Mantano Reader liteAs already noted, I’ve just received my new Kindle Fire 7. And one of the first things I wanted to do with it was install my library of DRM-free EPUB books. Ideally, on the Kindle Fire’s microSD card. After all, that’s what external memory is about, right?

Following David Rothman’s tips, I installed Mantano Reader Lite from an .apk file, which I pulled off a backup on my Lenovo A7-10, since it’s not available on Amazon’s Appstore. ES FileExplorer gives you an easy way of getting these by going to its homepage, then the User Apps screen, and long-pressing on the app of choice till the Backup option comes up on the menu bar below. The .apks are stored in a Backups folder in your Android device’s memory. Once I’d swapped the .apk over to my new Kindle Fire’s microSD card, all I needed to do was allow Apps from Unknown Sources under Security in the Kindle Fire’s Settings, then click on the .apk, and it installed smoothly.

I chose Mantano Reader Lite because I’d already found from my Lenovo A7-10 that it could access an external memory card even when the system’s memory configuration locked most apps on to a virtual SD card in the main memory. And when I hit its Import icon to find compatible books, the app navigated automatically to the Books file I’d created on the microSD card, and offered to import all the EPUB files. Moments later, I had a full library of EPUB books from the microSD card on my Kindle Fire 7.

This may work with a number of other EPUB ereader apps, though I’ve found that Mantano is one of the few that’s so capable at navigating file systems. In any case, the new Kindle Fire’s microSD card can hold all the EPUB files you want – so long as you’re ready to go through the cumbersome .apk copy-and-install procedure for the app.

 

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Paul St John Mackintosh is a British poet, writer of dark fiction, and media pro with a love of e-reading. His gadgets range from a $50 Kindle Fire to his trusty Vodafone Smart Grand 6. Paul was educated at public school and Trinity College, Cambridge, but modern technology saved him from the Hugh Grant trap. His acclaimed first poetry collection, The Golden Age, was published in 1997, and reissued on Kindle in 2013, and his second poetry collection, The Musical Box of Wonders, was published in 2011.

3 COMMENTS

  1. I would love to find a solution to Moon+Reader on the Fire phone. I’s another e-pub reader which has a lot of fans. I had no problem installing it since it’s in the Amazon app store. But there is no way to make its default book folder the one chosen on Dropbox, even though it says it supports downloading books from Dropbox. This app might work great on the new Fires because it defaults to the sd card which the Fire phone does not have.

  2. I’m using Moon+ Pro on my Fire phone and it works just fine. I was using the Amazon version and I emailed the publisher explaining that I do own the Pro version but the Fire phone is where I mostly want to use it. He said to use ES File Manager to copy it from another device.

    I couldn’t figure out how to do get ES File Manager to do that until today when I read the step by step instructions in this article. I always took the wrong route to the apps section and it never worked. But the way this article describes it works perfectly.

    I did find a copy elsewhere and I won’t say where, but I am a paid owner of the app and I felt entitled to use it and I did. Today I installed the one from one of my tablets following Mr. Mackintosh’s instructions and copied it over and it works perfectly.

    I don’t keep my library in Dropbox but I always keep a few books there and I usually use Moon+ to retrieve them. If you’re in Files in Moon+ and you tap All Files it’ll offer to go to Dropbox. The first time Dropbox will ask you to approve it and when you do it takes you there.

    I’ve always already connected the Dropbox app before I do any of this and probably because of that it always knows exactly where my books are there. It’s trivial to do.

    I’m not sure if the Amazon version will do this or not. I may have done that but I don’t remember. I’ve only had my Fire Phone a couple of months.

    Mr. Mackintosh, thank you for the good clear step-by-step instructions. Actually the reason for this comment was to thank you for that. Then I saw the other comment and included all that.

    Barry

  3. If you use Calibre, install Calibre Companion on you Fire device. You can either copy all your books to your device or put a copy if your Calibre library in Dropbox or another cloud service and Calibre Companion can access it from there. You get all the organization of Calibre and the ability to open your book with whatever reading app you have installed on your device.

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