Book iPhone Apps Review

Book apps are simply the information that was once committed to the page now presented in a digital format. These apps range from the classical works of great writers to poetry, religious texts, self-help, non-fiction, fiction, comic books and children’s and young adult stories. Books apps have a reader built into them but there are also reader programs that link to websites where you can download popular titles. There are also library organizers to help you track what you’ve got in your existing library of physical books.

Book iPhone Apps Review : What to Look For

The capabilities of the iPhone/iPod touch are leveraged in several ways in Books apps. Utilizing the accelerometer allows you to read text in landscape or portrait orientation. The beautiful display is easy on the eyes so the screen doesn’t cause eye-strain problems when reading for long periods of time and the multitouch interface makes it easy to flip through the book’s “pages” with a finger swipe. One of the most obvious missing elements is the tactile sensation of holding a book and feeling its weight and the texture of the paper. After reading several “ebooks” we’ve come to the conclusion that if the book’s content is compelling and the interface is smooth, you won’t miss the physical aspects nearly as much as you might think.

Features
Electronic Books app features range from the ability to change the display’s color scheme to adjusting font size and type to the more involved options such as highlighting important passages or looking up words in a dictionary. Because of the digital nature of the app and the iPhone, Books apps can include illustrations, hyperlinks and even animated images and sounds.

Interface
In order for the technology of an electronic book to not be distracting to the reading experience the interface, or method of interacting with the book, should be smooth and intuitive. There shouldn’t be any hesitation moving from page to page or finding the Settings to adjust the color scheme.

Graphics
The graphics in a Books app can range from illustrations in a child’s book to graphs and diagrams in a technical manual to the icons used within the program to identify different processes. Regardless of the type of location, the graphics should be clear, easily understood and professionally rendered.

Stability
Stability in any app is important. If the app crashes often, freezes your device or loads information too slowly you won’t use it. That being said, the app should load quickly, run smoothly and include zero glitches.

Program Size
How much memory an Books app requires varies depending on how much the program includes. Some apps use only a few MB of space, some much more. This isn’t too critical unless you are close to running out of room on your device.

Support
Most Books apps have decent support usually in the form of a FAQs page on the developer’s website or at the very least an email to send support questions and suggestions to. A good Books reader app should have a much more in-depth support system including the previously mentioned email and FAQs as well as forums, help sites and tutorials to help you maximize your electronic book reading experience.

Book apps will make sure you’re never without a good read. We recommend you start out with a standalone book to test the experience but you’ll eventually want to add a reader app. It will be a valuable addition to your iPhone or iPod touch.