Apple ’s discharge of iOS 4 on Monday grabbed most of the attention , but it was n’t the only iPhone - centric product to come out of Cupertino that Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . The caller also released iBooks 1.1 , a general app that brings Apple ’s formerly - iPad - only take on e - reading to the iPhone .
I spent some time with the iPhone rendering of iBooks , both peruse the aisles of its virtual iBookstore and doing some light reading on my iPhone . Here are some first impressions about using the iPhone version , how it differ from iBooks on the iPad , and how it measure up to other mobile reading apps .
A visit to the bookstore
you may only browse the iBookstore in portrait style on your iPhone . And the iPhone version does n’t show you prices until you drill down into the book listing .
If you ’re an iPad possessor who ’s already downloaded books from the iBookstore , do n’t panic when you first set in motion the updated app — even though your bookshelf will look as destitute as Joan Rivers . There ’s a way to get those book back , and it ’s easy . In fact , the clit to tap is the same one you require if you ’ve never purchased a book from Apple : advert the Store clit , and the bookshelf flip around like a secret passageway , revealing the iBookstore ’s main interface . solicit the memory ’s Purchases tab to re - download books you ’ve already buy . you’re able to only restore those books one at a meter — a tad annoying if you ’ve used iBooks to carry up on band of vitamin E - Bible since the iPad ’s launching .
For some cause — I’m thinking a sadistic designer — the Store and Edit buttons flip side of meat between the iPhone and iPad version of the iBooks app ; tappers beware .
You can only browse the iBookstore in portrait mode on your iPhone. And the iPhone version doesn’t show you prices until you drill down into the book listing.
While Apple permit you buy music and apps from your figurer or your iOS twist , currently your only selection for surf the iBookstore is via your iPhone or iPad . Annoyingly — and unlike the iPad version of the store — the iPhone does n’t show Holy Writ prices while you browse the virtual shelves ; they ’re only reveal when you tap into the book listing itself . Beyond browsing those books Apple chooses to feature , you could also range by category and view bestsellers .
Since iBooks now offers synchronize , you’re able to download the same Quran to your iPhone and iPad ( paying for it only once ) , and the app will seamlessly ensure you ’re always on the right page . That way , if you take in a Sir Frederick Handley Page or two of Sarah Silverman’sThe Bedwetterwith your iPhone while standing in line at the grocery store , your iPad will let you preserve read just from where you leave off .
Once you ’ve downloaded a few books to your iPhone , the search measure atop your bookshelf makes it easy to find just the title you ’re looking for .
You can highlight text in iBooks. And tapping on the text of your books makes those interface buttons disappear.
Reading time
you’re able to highlight textual matter in iBooks . And tapping on the text of your ledger makes those user interface button go away .
When you first start learn a record , the screen is rather distractingly adorned with no few than nine interface elements that skirt the textbook — a push to repay to your program library , a shortcut to the table of contents , a substance of set the font size and style , and so on . tip anywhere on the textbook itself take out most of the cruft and jumble , which is candidly too much selective information to get up onto the iPhone ’s tiny screen .
Still , it ’s overnice to have those clitoris just another single tap by . you could encounter the font sizing up so that it ’s almost comically huge , toggle switch between a burnt sienna - tone background or the default white-hot one , explore the book ’s text , or add bookmarks with easiness . In an vantage over the Kindle , the Nook , and those gadget ’ match iOS apps , iBooks can show you how many pages remain within the current chapter . It ’s a great feature for anyone who ’s ever needed to make that judgment call regarding how many more pages to read before it ’s clock time to come together the book for now .
In the bottom right corner of the screen, iBooks tells you how many pages are left before the end of a chapter.
you could tap and view as on schoolbook within iBooks to get a definition or mark the text . ( notice that the first time you need a definition , the app will ask to download Apple ’s dictionary , which takes a arcminute or two . ) Definitions live on their own filmdom ; water tap Done to render to your book ’s textbook . you could also add note and highlighting — the latter in multiple colours — and then revisit those bank note and highlight again using the Table of Contents .
iBooks countenance you read in portrait or landscape painting mood , which work nicely with iOS 4.0 ’s new software - based orientation curl . ( Of course , since you may only put away the iPhone inportrait , this feature article really only works great if that ’s your preference . ) The iBookstore port act upon solely in portrayal mode . For the most part , landscape reading feels like a bit of an afterthought on the iPhone .
The look of books
In the bottom right corner of the screen , iBooks say you how many pages are left before the end of a chapter .
With the launching of iBooks for iPhone , Apple has aim time to amend upon the app ’s textual matter presentation from its original iPad personification . The Georgia font has been supply , and it looks very good on the iPhone ’s screen . Additionally , you could now incapacitate mightily - apologize school text , which is an even more welcome change ( though annoyingly , accessible only within the options app ) . Justified text on a screen the iPhone ’s size require often - ridiculous parole spacing when hyphenation is n’t uncommitted , and indeed iBooks does n’t hyphenate .
The app also include a brightness slider so you may change the brightness of the iPhone ’s backlight without switching to the configurations app . I in reality prefer the brightness mechanics that the Kindle and BN eReader apps offer for nighttime reading , which leave the backlight alone but align the contrast of the textual matter and the page . iBooks also does n’t declare oneself a white - on - black musical mode , which is often preferred in very glowering conditions .
One competitive advantage that iBooks offers over other e - referee apps is its ability to take PDFs , in addition to book in the open - reference ePub format . you’re able to drag filing cabinet of either eccentric into iTunes , and they ’ll automatically sync with iBooks on your phone . ( you may also spread PDF attachments from Mail directly in iBooks . )
Apple stay on mightily in the midst of the tight - developing , more and more cutthroat e - reading world , and iBooks for iPhone offers decent feature parity with the apps from Kindle and Barnes & Noble . Each of the apps is very good , and each has feeble spots , too . Whether the e - reading app state of war will be won on characteristic alone , or whether Word of God pricing and selection will toy a prominent role , is a narrative whose finis has n’t yet been write .
We ’ll have a full follow-up of iBooks in both its iPhone and iPad incarnations shortly .
