I’ve tried using many 3rd party applications for reading PDF, TXT and HTML Ebooks on my Symbian mobile device (trying to view a PDF file with the built in Adobe Reader LE proved to be too painful). However, most of these apps had some feature missing that ruined the whole experience. Luckily, i stumbled across MobiReader (by MobiePocket) which IMHO is the best eBook reader currently available for Symbian powered smartphones (and possibly for other mobile platforms as well). MobiReader incorporates some really handy features such as resume from last position, bookmarks, auto scrolling, text customization, dynamic zoom, keyboard shortcuts, search and more. It’s free and is available for a number of different mobile platforms including Series 60 (S60v1, S60v2, S60v3, S60v5), Windows Mobile, Java, BlackBerry, PalmOS and more.
You can purchase eBooks from MobiPocket store or you can download books from compatible catalog projects. However it’s not only purchased books you can view using MobiReader (pirates be thankful ;p). If you download books in PDF format (from E-Learning torrent trackers, one click hosting sites, etc) you can view them on your mobile using this software too. However, you’d first need to convert downloaded books to a MobiReader compatible format. This is easily done using a desktop software called MobiPocket creator (this is again a free software). A brief tutorial on how to do this can be found below.
- Install MobiReader on your mobile device by visiting http://m.mobipocket.com using your device’s built in web browser.
- Download and MobiPocket Creator for your PC using this link.
- Open MobiPocket Creator once it’s installed on your computer.
- Drag and drop the ebook you need converted to MobiReader format. Choose a destination folder and hit ‘import’.
- In the ‘Publication Files’ window, select the file you just imported and hit ‘Build’ from the top toolbar (or you can customize the book further before building using the controls on left sidebar pane).
- In the next Window, make sure you have the options set to ‘No Compression’ and ‘No Encryption’. Then hit the ‘Build’ button.
- Once build completes you can preview how the book will be displayed on your mobile using the built in emulator tool. This is optional.
- Open the destination folder you chose at step 4. You will see a file with .prc extension.
- Move this file to your mobile device via BlueTooth, USB cable or any other medium.
- Once copied to mobile device, open the file with MobiReader and start reading.
If you know any other good E-Book reader software for mobiles, feel free to share your thoughts via comments.
