Mobi Comparison
This page contains a table of all the various eBook Readers that support MOBI format and compares their capabilities.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
This table is intentionally made a narrow as possible to permit future expansion for additional devices.
- Generally an item is marked Y or N as appropriate.
- A number is used to identify the number of fonts or font sizes, etc.
- An Asterisk followed by a number refers to a note under the table.
- A blank means that item has not been filled in yet, either it is unknown or just hasn't been completed.
[edit] Descriptions
[edit] Items
This section includes an explanation of items listed in the left column of the table.
[edit] Font
The font support includes TTF, True type fonts, (ClearType® and MobiType®). On some devices these can be added. The number represents the total number of fonts supported (U) is unlimited, downloadable, while font size shows the total number of discrete sizes available. For downloadable fonts this limit can be changed via a special size being downloaded.
[edit] UTF-8
encoding (Chinese, Japanese, Russian,..) and some special characters.
[edit] Images
Images can be shown inline with the text. A special feature called Image viewer allows an image to be selected and zoomed. Cover images are a special class in MOBI format, they are treated differently from other images in that they have a special link and can appear as icons in the library management feature.
[edit] Links
There are several kinds of Links available in MOBI database. A TOC link, a link from one place in the data to another place in the same document, a link to another book, a link to the Internet (must be supported by the hardware), and an Index link.
[edit] Preview
Preview is a special feature that lets you read a description of the eBook without opening it.
[edit] Syncing
Allows synchronizing your reading between devices such that you could start reading on one device and pick up where you left off on another. This is accomplished using a side file that also holds other metadata.
[edit] Devices
- BS - BookShelf - iPhone, iPod Touch
- CA - Calibre - Windows and Mac
- CY - Bookeen Cybook Gen3 and Bookeen Cybook Opus
- FB - FBReader - Desktop version, some handheld implementations may be more limited
- H3 - Hanlin V3 Reader, also applies to clones
- IL - iRex iLiad
- KI - Kindle Reader
- MP - PDA MobiPocket Reader - PocketPC, WinCE, Palm, Smartphones, etc. (This section will likely need expanding into multiple columns
- MS - BlackBerry Storm MobiPocket Reader - MobiPocket Reader for the Storm.
- MW - Windows MobiPocket Reader
- OI - OpenInkPot - Alternative firmware for Eink devices (based on FBReader)
- SZ - Stanza Desktop Reader for Windows and Mac (removes all formatting from file)
- uB - uBook Reader has standard and lite versions for directly competing on PDA platforms.
[edit] The tables
| Devices | BS | CA | CY | FB | H3 | IL | KI | MP | MS | MW | OI | SZ | uB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Images | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | |
| Cover Image | Y | Y | N | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | Y | |
| DRM | N | N | Y | N | Y | Y | *1 | Y | Y | Y | N | N | N |
| Library checkout | N | N | Y | N | N | Y | *1 | Y | Y | Y | N | N | N |
| Internal Links | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | |
| External Links | N | N | Y | N | N | N | Y | Y | Y | N | N | N | |
| Internet Links | N | N | Y | N | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | N | |
| Tables support | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | *2 | |
| Force page breaks | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||||
| UTF-8 encoding | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ? | Y | Y | N | ||
| Calculators and Quizzes | N | N | N | N | N | N | Y | Y | ? | N | N | N | |
| Huff/cdic compression | N | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | N | |
| PalmDOC support | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | ? | Y | Y | Y |
Note 1: Only for OverDrive sourced MOBI, and requires running a script, technically Amazon has taken a position that this violates the license agreement and does not support this.
Note 2: partly table support
| Devices | BS | CA | CY | FB | H3 | IL | KI | MP | MS | MW | OI | SZ | uB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bookmarks | Y | Y | N | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| Dictionary Lookup | N | N | Y | N | N | Y | 1 | Y | Y | Y | N | N | *2 |
| Dictionary Search | N | N | N | N | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | *2 |
| eNews | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | N | N | N | |||||
| Image Viewer | N | N | N | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | Y | ||
| Change Font Family | U | U | U | 3 | 2 | 3 | Y | U | U | U | U | U | |
| Font Sizes | 11 | 12 | 15 | 3 | 15 | 8 | 13 | *A | 11 | 10 | U | ||
| Force Bold | N | Y | Y | N | N | N | N | Y | Y | N | Y | ||
| Justification L/F | Y | Y | F | F | N | Y | Y | Y | F | F | |||
| Hyphenation | N | Y | Y | Y | N | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||
| Adjust Margins | N | Y | N | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | |||
| Adjust line spacing | N | Y | N | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||
| Highlights | N | N | N | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | |||
| Rotate Display | *1 | N | Y | N | N | Y | Y | Y | *1 | N | N | Y | |
| Page Auto Scroll | Y | N | N | N | N | *3 | Y | N | Y | N | Y | ||
| Free Hand drawing | N | N | N | N | N | Y | N | Y | N | N | N | ||
| Annotations | N | N | N | N | Y | Y | N* | Y | N | N | Y | ||
| Customizable Toolbar | Y | N | N | Y | N* | Y | N | N | |||||
| Full Text Search | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Note 1: requires support from OS driver.
Note 2: uBook has a custom dictionary format. Native mobipocket dicts are not supported.
Note 3: Kindle Reader hasn't special auto scroll feature, but when Text-To-Speech is activated (even with zero volume), pages switch automatically.
Note A: Font size adjustable
Note *: MS Stom in beta 80 this feature may be added in future versions
| Devices | BS | CA | CY | FB | H3 | IL | KI | MP | MS | MW | OI | SZ | uB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Folders | Y | N | *1 | Y | Y | Y | *1 | N | N | N | Y | N | Y |
| Removable Card | N | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | N | Y | N | Y |
| Icons | Y | N | N | N | N | N | Y | Y | N | N | Y | ||
| Filter Genre | Y | N | *2 | N | Y | N | |||||||
| Filter Author | Y | N | N | Y | N | ||||||||
| Filter Publisher | N | N | N | Y | N | ||||||||
| Sort Genre | Y | N | N | Y | N | ||||||||
| Sort Author | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | N | |||||||
| Sort Title | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | |||||||
| Sort Size | N | N | Y | N | Y | N | |||||||
| Sort or List Recent | L | L | L | *4 | Y | N | Y | N | |||||
| Sort Rating | N | N | Y | N | Y | N | |||||||
| Sort Reading time | N | *4 | N | N | Y | N | |||||||
| Preview | N | N | Y | Y | N | ||||||||
| Syncing | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | N | N | ||||||
| Delete eBooks | N | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | |||||
| Wireless Bookstore | N | Y | Y | Y | *3 | ||||||||
| Wireless Download | N | Y | Y | Y | *3 |
Note 1: A folder can be used to force grouping but the display is flat.
Note 2: Genres not supported but the user can create custom "reading lists", which can be used as filter.
Note 3: Not within the application but if your PDA has wifi you can use an internet browser.
Note 4: When sorting is Recent, Kindle sorts books by time they were last opened, and if a book wasn't opened at all - it is sorted by download time.
[edit] For Discussion
See MobileRead forum entry to discuss this page.
