Introducing a tablet into my workflow has been great. My Nexus 7 is conveniently portable, it shifts a lot of battery-draining activities off of my phone, and the bigger screen is so much better for media consumption and gaming than a phone could ever be. Having two mobile consumption devices did add a few minor inconveniences though. What content do I want on which device? Are there things I want in both places? And how can I pick up where I left off when I switch between them?
This last question has been a bit of a dilemma for me. I’ve been reading ebooks on mobile devices for over a decade, starting with PDAs, and then moving to smartphones. The extra screen real estate on a tablet is nice, but it’s not going to stop me from wanting to read on my phone sometimes. So, how do I switch devices without having to spend time looking for where to start? It makes paper books and bookmarks feel convenient.
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Google have all provided syncing solutions in their reading apps, but what if you don’t use those apps? What about those of us with epub libraries that we’ve spent years building? Until now, there haven’t been any great solutions for Android users. Every option I’ve tried required either a rooted device or an incredibly manual sync process. Last week, I discovered a new option.
Fabrik syncs your book files and reading position via your Dropbox account, and it automatically syncs every time you view your library. The app automatically populates your library with thumbnail images of your book covers from the internet. It makes for a pretty nice ebook reader, too, including features like a tablet-optimized, two-column landscape view, night mode, and beautiful page-turn animations.
However, there are a few things I’d like to see changed in Fabrik. There is currently no way to access the main settings page while reading (you need to go back to the library for that option). Fabrik gives you the option of changing the screen brightness while reading with a convenient swipe, but no option to lock the app to the default system brightness. Fortunately, these are surprisingly minor gripes for such a new app, and Fabrik is in active development, with updates coming every few days. The developer first posted the app on the incomparable XDA developer forums, so you can make your own suggestions there.
Fabrik is a free app, with an ad showing up in the library after a short trial period. If you prefer the ad-free Fabrik Pro, it’ll cost you $2.98. That won’t bring you any extra features other than removing the ads, but I’m always a fan of lending a bit of support to excellent developers. And I’ll gladly support Fabrik, which has quickly made its way to my list of favorite apps.
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