None of us are new to eBooks. When it comes to preferring digital over paper, there are so many formats to dabble with, each one having its own purpose and working best on its dedicated device e.g. azw3 or mobi work only with kindle devices, epub work with several android apps, cbz format is for comic readers and pdf format for most of the documents and e-signing needs. So it makes sense not to be tied to a particular device type though they have their pros. E.g. reading novels on an e-ink device is much easier on the eye than your tablet screen.
I own a Kindle Paperwhite and have definitely enjoyed reading novels on it, but it falls severely short when it comes to reading pdfs or even some comic books. Who would like to read a grayscale comic strip and not be able to marvel its colorful art. Likewise when reading technical books, I have a habit of marking, highlighting imp stuff so that it is easy to get back to notes that matter. How do I do anything remotely similar on a Kindle!
So I set out to find an answer in a tablet which will bring the best of all worlds and yet serve as a distraction free device to continue with e-reading. And I found one in the latest Amazon Fire Tablet HD 10 Plus. I got it at an unbelievably discounted price and could not resist the purchase. It comes with Fire OS which is a locked down version of Android and has several of the Amazon apps pre-installed. It is obvious that this device is for someone who is deeply invested in the Amazon ecosystem. It comes with the Kindle app which would be good for mobi as well as pdf files, but I had to find ways to make it more useful for my e-reading needs.
A quick Youtube search helped me get information on how to install Google services on the fire tablet and get rid of unnecessary Amazon apps which I wouldn’t be using anyway. The instructions were simple enough and when followed to the cue, I had with me a tablet free of most pre-installed stuff and with Google Play installed. That was the clean slate I was looking for.
Next steps were to install stuff that I think would make this tablet an ultimate eBook reader. I went ahead and downloaded the following apps:
- PocketBook – This all-in-one reader is my go-to app now. It supports pdf, mobi, epub, cbz, docx. This is where I can read my technical documents as well as ebooks and comics.
- Sketch on PDF – This is for pdf annotations and marking important things on the document. It has a variety of tools to highlight, underline or doodle over the pdf content. Basic stylus works great with the Fire tablet and makes pdf annotation very convenient. Changes can be exported to new pdf file or you can choose to overwrite original file. Either way works for me.
- CX File Explorer – An upgrade over the default file manager, this has additional functionality for ftp file transfers and Dropbox integration.
- Simplenote – For quick notes using markdown. I can also publish the notes and makes them accessible via public urls. I also use Keep to have sync of notes between my phone and the fire tablet.
- Brave browser – Another upgrade over the default Silk browser. Brave does a good job of blocking ads and give a very good online browsing experience.
- Pocket – For stuff that I read online, I can add that to Pocket for reading later. Pocket is a good place to organize my bookmarked content. An excellent feature that I like is Pocket can read out webpages. So it makes it convenient to listen to something while casually browsing it as well. Good for technical blogs.
- Musicolet – And finally something to play music in the background while I read all the stuff. I have some tracks for ambient sound, music for focus and study etc which I can play in loop and get into my zone for reading.
With these apps in my arsenal, I am all set to ride off into the world of e-reading. Since Fire OS is essentially a toned down android tablet with no Google apps, I am blissfully happy to use it without Gmail or even Youtube which makes it easy to stay focused and not get distracted by pop-ups and notifications or even the temptation to go on watching videos mindlessly. I don’t use it for games and haven’t installed any of the video streaming apps, since that is not what I intend to use this device for. I simply go offline, put on some soothing music and continue with my reading on what I consider an ultimate ebook reader after making all the tweaks and installs for my specific needs.
Leisure Linux 