How I turned an old Android tablet into a smarter Kindle alternative

I love the idea of the Amazon Kindle, or just e-book readers in general. A simple, single-use device that condenses thousands of books into one product has understandable appeal. However, with Amazon effectively bricking devices released before 2013, tying myself to a product that could become a paperweight in the future doesn’t seem like a great way to spend my cash.

So, I went shopping at my local device repo — also known as the decrepit device drawer in my office — and pulled out a 2019 Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0. It certainly wasn’t a high-end product even in its day, but the budget slate is small, lightweight, portable, and a potential book reader with a far higher ceiling than Amazon’s restrictive experience.

And, as it turns out, I needed just a few hours to transform this device into the ultimate Kindle killer.

Repurposing devices that are effectively obsolete is a great way to save cash and keep landfills tech-free. Given that opening book files doesn’t require a pacey modern processor or loads of RAM, my Galaxy Tab just made sense in this context.

While Android tablets and e-book readers share a similar form factor, they’re vastly different products. I’ll admit that reading on an E-Ink display is much kinder on the eyes and more book-like, but a tablet is far more versatile and customizable, and through it, I can consume more than just novels.

Using Android’s built-in customization and a few tricks, I can trim the fat and install apps to enhance my reading experience. Then there are the tertiary benefits of a tablet: the color screen, which makes it perfect for cookbooks, and the option to repurpose it again if reading no longer fits its purpose.

To be frank, one of the core reasons I saw the Galaxy Tab as a viable Kindle alternative was that I already owned it. The best e-book reader is the one you have in your hand, right? Nevertheless, with 32GB of storage with a microSD card slot, an 8-inch display, and a 5,100mAh battery that still takes ages to drain seven years later, this Samsung tablet still has plenty to give and has become a reading companion I take almost everywhere.

Whenever you’re starting a new tech project, it’s a good idea to give yourself a clean slate, and this is true for repurposing an old Android device. Before we get stuck into the fun stuff, you’ll want to factory reset your device. Head to Settings > System > Reset options > Erase all data to start the process. This path might be slightly different depending on your device’s manufacturer. Nevertheless, you’ll need to clear all data, apps, and residual digital dust before turning it into a Kindle killer.

Once the reset is complete, we can now start with the next important step: debloating. This was a critical step for my Galaxy Tab and is one I undertake with every new device I get. Samsung has a nasty habit of including unnecessary apps and services, and this certainly affects the speed and efficiency of older devices.

While you can’t uninstall all apps by default, there are apps that unlock this ability. You’ll need to grab two apps: Canta and Shizuku. Canta is effectively the app you’ll use to uninstall needless apps, while Shizuku gives Canta the permissions required to uninstall these apps. Shizuku has its own minor learning curve, but if you follow the instructions as detailed in the app, you’ll be fine.

Now, with Canta as your axe, you can chop off products like Facebook, Meta services, unnecessary Samsung apps, and other products that you simply don’t need. I can’t advise which apps to remove — ultimately, this is your device, and it’s your buyer’s choice — but I’ve tried to trim as much fat as possible without bricking my tablet.

Once you’re happy with the state of your device (remember, you can always go back and use Canta to trim further fat if required), you’ll need to decide on the most important facet of your e-book reader that isn’t the reader app itself: the launcher.

This is the feature I spent the most time on. Picking the perfect launcher, especially for a lightweight device like a 2019 tablet, can be particularly tricky. I wanted a launcher that put productivity first, offered limited tinkering potential to minimize distractions, and made it easy to launch my reading apps without search or trawling through folders. Initially, I tried Niagara. Granted, it’s a great launcher that I’ve used to build a solid productivity setup on my phone, but it wasn’t a good fit for my dated tablet.

Then, I stumbled across Mako. The open-source launcher, with its retro-minimalist aesthetic and mild organizational features, was the perfect fit. With it, I’ve created three app groups: reading apps up top, general apps in the middle, and everything I don’t need available immediately below. Mako lets me hide groups as required. It’s also incredibly lightweight and is faster than the One UI environment.

Once we’ve stripped the device of its fluff and brought in some new furniture, it’s time to tinker with the value-adds. Again, this will vary by device, but here’s what I’ve done on my Galaxy Tab A 8.0.

Display settings:

• In Developer settings, I’ve adjusted the Minimum width value to a more comfortable level. This will change the density of text and other elements on your screen, depending on your taste. For my device, 555 feels like a good number. My Galaxy S24 FE is currently set at 526, for reference.
• I’ve also decreased Window, Transition, and Animator scales to 0.5x. This should make the various device animations feel a little faster.
• Heading back to device Settings, I’ve enabled Adaptive brightness, set Eye comfort shield to Always on (you’ll need to adjust the red level to your preference), the Screen timeout to 5 minutes, and set Dark mode to trigger on a schedule (on at 6 PM, off at 9 AM is my recipe).

Battery settings:

• I’ve ensured that some apps I don’t use often are put to sleep. You can usually find these settings in Settings > Battery.

Performance tweaks:

• We’ve already sped up our device substantially by trimming the fat, but there’s still a bit more to do. For one, I prefer setting Developer settings > Background process limit to At most 3 processes. For a 2GB RAM device that won’t facilitate heavy multitasking, this will keep my tablet from dragging its feet.

Let’s get onto the most important facet of the Kindle killer: the e-book reader app. There are many, many e-book reader apps available on Android, and there isn’t a consensus about the best option. While I personally use Moon+ Reader, I’d prefer to offer you a selection of potential products. You can find my picks below:

• Moon+ Reader: Perhaps the most comprehensive app on this list. I’m fond of its shelf display, which lets me view all my books on my device at once. When it comes to reading, a simple tap on a page moves it forward or backward, and if I want to highlight a particular section, Moon+ offers a litany of colors and underline options. The premium version is a little pricey, but it’s well worth the spend if you’re serious about this project.
• Readera: My previous e-book reader of choice, Readera, is a wonderful free option that packs plenty of useful tools. It arguably has better stock themes than Moon+ and feels far more book-like as it pages forward or backward. Best of all, it has no ads, supports various formats, and is perfect for lightweight devices.

• Librera: Open-source e-book reader Librera is a solid middle ground between the two challengers above. It’s far more utilitarian in its design, but it makes finding books and organizing large libraries super simple. If you’re planning to use your Kindle killer as a music file, Librera has a musician mode, too.

There’s a plethora of alternatives on tap, too, so I’d suggest trying as many e-book readers as you like before settling on one. The option you pick will also depend heavily on the content you wish to consume. Some excel for cookbook reading and manga, while others work best for classics or text files.

Right, now that we have the e-book reader app, we can call this project complete. However, I believe that the fun is only just starting. After I installed Moon+ Reader on my device, I realized the other advantages an old Android-based tablet has over Kindle products, including the host of reading-enhancing apps available.

I need to offer a word of caution; It’s really easy to get sucked into the “install all the things” mentality here, especially if you have a performant device. However, I’d suggest keeping your installs focused on the device’s core use case: reading.

Here are the additional apps I installed on my Kindle killer, and would recommend you do too:

• Hacki: I visit Hacker News daily, and while I could use a browser, Hacki offers a far cleaner, swifter experience. It’s an open-source app that focuses solely on displaying forum comments and news articles. In that sense, it’s a little wasteful, but I certainly find it useful.
• Kagi News: I’ve been experimenting with ditching Google News for Kagi News, and this is an extension of this test. The app uses AI to condense news from multiple sources into a single, digestible article. It’s great for a snapshot of the daily news temperature.
• Forkyz: My favorite crossword app and one of the best open-source games that downloads puzzles from various sources. When I’m not reading, I’m working on one of these to keep my mind sharp.
• Libre Librivox Listener: I have plenty of physical books on my device, so why not take this to the next level with audiobook support? Librivox offers free access to numerous novels, and the Libre Listener app is an open-source product that plugs into this. The app’s stripped down and super simple, but that works to its favor.
• Myne: I’ll cover Myne in more detail in the next section, but, in short, it makes it easy to find and download books from Project Gutenberg, the open public domain book repository.

• Raindrop: As a core part of my overall productivity workflow, I use Raindrop to save articles and long-form content to read later. While it’s not as swift as Pocket once was, it packs plenty of organizational features, works across multiple platforms, and is free to use.
• RedReader: My default Reddit app on phone and tablet, I use RedReader to visit my favorite subreddits and, more importantly, to find interesting longform content to stock up Raindrop. It’s one of my must-have open-source apps that offers so much value.
• Wikipedia: It was an excellent source of information in my university years, and decades later, I still rely on Wikipedia for a broad overview of topics. The app allows me to silo my Wikipedia-specific searches, while making leaping through rabbit holes so much simpler.
• Your News: For all the news that Kagi misses out on, Your News is my preferred RSS reader. I use it to read news articles from major global sources and local news outlets.
• WordWeb: My go-to dictionary that’s constantly available through the long-press menu. It comes in particularly handy when I’m reading dense works from Joyce.

• LocalSend: When I’m sending files from my PC to my tablet, phone to tablet, or sending books to my fiancée’s devices, I use LocalSend. It’s quick, open source, multi-platform, and super swift.
• Hermit: As a single-site browser, Hermit makes it easier to set up web pages as apps. I use it exclusively on my tablet to access Samsung Food, since the app doesn’t quite work on my slate.
• AI Hub: Finally, AI Hub has become a must-have on every device I own. Instead of installing multiple AI assistant apps, AI Hub consolidates them into a single app. It offers over 90 options at present, including research-centric Consensus, the Swiss army knife ChatGPT, and everything else I could need.

This isn’t the complete list, but these are certainly the reading-adjacent apps.

Of course, if you have an Amazon account, you could always install the Kindle app and enjoy the content you already own. This also rings true for Google Play Books.

Lastly, I want to address the biggest hurdle: accessing content.

One of the convenient facets of the Kindle line is the ease with which users can purchase books. This practice is certainly a little more difficult on old Android tablets cum Kindle killers, but it’s still possible.

As I’ve hinted at, if you’re looking for new books, you can still install the Kindle app or download books through Google itself.

When it comes to finding free books, I mentioned Myne is an easy way to download content from Project Gutenberg, and this is a brilliant way to snag classics. Then there’s Libby, the app that plugs into your local library, allowing you to remotely rent books to read.

If you have an existing library of books saved to a NAS or hard drive, Calibre is a must-have for managing content. It can also act as a server that lets you browse various e-book reader Android apps, including Moon+ Reader. It’s been around for nearly two decades, and it’s just as useful as it was back then.

If you’ve followed my loose instructions so far, you should now have a cheap yet capable Kindle alternative that offers so much more than a simple e-book reader. Yes, tablets certainly have disadvantages compared to electronic paper devices, including pixel density, battery life, and book-like aesthetics, but a tablet you already have costs you nothing.

I took an old Samsung Galaxy Tab that was no longer suitable for demanding tasks and turned it into a reliable, long-lasting, and multifaceted e-book reader on which I can complete crosswords, read the latest news, study and find new recipes, and, obviously, read books. There’s room to grow and tweak it as I see fit, too. In short, I’m in complete control of my consumption experience.

Of course, this is only a rough guide. I’ve outlined what one could accomplish with an old device, but there’s plenty more to discover on your own here. If you’ve repurposed an Android tablet in a similar manner, please leave a comment and detail what you’ve done to your device. And, if you haven’t yet, what are you waiting for?