
7
Experiences
Pros
3
Cons
3
Specs
Top
Con
Constantly changes brightness
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Top
Pro
Free and open source
Cool Reader is available completely free and is also open source.
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Top
Con
Could have a better UI design
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Top
Pro
Fully customizable
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Top
Con
Does not support DRM .epubs
.epubs with DRM are not supported by Cool Reader.
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Top
Pro
A wide range of formats supported
Cool Reader supports epub (non-DRM), fb2, doc, txt, rtf, html, chm, tcr, pdb, prc, mobi (non-DRM) and pml formats.
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Specs
Platforms:
Android
License:
GPL-2.0-only
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Experiences
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12
3
Sumatra PDF
All
7
Experiences
Pros
5
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
Reads many file types
Including PDF, XPS, DjVu, CHM, EPUB, Mobi, FictionBook, PalmDoc, and comic books.
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Top
Con
Windows only
No Linux or OSX versions available.
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Top
Pro
Book updates on the fly
If Book font, style is changed, Sumatra will take the update instantly, No need to close first and import again! Huge time saver for self publishing.
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Top
Pro
Portable
The application consists of a single file that can be run without installation. You can put it on an external device, such as an usb thumb stick and run it on any Windows machine from the thumb stick.
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Top
Pro
Multilingual
It's available in 69 languages.
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Top
Pro
Free and open source
Sumatra is available for free, licensed under GPL with source code available on GitHub.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows
License:
GPL-3.0-only
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Experiences
Free
14
1
Amazon Kindle
All
7
Experiences
Pros
5
Cons
2
Top
Pro
Ease of use
Clean, simple user interface.
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Top
Con
No support for EPUB files
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Top
Pro
Whispersync
Synchronization between devices. Easily pick up on where you left off reading on your Kindle, smartphone, or tablet.
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Top
Con
Not good for students research
The eBooks available from Amazon do not offer normal page numbers, printing or even copy paste, which makes using any of the ebooks for reports or papers pretty much impossible.
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Top
Pro
Free
Available for free on Windows and Mac, and also a very good web app.
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Top
Pro
Built in store
The Kindle app for Android features an in built eBook store within the app that sells eBooks, magazines, newspapers, comic books and graphic novels. Amazon also offers one of it not the biggest eBook store available today.
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Top
Pro
Send to Kindle
The Kindle platform allows users to upload their own eBooks and documents to be read on any of the Kindle apps or devices.
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Experiences
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15
10
PocketBook - PDF, EPUB reader
All
9
Experiences
Pros
5
Cons
4
Top
Con
Asks to send you "offers"
Very suspicious.
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Top
Pro
Beautiful user interface
Pocketbook is a very nicely designed eBook reader for Android that has a simple and intuitive interface.
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Top
Con
It asks for access to ALL your files in order to complete the install
ALL FILES? WHY??? Not just some prescribed folder, but everything, everywhere. Who would grant that kind of access?
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Top
Pro
Crop page margins for pdf books
PocketBook allows manually or automatically cropping page margins to better fit text on screen.
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Top
Con
Most recent update removed features
No longer recognizes my TTS no longer has a sleep timer.
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Top
Pro
Free
Pocketbook is a completely free eReader with zero in app purchases.
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Top
Con
Buggy
Pocketbook is still a bit buggy, where it sometimes does not open books or just opens to a blank screen.
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Top
Pro
Lock screen orientation
The app allows for users to lock the screen orientation of the device in order to prevent the screen from switching while in the middle of reading. This is very helpful for those that read in bed and change positions a lot.
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Top
Pro
Works with Adobe DRM on .epubs and .pdf
PocketBook is compatable with e.pub and .pdf Adobe DRM files.
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Experiences
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25
2
Xodo PDF Reader & Editor
All
12
Experiences
Pros
8
Cons
4
Top
Pro
Efficient user interface
You get what you want by few interactions.
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Top
Con
Incitation to update to Pro Version
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Top
Pro
Works great with diverse cloud services (e.g. Seafile) and saves changed documents on the fly in the cloud
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Top
Con
Column view buggy
Sometimes the column view is not correctly displayed.
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Top
Pro
Very (very) good support
Feature Requests and bugs are nicely handled.
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Top
Con
No more Google Drive API
Xodo has stopped Google Drive API compatibility.
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Top
Pro
Multi-tabs
Can open more than one PDF at a time in tabs.
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Top
Con
Lag when reading
When switching pages, there can be some lag and a re-zoom of the page.
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Top
Pro
PDF can be read from SD Card
Xodo does not copy the PDF files to the internal memory.
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Top
Pro
Reflow
App can reflow any PDF for an enhanced reading on small terminals. The process is a bit slow but works for every PDF.
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Top
Pro
No ads
The reader offers a lot of features for free with no ads.
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Top
Pro
Great handling for S-Pen/Digitizer
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Experiences
Free
71
5
Mantano Ebook Reader Premium
All
5
Experiences
Pros
4
Cons
1
Top
Con
Paid
The premium version of Mantano costs $4.99.
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Top
Pro
Library / Bookshelf
Mantano features a library manager that appears as a bookshelf in the app.
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Top
Pro
Great experience for reading
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Top
Pro
Beautiful
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Top
Pro
Integrates perfectly with a desktop PC
You are able to read/update/add to your library from a PC via a well designed web interface.
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9
1
Foliate
All
4
Experiences
Pros
2
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
Supports coloured text
Important for example for IT books (source code) or other reference books.
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Top
Con
No PDF support
Foliate cannot be used to read PDFs, which may be a problem for those who read many documents in this format.
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Top
Pro
Minimal reading UI
When reading, there is only a customizable progress indicator at the bottom, and the title at the top.
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Specs
Platforms:
Linux
License:
GPLv3
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free
2
0
Kobo Books
All
7
Experiences
Pros
4
Cons
3
Top
Con
Not all eBooks sold on the site are Adobe Digital Editions compatible (.epub)
For some reason not all the eBooks available on the Kobo eBook site are downloadable as .ascm files. Most likely Kobo leaves this up to the publisher, as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt does not have a single book on the Kobo store that offers a separate .ascm download. What most users are unaware of is that the Kobo store is not primarily an .epub bookstore. Kobo uses a proprietary format called .kepub that only works on their own Kobo branded devices. Many of the books they sell do offer a separate .ascm file download, but not all. What exacerbates this issue is that there is currently no way for a user to know if an .ascm will be offered until after purchase.
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Top
Pro
Offers separate Adobe Digital Editions downloads
The Kobo eBook store offers a separate file download (most of the time) from within a users browser. this file is called and .ascm file and is what is used to add an .epub to the Adobe Digital Edition software.
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Top
Con
Kobo randomly changes prices
Depending on whether a user is logged in, different prices will be shown on non agency eBooks. Non agency eBooks allow for Kobo to set the price of the title instead of the publisher and sadly it does appear as though Kobo has taken advantage of this to entice new users into thinking their books are priced lower than they actually are.
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Top
Pro
Send eBooks as gift
Kobo Books eBook store allows users to send eBooks as gifts to their friends and loved ones.
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Top
Con
Desktop app doesn't function
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Top
Pro
Self publish
Kobo offers a way for users to self publish their own eBooks with a service called Writing Life.
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Top
Pro
Many coupons
Kobo often offers a lot of coupons for their eBook store. Some being as high as 80% off coupons. Though most only work on non agency eBooks, so not that great if the user only reads the newest of releases.
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Experiences
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60
10
Librera Reader (PRO)
All
11
Experiences
Pros
5
Cons
5
Specs
Top
Con
Free version contains ads
The Pro version has no problem. Alternatively, the fdroid version works as well, though it might be annoying to those who want cloud integration because the fdroid version doesn't have cloud integration.
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Top
Pro
Has all the functionality one needs - nothing is missing and there's nothing excessive
Best app so far.
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Top
Con
No way to set a "home" folder
You have to press the back button a ridiculous amount of times to exit the app and then browse back to your books when you want to read again later.
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Top
Pro
Fast animation
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Top
Con
Cannot reverse PDF reflow to return to normal view without exiting the PDF and opening again
Very annoying when you want to view graphics and tables etc.
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Top
Pro
FOSS
GPL v.3.
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Top
Con
Some times adds blank pages after an image
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Top
Pro
Can read aloud texts
Customize the voice with pitch, speed and do whatever you want with it.
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Top
Con
Flips pages by itself, cannot get it to stop
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Top
Pro
UI and reading customization will blow your mind
You can even customize CSS code to fine-tune display of epub books. The best reader to handle online catalogs and TTS reading!
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Specs
Platforms:
Android
License:
GPL-3.0-or-later
Alternative:
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.foobnix.pro.pdf.reader/
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Experiences
FREE-$3.99
181
26
Ebook Reader
All
4
Experiences
Pros
2
Cons
2
Top
Con
Collects personal information
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Top
Pro
Can import third party eBooks
Ebook Reader allows for users to import their own DRM free eBooks into the app.
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Top
Con
Slow to load eBooks
The app is pretty slow when opening an eBook.
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Top
Pro
Free store for classic books
Ebook Reader has a large selection of free eBooks available for download through the app.
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here
8
2
Zathura
All
15
Experiences
Pros
11
Cons
3
Specs
Top
Pro
Lightweight
Zathura is fast and can open a pdf file almost instantly.
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Top
Con
No annotation support
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Top
Pro
Clean interface
Inferface is clean and shows only a small statusbar.
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Top
Con
No thumbnail view
Unlike qpdfview, okular and evince, which have it.
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Top
Pro
Vim bindings
You can browse files via keyboard, using keyboard commands similar to vim (text editor).
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Top
Con
Input forms are not editable
qpdfview, okular and evince do this.
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Top
Pro
Automatic document reloading
Zathura will automatically refresh the view when a document has been modified. (By contrast, Chrome requires a manual refresh and brings you back to the top of the document so that you have to scroll back down).
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Top
Pro
Default page layout always same and predictable
No unpredictable window opening behavior like Atril. Together with it's easy ways to scroll and zoom, zathura is perfect for fast look through lots of PDFs
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Top
Pro
Detailed adjustment of dark mode
recolor-darkcolor recolor-lightcolor recolor-keephue recolor-reverse-video (see manpage zathurarc) Also, proper dark mode: colors are grayscaled not inverted.
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Top
Pro
Deactivation of all GUI elements
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Top
Pro
Very detailed adjustment of page layout
For example: pages-per-row 3 (3 pages next to each other) first-page-column 3:1 (for 3 page column layout: first page is on the left) page-right-to-left false (2nd and 3rd page are shown right to the 1st) Unfortunately I haven't found a way yet to map these commands to a key. The ability to prefix a shortcut with a number argument would lend itself perfectly to achieve what I had in mind.
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Top
Pro
Call userscripts on document
For example: map <C-l> exec "termite -c ./termite_config --class float -e 'tmux new-session /bin/ranger $(dirname "%")'" <C-l> opens ranger with directory containing the opened document Other ideas: extract pages print pages
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Top
Pro
Good documentation of configuration options
See man page "zathura".
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Top
Pro
Multiple tabs via tabbed
https://tools.suckless.org/tabbed/ But unlike qpdfview search will only operate on one tab instance.
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Specs
Platforms:
Linux
License:
Zlib
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Experiences
Free
114
27
ReadEra
All
12
Experiences
Pros
7
Cons
5
Top
Pro
Open and read book files in EPUB, PDF, DOC, RTF, TXT, DJVU, FB2, MOBI and CHM formats
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Top
Con
No light mode
No light mode for the menu. Unusable if you have astigmatism.
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Top
Pro
Very fast
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Top
Con
Not many settings
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Top
Pro
Completely free, no ads anywhere and anytime
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Top
Con
Slow animations
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Top
Pro
Supports chapters, bookmarks and page style
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Top
Con
Image sizing is wrong compared to other readers
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Top
Pro
Supports TTS
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Top
Con
Images aren't has sharp as other readers
Images don't look like they are supposed to unless you full screen the image.
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Top
Pro
Attractive interface
Looks well made and not just a txt editor or something.
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Top
Pro
Kids mode
Makes it easier for kids to use the app.
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Experiences
FREE
54
15
Google Play Books
All
12
Experiences
Pros
10
Cons
2
Top
Pro
Allows bookmarking pages, highlighting text, and adding notes
Google Play Books offers many options while reading such as bookmarks, highlights and notes. Making for a good app to use for academic .pdfs and .epubs.
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Top
Con
Lacks library management features
No shelves, categories, or reading lists.
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Top
Pro
Supports PDF & EPUB uploads
Users can use the Google Play Books webpage or app to upload their own .epubs or PDFs.
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Top
Con
External SD card
Google play books doesn't have the ability to save the downloaded books to an external SD card.
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Top
Pro
Built-in dictionary
Google Play Books has an inbuilt dictionary for users to use to look up unfamiliar words.
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Top
Pro
Font, font-size, layout and theme can be customized
Margins, text size, line spacing and color theme of the page can be changed to the users liking,.
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Top
Pro
Syncs across devices
No matter what device one is using the Google Play Books service on it will sync all eBooks and placement into the cloud.
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Top
Pro
Immersive mode
Google Play Books has built in immersive mode when reading. This allows for the navigation and notification bars to be hidden, allowing the full screen to be used for the eBook.
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Top
Pro
Responsive interface
Like the majority of Google's apps, Google Play Books has a slick interface that works quite smoothly.
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Top
Pro
Has light and dark themes
Google Play Books offers a dark and a light theme to make it easier to read in dark or light rooms.
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Top
Pro
Books can be bought or rented directly from the app
Google Play Books has an in built eBook store within the app, making for a convenient way to purchase titles.
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Top
Pro
Has text-to-speech support
Text to speech can be used to have an eBook read to the reader aloud.
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Experiences
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25
8
Kindle for PC
All
5
Experiences
Pros
3
Cons
2
Top
Pro
Built in store
The Kindle app for Android features an in built eBook store within the app that sells eBooks, magazines, newspapers, comic books and graphic novels. Amazon also offers one of it not the biggest eBook store available today.
See More
Top
Con
Send to Kindle now has to be paid for
Send to Kindle only works if a user is already paying for a cloud subscription plan.
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Top
Pro
Send to Kindle
The Kindle platform allows users to upload their own eBooks and documents to be read on any of the Kindle apps or devices.
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Top
Con
Not good for students research
The eBooks available from Amazon do not offer normal page numbers, printing or even copy paste, which makes using any of the ebooks for reports or papers pretty much impossible.
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Top
Pro
App supports a multitude of operating systems
Kindle for PC is one of the many apps available from Amazon for the Kindle platform. This allows users to keep their library with them no matter what device they are using.
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Free
20
9
Aldiko Book Reader Premium
All
10
Experiences
Pros
5
Cons
5
Top
Con
Paid
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Top
Pro
Customizable reading settings
Aldiko supports many different reading options such as text alignment, text size, background color and brightness.
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Top
Con
Page turning is slow
Compared to other popular eBook readers on Android the page turning animation/function is slow.
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Top
Pro
Free advertisement supported version
Aldiko offers a free version of the app that features in app advertisements as well as less features. This allows users to try out the app in order to see how well it runs and if they like it in general.
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Top
Con
Heavy on resources
Noticeably slow on weaker devices compared to other apps on this list.
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Top
Pro
In app eBookstore
Aldiko provides an online eBookstore within the app making for a pretty convenient experience for those that do not want to sideload and import their eBooks.
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Top
Con
Recent versions have substantially more ads
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Top
Pro
Cloud storage
Aldiko offers users the option to store their eBooks on cloud storage sites such as Dropbox, which is great for users with low storage devices or multiple devices.
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Top
Con
Recent versions have brittle DRM loading
Adobe ACSM loading used to be rock-solid, but this has become brittle enough to simply not function on at least one device as of recent releases.
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Top
Pro
Can be used to read Adobe DRM content
Aldiko Book Reader Premium supports Adobe DRM content that has been purchased from an assortment of eBook retailers that support downloads of Adobe Digital Edition versions of .epubs.
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Experiences
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8
4
Adobe Digital Editions
All
6
Experiences
Pros
3
Cons
3
Top
Con
Full of bugs. No longer supported
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Top
Pro
Well-designed library management
All books are automatically divided in categories such as "not read", "borrowed", "purchased", "recently read", and "recently added" and additional categories can be added manually. They can be sorted by various criteria including "title", "author", "publisher", "date of addition", and "number of pages". Great for managing large quantities of books.
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Top
Con
No support for Linux
Doesn't have a Linux version.
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Top
Pro
Can be used with a variety of screen readers
ADE supports JAWS, Window-eyes, NVDA and Voiceover.
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Top
Con
Can't edit metadata
Lacks a built-in metadata editor.
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Top
Pro
Built-in annotation tools
You can highlight and leave notes in the app.
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15
9
Adobe Acrobat Reader
All
6
Experiences
Pros
5
Cons
1
Top
Con
Does not work without log-in
Adobe is one of the biggest data harvesting companies.
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Top
Pro
Real All PDF
There isn't a PDF file which cannot be read by this app.
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Top
Pro
Cloud compatible
Can connect to Dropbox and Google Drive.
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Top
Pro
SD location recognition
Locate SD location and scan it quickly.
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Top
Pro
Multiple view modes
Page, scrolling, two-page (in landscape) and a reflow mode.
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Top
Pro
Just works
The app reads all PDF files.
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Free
19
12
Icecream Ebook Reader
All
5
Experiences
Pros
3
Cons
2
Top
Con
Requires PRO version for basic functionality
PRO version of the reader is required for reading without gigantic "Buy Me" billboard shoved in face every minute for 10 seconds. Oh and it's needed to copy and paste and edit.
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Top
Pro
Clean, customizable UI
The application has an easy to use and understand interface with important features such as search always within easy reach at the top. The interface can also be customized to best suit wishes. For example, font size can be changed, there's choice between single and double column view when reading books, or table and bookshelf view when managing the library.
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Top
Con
Can't read Kindle books
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Top
Pro
Pleasant reading experience
The app tracks how much of the book has been read, jumping between chapters or bookmarks can be done with a few clicks, and there's even a distraction-free mode that takes away all the interface and allows focusing on the book.
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Top
Pro
It is much more lighter than Adobe Digital Editions, Calibre, etc.
So, Icecream ebook reader will work faster.
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14
11
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