# Samsung Galaxy phone as ereader



## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

I've been reading ebooks on my new Galaxy S3 phone, and I'm a bit surprised by how much I've been using it for that. I have assorted eInk Kindles, iThings, eInk Kobo, etc, but the 4.8" OLED screen on the S3 seems to have hit my sweet spot for reader size/form-factor.

I'm using Moon+ Pro (reads Mobi, ePub, and PDF) as the reading app, and I can tint the background, turn down the backlight, and adjust the type boldness to get an image I can read for hours without any discomfort. Reversing the image (light type and dark background) helps for a variation, also. These kind of reader apps allow one to customize just about everything about the appearance of the text, which is a big deal for me.

I put a double-capacity battery in mine and it stays connected to a charger by the bedside all night (it's my alarm clock), so I don't have a problem with running the battery down by doing a lot of reading.

Of course, I'm fickle and may decide to go back to printed books next week.  


Mike


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## readingril (Oct 29, 2010)

I don't use my S4 Mini a lot for reading, but I have used Moon+ Pro on it, and I love all the bells and whistles in the app.  It makes me want to buy a Samsung Galaxy tablet!


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

My next tablet will likely be a 10" Samsung. Right now, I have a 1st gen iPad and a 1st gen Nexus 7. With the 4.8" screen of the S3 phone I find I'm using it for things that I would previously do on the Nexus. So the Nexus will probably go to a relative, and I'll replace the iPad with a Galaxy 10" tablet. With a ~5" and a 10" screen available, it seems overkill to also have a 7".


Mike


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## teralpar (May 18, 2010)

I currently have a PW2, an iPad Mini w/Retina, and I just purchased a Samsung Galaxy S4 a couple of weeks ago to replace my Samsung Galaxy S2. I find myself reading quite a bit on the new S4, it's much more enjoyable than reading on the S2. I've been using the iPad Mini and the S4 much more than the PW2, I hardly ever read on the PW2 anymore unless I'm in the car in direct sunlight. The text is so much clearer on the Mini and S4...text on the PW2 looks blurry to me now. I'm only keeping the PW2 around for reading in bright sunlight (which isn't often) and for the battery life.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I am now packing a Note 3 everywhere, and find it an adequate reader. I still prefer eInk when I am at home. Except for books that are heavily illustrated especially in color, then my iPad rules the roost.

The friends who enabled me into Kindles no longer uses his eInk reader, and carries a Samsung 10 inch tablet everywhere, reading on it at lunch and whenever he has some time.


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

jmiked - I've sideloaded moon + (free) onto my HDX and it seems to work fine except, how do I get it to load up books and docs currently on my Fire? When I open the Fire on my computer it doesn't see the Moonreader folder. But the Fire, when I look at it shows it. Hmmm. Gonna have to work at this.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Happy guy -- I'd suggest something like Dropbox to move files from your computer to your HDX for use with an other-than-kindle reading app.  There's a link at the top of Fire Talk with a how to of getting it set up both on your device and your computer so it's easy to move files wirelessly.


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

I think you mis-understood. I know how to upload books. I was asking how to get books to upload into/be recognized by Moon+ eReader. Sorry for not explaining myself better. I do use Dropbox to upload to my Fire, but I couldn't get Moon+ to know that they are on the Fire and put them on the Moon+ library shelf.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Have you tried tapping on the "My Files" icon on the Moon Reader home page and navigating to the folder the books are in?

I don't know how standard the Amazon version of Android is, but you might also use something like Astro File Manager or ES File Explorer to copy/move the books to the Moon folder.

Also, when importing with Dropbox or Google Drive, you should be able to specify a folder where the files will end up.

Mike


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

Well, I worked on this yesterday (Sunday) afternoon and I think I've figured it out. I finally managed to move up the directory tree and did an import. It found the books on my Fire as well as all of my PDFs, which the free version won't open (really??). Wonder if the paid version will ever be available for the Fire.


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## luvmykindle3 (Dec 5, 2010)

I've discovered that I like reading on my note3 lately. I use my kindle and nook apps. Mainly when I don't want to carry an ereader with me. Otherwise I like my nook had, or kindle fire. I have way too many devices lol


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## 28612 (Dec 7, 2010)

I use my Note II for reading, too.  Love having 1 device to carry.  Have been using the various Kindle/Nook/Kobo apps.  Will have to try the Moon app.  Thanks for the rec!

Pat McL


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## Lee (Nov 7, 2008)

I know I'm late to the party here, but I just got a Samsung Galaxy S5 and am delighted with how smoothly the Kindle app works on it.  I prefer e-ink, but I carry lots of stuff around with me throughout the day and am always looking for ways to lighten my load, so I leave my PW1 at home and have been reading on the Samsung when not at home.  Actually even when at home, I'm finding myself reaching for the phone rather than the PW.  At this point I'd say that if I were going to sit and read for hours, I'd do it on the PW, but otherwise I'd use the phone.


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## archaeoroutes (Oct 12, 2014)

I have always used my Galaxy as my eReader. I had an S and now an S4. I just like that I have it with me so it is there if I'm waiting for a bus or on a train.


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## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

I am thinking of getting a Samsung Galaxy phone, but not sure if I should get the S or the Tab. Which one should I get? This would be my first Samsung. I have kindles, Fires, and iThings. I was planning to get the iPhone 6+, but being a gadget girl, I wanted to see why people love their Samsung Galaxy devices. Any help would be appreciated.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Toby said:


> I am thinking of getting a Samsung Galaxy phone, but not sure if I should get the S or the Tab. Which one should I get? This would be my first Samsung. I have kindles, Fires, and iThings. I was planning to get the iPhone 6+, but being a gadget girl, I wanted to see why people love their Samsung Galaxy devices. Any help would be appreciated.


I'm not familiar with the phone capabilities of the Galaxy Tabs. Honestly, they are much to big for me to consider using as a phone. Anything over a 5" screen is too large for me (and 5" is pushing it).

Background: I have a generous assortment of Apple things: two laptops, two Mac minis, an iPod Touch, and an iPad (1st gen). I've been an Apple product user since before the Mac was introduced. But I use a Galaxy S3 phone. Why?

1. Galaxy is the same quality as iPhone, one-third the purchase price, half the monthly fee (I'm retired and on a budget). I buy my phones and use a monthly phone/data plan that costs me $35. I can install a battery with twice the capacity of the iPhone. This is very important to me. A stock battery such as comes with the Galaxy or iPhone will not last me a day of being out bike riding or geocaching. I run a number of apps that are heavy users of GPS and data transfer for maps, and it just drains the stock battery in 5-6 hours. With the larger battery I get 8-10 hours of operation. In a pinch, I can swap out the battery for a fresh one. A car charger can't keep up with my power usage.

2. I can expand the storage of the Galaxy for a nominal cost. It came with 16 Gigs of memory, I bought a $25 micro SD card that bumped that to 64 Gigs. It's adequate. I keep all my music, quite a few podcasts, and a lot of books on it. At the time I bought my phone, going from 16 Gigs to 64 Gigs on the iPhone would be almost $200 extra, IIRC. I was looking at a total of ~$325 vs. almost $800 for the iPhone.

3. The iPhone uses a special proprietary connector for recharging the battery. I don't like this, just more types of cables to buy and keep track of. The Galaxy uses a standard micro-USB connector.

4. The iPhone is essentially not customizable. I do a lot of customization. 

On the other hand, the iPhone does have some attractive features.

1. A slightly more integrated eco-system. But it's Apple's way or the highway.

2. As far as I know, Apple has not been accused of using any personal info for a financial gain. I trust Apple a bit more than Google concerning privacy of my data. In fact, I still use iCloud to store my contact, notes, and calendar info. There's an Android app that syncs with your data on the Apple servers.

3. You can back-up and restore all your data and apps seamlessly to your computer using iTunes. This capability is sorely lacking in the Android world. There are various data back-up apps for Android phones, but they don't come close to Apple's ease of use. If you lose or break your phone often, this may be an important factor.

Mike


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

My Tab 4 does not have phone capabilities.


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## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

Jmiked, thank you for the great review.   I will most likely need the T-Mobile people show me how to change the battery on the phone. Do you use special tools to get the back cover off? Do you know the name of the App that syncs the data from the Samsung to the Apple? I'm on the fence on this. Is it safe to do this...viruses/hackers whatever? Also, do you know the name of the App that does the back up? Anyway, you do make a strong case for the Samsung Galaxy Phone, especially with your experience with having Apple devices. How do you put, for example, your books or anything on your card instead of on the phone from the phone itself? The only time I ever had that choice was on my K1, & now I can't even remember how I did it. Yes, I would definitely expand the memory to at least the 64GB. The price difference as you stated is huge. That is 1 of the reasons that I wanted to try Samsung.
Cinisajoy, is your Tab a phone or a tablet? Do you like your Tab 4?


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

I use a "thick" (1.0mm) guitar pick to pop the back cover off. There's a small cutout in my S3 to allows you to put a corner of a blunt prying device in and start the process. The apps that do the calendar and contacts sync is Smoothsync for Cloud Calendar and Smoothsync for Cloud Contacts, both by Marten Gajda. I'm pretty sure he wrote the Tasks sync app I use, also.

The backup program I use right now only backs up up to the SD card. I'm trying out a new app tomorrow that claims to be able to back up to a Windows machine without having to root the phone.

Storing info on the external card is a tricky subject. The answer used to be an unqualified yes. Then, with Android 4.4, Google changed things so apps writing to the external card was not generally banned. When Android 5.0 makes it to the devices, permission to write to the external card is promised to be restored. That said, my music streaming program has no trouble reading and writing from the SD card. There is an app available that claims to allow writing to the external card, I haven't tried it.*

Where books get stored is a bit wibbly-wobbly. I think the Kindle app puts them on internal storage. I haven't been able to find them, and there's no option to select where to store them. Third party apps all seem to allow you to pick the spot to put them.

Mike

_Edit: I found out it requires root access, and I refuse to root my phone. At least for the present._


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## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

Thanks for the info. I appreciate it. I don't root anything either. I guess I'll find out more info when I get the phone.


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