Random Monday : Read Books on Your Mobile Phone with TequilaCat BookReader
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Recently installed the J2ME text file reader, TequilaCat Book Reader, on my mobile phone to kill time during my daily commutes to work. Highly recommended for avid readers except if you’re driving of course 
Download TequilaCat Book Reader from Alexey Vdovichenko (aka TequilaCat)’s website, which is essentially a Windows application to create the necessary .jar file to install the actual Book Reader onto your mobile phone.
Select your phone model from the list (choose MIDP 2.0 + JSR75 if you have a fairly modern model which supports flash cards) and click on the first button which reads Build to generate .jar and .jad files in the test subfolder in the TequilaCat BookReader installation folder. Copy these files to your mobile phone together with some text files, install and you’re all set
Before that you might want to embed some books into the text viewer (necessary for older phones which do not have a file system) by clicking on Add Book. Multiple text files can be embedded into the .jar file and if you need to add books in Word or PDF format, install Kryloff Technologies’ GetText utility – read the detailed instruction manual or the shorter FAQ on the usage of Book Reader.
Embedding books into the Book Reader is actually optional if you have a modern mobile phone as you can simply load your text files into flash card and browse to them from the Book Reader application on your phone.
Some useful options to tweak when using TequilaCat Book Reader:
Settings -> Wrap : I find that text formatted by option 5. Like TiBR to produce the most readable text for my phone with option 6. Justify By Width a close runner up.
Settings -> Fonts : I prefer a black background with white text so I checked 5. Use phone colors. There’re three different fonts sizes by default so cycle through them via the Prev. font and Next. font options.
Settings -> Scroll bar : If you find the scroll bar distracting like I do, you have the option of hiding it here.
Settings > Scroll options : If lines are being cut off when you scroll by page, you might need to check 1. Show incomplete line and/or 2. Leave one line.
You can also change these options in the Windows application before you build the actual .jar file.
The current position of each text file that you read is saved by TequilaCat Book Reader when you load another text file or exit the application so you can read different text files as and when you see fit. Right now I’m alternating between Jules Verne’s classic 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea downloaded via Project Gutenberg (subscribe to their RSS of newly added and updated ebooks), Jeff Head’s free techno thriller Dragon’s Fury and even the Ableton Live 6 LE manual.
My current reading List 
TequilaCat Book Reader also supports handy functions to keylock your phone within the application as well as show your current progress via Info – Show Book Info.
Another Java-based textreader, ReadManiac, has the ability to rotate the text to read in landscape mode which is definitely useful, but I much prefer the text justification and formatting features of TequilaCat BookReader.
UPDATE (18 JUN 2008): TequilaCat BookReader actually supports rotated text too – more details here.
Download Tequila BookReader 2.28.
Tags: Books Software Technology
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