Which iPad or tablet apps do you use to read your comics?

[petown]

Looking to see what everyone is using to read comics on mobile devices, so chime in with your favorite app and tell us why you love it!  

[Yoc]

The site would Love to hear feedback on this topic gang.  Many of them don't own a tablet so some advice would be most welcome.

I myself only recently joined the tablet world -
I now own a Samsung Galaxy Pad Pro Android (running Kit-Kat) and have been using the free 'Challenger Comics Viewer' app which is working pretty good for me.
I haven't tried any others to compare it to yet.  The only problem I've had is when zooming in and trying to move the focus on the page it will often jump to the next page instead.  But other than that it's got a lot of good features including ftp access for adding new books.  And it works with all the formats I need - JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP (Android 4.0+), BMP, PDF, CBZ/ZIP,CBR/RAR and ePUB.

[Poztron]

Comic Zeal seemed to work okay on my iPad. However, I ultimately decided that rather than going through the cumbersome process of uploading scan files to the iPad and using that app to view them, it was simpler to just use the browser (Chrome or Safari) to go to DCM and view comics in the Preview mode. Depending on the speed of one's Wifi or broadband, that latter approach could make moving from page to page somewhat slow, but it sidestepped the rigamarole of sending files to the iPad in the first place.

[petown]

You make some excellent points Poztron! Downloading files is an issue, especially on an iPad with limited space. I've also used Comic Zeal, and liked it a lot, and also tried the DCM Preview mode as well. I haven't found the page-to-page move slow, so no issues there for me, but I find navigating around the screen less than ideal in Preview mode. I use both CZ and Preview equally and find both are good solutions. (Thank you DCM team for Preview mode!)

I'd love to hear what others are using that maybe address these two methods shortcomings.

[paw broon]

I've commented on this previously but for those who came in late, I've been using a Samsung Galaxy 10.1 inch, and with the free Perfect Viewer app I get great results.  Interesting that Poztron feels that downloading is cumbersome and I have to admit that rather than download direct to the tablet, I much prefer to download files to my pc and transfer to the tablet or a micro sd card.  Might seem like an unnecessary extra stage but, believe me, it's easier and the difference in reading from a downloaded .cbz, for instance compared to Preview mode is big.
Perfect Viewer also has an addon for pdf files which is smooth and easy to use with no top tool frame on the page. 
Also, using a micro sd card - not available to ipad users - lets you load it up with literally piles of comics and mags so you always have something to read to suit whatever mood you're in. 
Yoc, I look forward to trying the  'Challenger Comics Viewer'.
Buying digital comics can be an option also and Comixology has an excellent selection.  Their app works quite well, (for me at any rate) and some of their titles are now available without DRM, so they can be transferred to your tablet's memory.  In the case of Izneo, there is a great choice of French, and English translations of, graphic novels (BD) which can be bought outright or hired for 10 days.  It's well worth looking at their offerings.
Sorry, I know very little about Apple products and have never actually used them.

[petown]

Thanks for the education/overview on Samsung Paw! As an Apple guy I don't have much insight into the Android world, (sort of the opposite of your situation!) so its great to hear the details of how your tablet works. The split between iOS and Android OS is really a factor to consider.

I agree that the ease of downloading the comics to the desktop as an interim step is useful, but yes, it is an extra step. It would be nice to 'just have stuff' and not do any multiple steps at all, but now I'm going into science fiction!

Comixology was a favorite of mine until Amazon took them over; felt like a step backward in terms of titles and ease of use. That being said, their app was great at navigation and sort of spoiled me for that aspect.

I'm not familiar with Perfect Viewer. How long have you been using that? Is that like GoodReader? Goodreader seemed like the logical choice for a reader, but I could never get the non-PDF files to work right.

I'll look into Comics Challenger Viewer; never heard of that one before.

[Yoc]

Thanks for the reviews gang, please keep 'em coming!

I tried Comics Challenger first mostly because of all the formats supported and the ftp direct download option being there should I get the opportunity to use it.  I'll have to try some others just to compare them but so far I'm happy with what I've got.

[Geo (RIP)]

I'm using the free version of ComicBook on my iPad Mini it seem to work well on/with different versions of Apple OS.May want to give it a try. It should be on/in the iTune app.

Geo

[petown]

Awesome feedback so far for this topic! Thanks all 

Here's what I've tried so far and my overall rating of them (granted, with very limited use; my free time has been short lately).

ComicBook Lover for iPad: never worked; crashes on launch and I hear it is no longer supported. Seems like it used to be great!
Comic Zeal Comic Reader: best one so far, but navigation seems harder than it should be.
Comixology: Was my top reader in terms of newly purchased comics and navigation was perfect. But it never worked well for me for older format files. Once Amazon bought it, it slipped even further down the list.
Sequential: for graphic novels. Haven't really spent much time with this so... but nothing stands out as wonderful.

Yet to try: Challenger Comics Viewer (thanks Paw!) and the free ComicBook (thanks Geo!).

I'm breaking out the Kindle too in hopes that gives me something the iPad doesn't.

[Yoc]

Thanks for digging in on this topic P, looking forward to your results.

[petown]

OK so here's the very basic results of my informal survey of iPad/Android apps for reading comics currently. Love to hear from everyone on this!

ComicBook Lover for iPad: Not really viable anymore; support discontinued.
Comic Zeal Comic Reader: Very good, but navigation could be better.
Comixology: Good, especially if you're into the whole infrastructure of buying new titles.
Challenger Comics Viewer (Android): Unable to check this one; my Kindle Fire HD wasn't able to handle it. If you're an Android user, this might be your best bet.
ComicBook (Android): Very good, but navigation was somewhat cumbersome.

Ultimately, for DCM, I think the Preview mode is the way to go -- but these apps keep evolving so I'll have to check back in a few months and try them again.

Thanks for everyone's input!! 

[Yoc]

Thanks P!
I'm still using Challenger.  My only complaint is navigation to the next comic.  It's good for auto opening the next title in the same folder but if you want to find another you've got to hit about three buttons to get to the external SD card.  But other than that I'm happy.  I'll have to try ComicBook and see how it goes.

[Geo (RIP)]

You are right, it doesn't seem to work with the latest OS Apple just came out with, worked fine with the OS before this. It's disappointing that support has been dropped, it was one of the best out there. 

Geo

Awesome feedback so far for this topic! Thanks all 

Here's what I've tried so far and my overall rating of them (granted, with very limited use; my free time has been short lately).

ComicBook Lover for iPad: never worked; crashes on launch and I hear it is no longer supported. Seems like it used to be great!

[Poztron]

I should clarify my remark about downloading files to the iPad being cumbersome. I was referring to having to go through iTunes to move the files from my backup hard drive to the iPad. I've not tried downloading from the DCM website directly to the iPad. In fact, as I might have mentioned previously, I decided that I actually prefer reading the scans on my monitor rather than on the iPad.  Not exactly sure why, but the comics actually seem more "dead" on the iPad; maybe its display is too perfect, if that makes any sense. (Though I have a Mac Mini, I'm using a Dell display at 1600x900 resolution. With that monitor I feel like I'm seeing the comic directly. With the iPad I feel like I'm looking through a pane of glass (which I am, in fact).  (I can't say that I expect anyone to agree with me on this.) 

[Yoc]

Hey gang,
There's still some unclaimed free codes to use the Chunky reader iPad app from this message -

http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/forum/index.php/topic,5402.msg50038.html#msg50038