How did we test and find eReaders for windows phone?
We used four ePub and PDF files to see the importing speed and experience of an eBook reader. One of them is Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson which is about 17MB in size. We used the Lumia 430 as testing device. While some may argue about our using the lowest end windows 10 mobile-compatible device out there, we thought to ourselves that if Microsoft Lumia 430 can run an app smoothly and deliver good experience, the experience would be even better on a high end device like Lumia 950 or HP Elite X3.
Freda – This is one of the best eBook readers out there for the windows phone. It has very user friendly interface and makes use of good ‘ol metro UI. That being said, there is still a hamburger style menu which is kind of confusing. This might be due to sheer number of features onboard. It is also nice to see some evergreen ready-to-download ebooks like Alice in wonderland, but you can of course import your eBooks from onboard storage, SD card and OneDrive. It had no problems in importing our big 17MB ePub file and we said that back in 2012 when we tested Freda on windows phone 7 device, Nokia Lumia 710. It is really nice to see its developer updating its application on regular basis.
What’s missing – lack of PDF, MOBI, CHM support
What we love – live tile shows what you were reading last time, rock solid stability, wealth of features, metro UI
Bookviser–Bookviser is the best eReader app for windows 10 mobile. It not only looks thru best but is also most stable and nice animations when turning the page, similar to one found in iBook on iOS. There is excellent library that lets you download some classic books and there is a nice premium selection too.
You can use app’s in built browser to search and download books from web and import them from main storage or SD card. Bookstore from Feed books, smashwords and manybooks is also integrated. If you sign up for a Bookvisor account, then you can sync your books between devices as well.
Bookvisor offers a lot of customization and you can tinker with almost easily. It is one of the few eBook readers for windows phone that doesn’t require a tutorial. It has the best user interface and is the one that we recommend for doing eBook reading.
Coffee Reader – This app supports MOBI format but the UI is a bit clunky. The developer is Vietnamese so there is multitude of grammar mistakes here and there.
What’s annoying – the ads. The developer could have made the ads a bit non-intrusive. They get in the way when using the app resulting in accidental clicks.
