Filed under: iPhone, App Store
First Looks: AppEngines ebooks
No doubt by now you've noticed that many of the "applications" available on the iTunes App Store are various ebooks by AppEngines (iTunes Link). I thought I'd take a look so you can see what you're getting for $0.99. Each of these applications is a single classic (and thus copyright-free) book. For my tests I chose Jane Austen's delightful comedy of manners, Emma (iTunes link).
When you first open one of the AppEngines ebooks you get a nice "leather" cover splash screen with the name of the book. Then you're taken to the first "page." You can advance pages by either swiping (right to left) or merely by tapping the screen. You can go back a page by swiping in the other direction. There are three font sizes which you can choose via the pinch gesture.
At the top there are two buttons: a table of contents button that lists chapter titles and a search button that allows you to search for text. When you search on a term, it is highlighted in yellow throughout the text. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell there does not seem to be an easy way to move to the next instance of the search term. You just have to page through the book until you see the next highlight.
While there are several book reader applications in the App Store for both commercial (i.e DRM-ed) and open-source texts, I think the AppEngines editions are basically worth the modest purchase price for the convenience. Personally, I find it nice to have separate home screen buttons for each book, and the presentation is more than adequate. Be sure to check out the gallery below.
Gallery: AppEngines Emma
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
shaun said 7:58PM on 7-12-2008
I was considering buying one of those ebooks but I wasn't sure how it would be reading a book on what is a really small screen (for a book anyway!)
What's it like?
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Bender Bending Rodriguez said 8:10PM on 7-12-2008
Honestly, it's not bad at all. I haven't tried the other eBook apps, but these have a nice presentation (as stated) which makes the $.99 for the public domain works worth it to me.
David Taylor said 8:16PM on 7-12-2008
I bought this version of Emma just to try it.
The text is fine but is portrait only. For an iPhone application this is not quite reasonable. I hope there will be updates.
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XIV said 8:31PM on 7-12-2008
Looks like eReader has more feature (can move to the next instance of a search, can be display in landscape, etc.)
The ebooks cost way more with eReader but theres more choices.
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dexter said 9:56PM on 7-13-2008
what about landscape mode? does it have it?
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J Row said 9:56PM on 7-12-2008
eReader sucks my balls. Their books are in a proprietary format and they only have a few free books, otherwise you have to pay out lots for each one.... I am looking for a better version that offers great public domain books.... Google should make an iphone ebook reader app.
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Tony Bowman said 11:03PM on 7-12-2008
Bookshelf would be really great if it matched the features and stability of the Installer.app version. :( That said, I paid the $10 for it and plan to stick with it until it gets to a better level.
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AudioBear said 2:48AM on 7-13-2008
I have BookShelf, which seems a very nice ebook reader based on the original Book App. Pleanty of nice features and it can read all sorts of stuff and has a mechanism to be able to get ebooks onto the device via some sort of Book Shelf.
I've not been able to try this out yet but it promises well. It means people could put up there own local or web based?? on-line book stores and others could read. It would be a lot cheaper than alternative of buying books already on the web for free....
One for TUAW to look into, especially the bookshelf idea.
http://www.iphonebookshelf.com/
P.S> I'm no relation ;-)
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Microswirl (MKWii:1676- 4270-3674) said 3:39AM on 7-13-2008
In case anyone was wondering if/when we can expect more books, I read this on the AppEngines website:
"We share your concerns that our ebook applications are taking up too much space in the App Store. We have written to Apple, requesting that the books can be moved to their own category. We will not submit any more books until the situation is resolved. Thank you."
I hope they do it soon, would make it a lot easier searching for them.
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James said 5:04AM on 7-14-2008
They are not applications, I should not have to dig through a bunch of sodding ebooks when looking for apps.
Release one app and figure out a distribution method
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