Comments on: REVIEW: Ereader and Bookshelf App for iPhone

By: Alek

Alek — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 06:06:48 +0000

Hi. Good site.

By: Herve Kabla

Herve Kabla — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 23:23:52 +0000

Same as Teq, dictionary integration is a must for me. Stanza and BookShelf don’t provide any dictionary.

By: The Elements of a Perfect eReading Device | Dear Author: Romance Book Reviews, Author Interviews, and Commentary

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 09:00:17 +0000

[...] PDA/Smartphone [...]

By: Teq

Teq — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:23:16 +0000

Thanks for the review, Jane. I’ve been a long time user of eReader – first on the Palm, then on a Windows Mobile powered device.

I was really looking forward for eReader for iPhone/iPod Touch, and I am impressed by the results. Users who are already familiar with eReader on other platforms (i.e., Palm, Windows Mobile, PC, etc.) will find it very easy to use. While the program doesn’t have the full functionality of the other platforms yet, it’s certainly a promising first release. I expect that future versions will address these missing features (some of which you note in your review).

One of the features I have always liked about eReader (which you don’t mention in your review) is the dictionary integration: I’m not a native English speaker, so it’s convenient for me to look up unknown words while reading. Fortunately this is already supported in the intial release.

So, IMHO, for those familiar with eReader and an existing library of eReader format books, this is a great addition to the supported platforms.

By: Shanna

Shanna — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 04:34:14 +0000

Thanks Jess, I just downloaded Stanza since I saw that it supports pdf. Also I wanted to add that it comes with access to a bunch of free books.

By: Jess

Jess — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:36:41 +0000

I’m a big eBook reader, so I’ve been trying to decide which app I want to install on my iPhone when I get it (8/31, can’t wait!!)…BookShelf was in the lead until I saw Stanza. I’d be really interested to hear your take on the program in comparison to BookShelf.

By: Shanna

Shanna — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:25:07 +0000

I considered buying bookshelf but I think I’ll wait until they add pdf to the formats you can read. I prefer the flexibility of bookshelf over ereader and I’m looking forward to seeing what other apps may spring up for reading ebooks. BTW I lurrrve my new 3G iPhone. It was worth the 6 1/2 hour wait.

By: Jane

Jane — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:53:24 +0000

michael – About 4 hours with low backscreen light.

By: Devon

Devon — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:02:25 +0000

Hooray! Thanks for the review. I’ve been using readdle with my ipod touch, since I couldn’t get the hack done. It was a simple app that I found through the apple site, but it was very basic. If you had a pdf, sometimes things would look wonky, and you couldn’t zoom in.

So I shall have to check out this bookshelf thing. Sounds better for my needs.

By: michael

michael — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:44:13 +0000

Jane said, “I can read about a book and a half until the battery drains down to 20% and I get a warning signal.”

Approx. how many minutes is this? Some can read a book in 3 hours, some in 13.

And thanks for the review — very informative!

By: thedigitalist.net » links for 2008-07-15

thedigitalist.net » links for 2008-07-15 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:31:29 +0000

[...] REVIEW: Ereader and Bookshelf App for iPhone | Dear Author: Romance Book Reviews, Author Interviews,… Detailed review of the UX for two of the ebook reader apps for the iPhone (tags: ebooks reader device application iphone) This entry was written by delicious and posted on at 1:31 pm and filed under delicious. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL. These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]

By: Jane

Jane — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:23:24 +0000

I have not tried TextonPhone. I’ll look for it in the App store though.

Tazallie – I tried Readdle yesterday but I saw you had to pay a monthly fee for storage service. I don’t really like the thought of that. I hope that Bookshelf works for you.

By: James

James — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:47:22 +0000

Hi- have you tried TextonPhone? It has many of the features you were assessing the other two apps against, although I don’t think it supports purchase of new encrypted titles.

By: Tazallie

Tazallie — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:14:34 +0000

Well I downloaded bookshelf having hummed and hawed for ages over which one to go for (So thanks Jane your great review really helped) and I love it!…yes it has some annoying habits as Jane mentioned…but overall its a great early application and I have no doubt that as the few bugs are ironed out it will be an excellent application. Finally i can read books whilst camping! (dont have space in my backpack for real books and my iphone does not get reception in the wilds of the peak district(UK)for readdle that I was using)
I am eager though to see what future developments come forward for the ebooks and the iphone.

By: Gotcha!

Gotcha! — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:54:19 +0000

Jane,

Who is better than you?! Thanks for the seriously detailed review. I’ve been watching and waiting anxiously for the new iPhone to be launched so I can have all my goodies combined into one. Now I just have to wait until the store is stocked again! Sigh…

By: Caffey

Caffey — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 03:45:47 +0000

I don’t use a cell phone, but used a PDA before and for me, so small a screen! But it does have where you can make the font bigger, so maybe it easier to read?

I use the ebookwise reader and love it. Thanks for the great info!

By: BevQB

BevQB — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 03:37:37 +0000

Hey Jane… Thanks for taking one for the team, as usual.

I have a kinda-sorta OT question: What format converter(s) do you use? Are you happy with the way the books are converted? I use ABC Amber for converting PDF to LIT and I’ve never been very happy with the job it does.

By: katiebabs

katiebabs — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:14:18 +0000

Jane, I may tackle you for your Iphone in San Fran. :P

By: Jane

Jane — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:05:37 +0000

Pieter – Bookshelf App only reads unencrypted books. If you have a book that requires authentication to read it, it is “encrypted” and only Mobipocket readers would allow you to view the books.

Bedell’s email is on his website: iphonebookshelf.com

Good luck!

By: Pieter de Rijk

Pieter de Rijk — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:00:20 +0000

Hi Jane,

Liked your review, very good indeed, with just the same concerns I have as an avid e-reader.

I'ts just because Bookshelf crashes all the time, I can’t really recommend it. I have a lot of Mobipocket files in my library, the server Works fine, but the program itself crashes on opening the files. Is this because they are encrypted? (In that case what does unencrypted mean? And shouldn’t Bookshelf be more specific about this?)

When I read you had sent Zac Bedell an email I got jealous: how did you do that? Because however hard I looked on the site of Bookshelf, I could not find any emailadress. Can you help me?

I use both programs for my iPod Touch, by the way.

Kind regards,

Pieter de Rijk.