I am looking for a nice ebook reader app for android but it’s proving to be quite difficult. Every app I stumble open misses at least a few things I want. So here is a list of things I want:
-Material You UI
-Custom themes
-Font selection
-Dictionary or translator integration
-Page view (NO scrolling through the book)
A few things that could be nice but not necessary:
-I use Foliate on desktop so a way to sync with that
-Make white parts of the black and white pictures same color as the backgroud.
I think that’s all. I searched a lot but to no avail. Hopefully this community helps me and others. Thank you guys in advance.
I was at the same spot as you a few months ago and searched for the same.
Pretty much all of the FOSS readers sucked UX wise.
There were a few great proprietary ones on the PlayStore, but they were crammed up with ads and trackers.Lastly I switched to Librera, which was the best FOSS reader I tried.
But even that wasn’t great.
So, I’ll give you a completely different advice than all the other commenters here: buy yourself an e-reader.
I did the same and couldn’t be more happy!
I’m a big fan of “do one thing and do it right” (I made my phone pretty dumb and also own a digital camera for example).Readers feel superb. They have a very comfortable display (almost like reading on real paper), don’t distract you and the battery lasts for weeks.
You can also sync them easily via USB.Just don’t buy a Kindle. Aim for a more open solution, like a Tolino or Kobo.
I would buy one if I could at this point. But our money is really shit right now and I am a student trying to stay alive. Thanks for the recommendation though.
Aim for a more open solution, like a Tolino or Kobo.
Pocketbook runs Linux, IIRC.
Yep get a second hand Kobo for £30 and install Koreader on it. Or if you fancy, Kindles can be had cheaper, but they will require a jailbreak to use Koreader.
You can install KOReader on Android as well. Well it lacks OPs material Design requirement, but it fulfills the other.
These requirements are really specific. Whites parts of black pictures in particular, I can’t think of anything that implements that.
Anyway, these probably don’t have everything you want, but I use Librera:
website: https://librera.mobi/
Github: https://github.com/foobnix/LibreraReader
No material you theme, but I know it has font selection, and dictionary/translation integration.
The website claims it supports custom themings, and CSS. I can find the options in my app, but I haven’t touched them.
It also supports custom fonts, including user added ones.
It supports sync between librera instances (Google Drive has first class support), but not with Foliate.
It defaults to “book mode” which is page
Bit off-topic…Librera is decent but I hate that I can’t use custom background without changing the opacity. It seems like it doesn’t have the ability to use a background but it rather puts the image on top of the text and then lowers the opacity of the custom image, which doesn’t look nice.
Honestly, IMO they all suck. I’ve tried most around up until about 4 or 5 months ago when I gave up, and each one has some really annoying issues. that I never managed to work around
I think we are in the same boat. I am going to learn programming just to make apps I want to use at this point though that may not be that bad actually…
The first requirement is where they tend to fall down.
That said, the defacto standard is Moon+ Reader. That said, I use Legado for my epub consumption needs.
Gonna jump in to agree that Moon+ Reader seems to be the most commonly used. And for good reason: it’s very customizable and it does a great job presenting text in an easy to consume way.
OP, I’m sure you’ve already tried it, but consider giving it another go. You can make it do nearly all the things on your list.
I used Lithium in the past until I bought myself a Paperwhite (still dislike Amazon).
Maybe it ticks of some of your points.It probably doesn’t meet your requirements, but ReadEra is good. There’s a free version and a paid one called ReadEra Premium. I paid for the premium version, but I can’t remember what the difference is between them.
I like lithium so far
Not sure if anyone mentioned lithium on F-droid but I’ve been p happy with that
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Though really basic I think that’s the best one I have used but you know I had to know if there was anything I was missing.
I paid for the full version of FBReader years ago. I poked around a few months ago looking for anything better and they all came up short. Even has a plugin for comics.
Cool Reader was the best I found. Not sure any FOSS reader reads DRM.
