Saturday, June 4, 2011

eBook readers for Pandigital Novel


After I successfully installed the Android version of the Pandigital Novel firmware, I have been really enjoying this device. I just don't particularly like the pre-installed Barnes & Noble app. It does not have a way to open files on the SD card without first going through a lengthy import process. Plus, the fonts don't look all that great.

Now, as you may or may not know, Pandigital Novel uses Android 1.5 which is rarely supported by Android developers. After a long search I was able to find an app called Laputa which had better fonts, but the interface seemed rather strange to me. Today I decided to see if anything has changed in the recent month. Turns Linkout, the highly-rated FBReader app is now available in an Android 1.5 version. You have to go to developer's site to get it (http://www.fbreader.org/FBReaderJ/). Nicer fonts and other controls, but most importantly a build-in file manager. Now I can open FBReader, navigate to whatever file I need on the SD card and start reading it right away! There are some features that are only useful for Russian speakers, but that is often the case with mobile devices apps.
I have to add that it is nice to have all three apps on my Pandigital Novel - this way I can read three books independently, without having to reopen them all the time. That's just the kind of reader I am...