In addition to unveil a slew of fresh computer hardware on Tuesday , Apple also announced version 3 of iBooks , its read app for the iPad and iPhone . We ’ll have a full review soon , but in the meanwhile , here are some former imprint from our initial hands - on experience with the app .
The most prominent new features are iBooks ’s new scrolling theme , newly incorporate sharing choice , and an Amazon - inspired , iCloud - power bookshelf .
have ’s start with that last feature of speech , since the iBooks bookshelf is the first thing that recognise you when you establish the app . Previously , it list the books you ’d downloaded to your iOS gadget . With iBooks 3 , you ’ll see every book you own list . Those books that reside only in iCloud sport a tiny cloud download icon on the upper good corners ; hydrant on them , and they ’ll download so that you could start reading them . If you need to delete a book from your bookshelf outright , you get that alternative under the Delete button , too . Once you ’ve done that , you may furbish up that ledger to your bookshelf only from the Purchased Books tab in the iBookstore .
Once you ’re reading a book , you’re able to take reward of the other two prominent new features in iBooks . The first is a fresh root called Scroll . That choice join Book ( the skeuomorphic root with which iBooks first establish ) and Full Screen ( which hide out the pseudo - Scripture chrome and lease the textual matter fill up the entirety of your display .
Like Full Screen , the Scroll theme is gratuitous of any faux - book mental imagery : You just see your book ’s text . But instead of swipe between pages of your ebook , you merely scroll through it vertically — much as you would with text in Safari , Mail , or Instapaper . You still get subtle chapter breaks — visual separators to indicate that you ’re moving from one chapter to the next . But pageboy numbers scroll by , instead of being desexualize in position ; as you scroll through the record , the page 23 mark will appear at the bottom when you get there , and scroll up off the screen as you proceed reading . That say , a more lasting page indicator sit prepare at the bottom of the screen , along with iBooks ’s still - cagy “ pages leave in this chapter ” indicator . Along the right side of the screen sit a vertically - orient serial of dot offering a more visual take on where you are in the book .
In early testing , however , the Scroll theme suffer from some surprising stutters . alternatively of the smooth , pantry scrolling to which iOS substance abuser are habituate , you get frequent hiccups while you scroll . It ’s clearly a modality better become to the iPhone , iPod signature , or new iPad mini ; on the full - sizing iPad , the style seems a little sappy .
When you encounter a passage in your book that ’s too upright not to portion out , iBooks 3 lease you quote it on Twitter or Facebook , or share it in other way . First , you utilize the highlight option introduce in iBooks previously — where you but tapdance and hold at the starting signal of the section you ’d wish to play up , and then drag out your digit across it . Then you tap on the saucily - highlighted part to expose various option like changing the highlight color , removing it , or adding a government note . A new option there is the Sharing release ( the boxed arrow ) ; tap it , and you may choose whether to share the citation via Mail , Messages , Twitter , or Facebook , or to copy it to the clipboard .
iBooks will assay to include attribution information for the reference , including the title of the book and its author , along with a notice that the text edition may be copyright . If , however , you ’re posting to Twitter , most of that information wo n’t accommodate , and it simply gets truncated in the Tweet Sheet .
In short , the new iBooks does n’t seem to be a dramatic change from its former looping . Instead , it appear purport at making the reading app a bit more social , and a bit more usable — whether you ’re using a gadget with less storage , or one with less screen substantial estate . seem for our full review shortly .