FBReaderJ: .Epub e-book app coming for Android phone platform championed by Google—plus Symbian phones
Imagine e-books readable on billions of cellphones—the topic of a TeleBlog post yesterday.
Well, this vision has moved a bit closer to reality with the release of the first beta version of FBReaderJ, the FBReader java version. FBReader is of interest since it’s free and can display e-books using the IDPF’s .epub standard, which could make e-books much easier to enjoy for the masses, including customers of Penguin UK very soon. This open source app can also handle a bunch of other formats.
Source downloads
Currently FBReaderJ works just on Android Emulator, reports Nikolay Pultsin, FBR’s developer in a note to an FBR mailing list, “but you can download sources and build a package for desktop computers.
“This version is still in beta stage, some FBReader features are still not implemented. We plan to improve FBReaderJ to implement all the features of original FBReader. We also plan to release a version for J2ME devices (e.g., for Symbian phones) [link added].
“After a small vacation I shall return to fixing bugs and implementing new features in original FBReader.”
For more on FBReaderJ and download links: Go here. Enjoy a bunch of screen shots.
Important detail: Google hasn’t blessed .epub or FBReader, but you can get the TeleBlog will keep reminding everyone to connect the dots.
The OLPC angle: FBReader is already running on the OLPC XO-1, and now I’m hoping that the OLPC crew can blend it into the Sugar interface and make .epub a format routinely offered. Then, with FBRreaderJ on cellphones, the same books can be readable on both kinds of machines.
About Android, the Google-blessed phone platform: You can find out more from Wikipedia. Also see an Android Web area for developers.
The commercial e-book angle: Think of all the markets that Penguin and other publishers can enjoy if they use .epub without traditional DRM to mess things up. Android-type phones are but one example.
June 6th, 2008 at 6:14 am
[...] who in their forthcoming, open-source Android mobile phone platform could not only include ebook software, but also integrate Google Books into the devices. In other words, Google could become the go-to [...]