iBooks (iPhone version) Impressions

[xsecretfiles]

I actually liked it, I do some reading during and between bathroom breaks lol
It's fast on my 3Gs and since I have a good vision I don't mind reading on the small screen, no need to zoom in or out

 

[kas23]

I guess if I was really bored... I would use it, but the screen is too small for reading books IMO. I'll use the iPad for that.

Maybe primarily using your iPad to read spoils your experience of reading on an iPhone.

 

[TRAG]

pirated books great just what we need.

Oh, come on. Like you've never downloaded a song or video off the Internet. Really? What makes getting a book any less different? Smaller file size is all I can come up with.

Thanks for that mate.

You're welcome. Glad to help.

 

[joekun]

In the store within the app I can't seem to find a way to browse books by title when looking in categories, only by author. Am I missing something? I want to browse through all the Project Gutenberg stuff by title.

 

[PlaneCrazy]

I'll join the chorus in praise of Stanza. I've been using that as my primary reader since it was first offered, when the App Store was new and still relatively empty.

As an e-reader, Stanza still works best for me. I don't read a lot of "best sellers" and I've built up quite a library of classics in Stanza.

I've also tried the Barnes and Nobel e-reader, and it's ok.

I've been a bit disapointed in the iBooks app, mainly because of that error mentioned in the post above. It happens whenever I open Winnie-The-Pooh.

That said, the store seems to have a fair selection of books, and they do look quite nice, except for the massive margins. It can't be easy spacing text and pictures on a page when the font is adjustable.

To me, e-readers are there for convenience. They won't replace a real book, at least at the size of the iPhone. I could possibly see it on the iPad, but I don't have one of those yet. But you can carry a small library of books in your pocket for whenever you might need one.

I'll wait and see where the iBook app goes before committing to it more. Until then, Stanza works great and satisfies my reading-on-the-go needs.

 

[kas23]

I'll wait and see where the iBook app goes before committing to it more. Until then, Stanza works great and satisfies my reading-on-the-go needs.

Stanza is by far the best. I may go back to iBooks some time in the future when someone who actually reads books on an iPhone lends their hand in design. The large boarders are just too much and the fact you cannot make the full screen black with white writing makes it a user-unfriendly app for me.

 

[jcal0820]

I have to admit my favorite e-reader (for my iPod Touch) is the Amazon app.. plenty of selection, even though ebook prices went up around the time iBooks launched for the iPad. Already read several full books and free samples, and have had no problem reading an entire book on my iPod Touch screen, and so convenient too for the many reasons already posted before. I tried iBooks, but I agree that it wasn't optimized for an iPod/iPhone and a poor port of the native iPad version.
I like Stanza, but end up using the Amazon app more than anything else. Haven't bought or even a read a hard copy book since!

 

[Mitchelino]

Overall, I am impressed with iBooks for iPhone. Yesterday I downloaded some free books, and was really impressed. I'm not much of a book reader, but I might buy a title or two. I'm impressed with the selection, as well as the affordability (compared to buying a hard copy).

Being able to search for text is another HUGE bonus for me. If my textbooks became available on the iBooks store, I'd buy them there instead of from our university bookstore (where the average title is upwards of $100 CAD). Searching the books would sure help with finding specific quotes, etc., for university papers.

I am on a 3GS and am not impressed. Seems to take a long time to load bookshelf. And already I have gotten an error prompt (below). It goes away after having the app open for a minute or so. I assume it happens because the app is syncing where I last opened the app and loading the content of the book.

I get the same problem on my 3GS. When I try opening the book a 2nd time, it opens fine. Sometimes it can take a while to load though.

the app is quite slow on my 3gs... i downloaded a pdf and winnie the pooh and it always gets stuck on some pages and takes forever to load

Once the book loads, it's fairly fast on my 3GS. But while it's loading, it is slow as heck!

Oh, come on. Like you've never downloaded a song or video off the Internet. Really? What makes getting a book any less different? Smaller file size is all I can come up with.

Pirating is illegal whether it's a book, app, video, music, etc. As a musician, I understand what stealing music does to the artist. In a world where stealing music (or books) is easy, no one wants to pay for it anymore; makes my life that much harder, as it does to other artists.

 

[TRAG]

Pirating is illegal whether it's a book, app, video, music, etc. As a musician, I understand what stealing music does to the artist. In a world where stealing music (or books) is easy, no one wants to pay for it anymore; makes my life that much harder, as it does to other artists.

Thanks for the honesty. I'm an artist also and fully agree with you. steve knight just sounded like he was being cynical though. As much as I like to support other artists and don't really like to download media myself, I know I've done it before and am pretty sure most others have.

 

[Aeroflux]

iBooks has been a mostly positive experience for me, given that I'm reading from the iPhone 4 display. I have spent hours reading and found that I no longer suffer from reader's fatigue, as I did on the 3G. I still intend to use Stanza as well...just haven't got back to it yet.