Stanza, BookShelf, Bookz and eReader, four promising iPhone e-book readers, have been updated. So have the New York Times reader and NetNewsWire and a gem of an app called Turner Internet Radio. Updates by update, here are a few highlights:
- As Paul Biba just noted, Stanza 1.1 has added such features as the auto opening of the last-opened book, when you start up again.
- BookShelf’s 1.1.903 font-changing works, and I can read Mobipocket files that I couldn’t before.
- Bookz 1.0.2 is more stable and should be handy for browsing Gutenberg and other public domain site and downloading titles directly for reading within the same app.
- New York Times reader version 1.3 offers stability improvements. No more articles missing after synchronization. Speed improvements as well?
- NetNewsWire 1.07 is said to be less crash-prone. "Performance is much improved."
- Tuner Internet Radio 1.2, as with the earlier version, gives you hundreds of Net radio stations. Among other changes, connections should be more reliable. Now if only Apple can upgrade the iPhone/Touch operating system so I can enjoy WETA while reading.
Fire up iTunes and search for these apps by names if you want complete lists of the updates.
One not on the above list is eReader—Fictionwise promises a number of improvements. I’m looking forward to page turning with a quick touch, do I don’t have to mess with thumb swipes.
Meanwhile free to weigh in with your own opinion of the above apps.
Of interest (added): An earlier eReader update, from July 9. Also see Paul Biba’s update tips.
Coming later A few words on the Associated Press news app, which might have the best interface of any reader, including the Times.
Related: Reading books on your iPhone—why do it?, at jkOnTheRun. Among the reasons: Make use of your spare time while waiting for the eye doctor. All the better to read the small fonts, JK, eh? Just joking? I couldn’t agree with you more: many people will prefer all-in-one devices over Kindles. Each to his/her own!
eReader has also been updated to 1.0.001, but there is no mention of what the changes are.
If you want to know the version of any of your programs go into iTunes, Application folder. Then right click on the application and then click on Get Info. The version number, among other things, will be there.
Hi, Paul. Update for the eReader is listed as July 9, so far back that I didn’t do anything with it; and the welcome screen still shows 1.0, if I’m not mistaken. Many thanks for mentioning this. I should have. Like you, of course, I wonder what the devil changed. David
The App Store still has some problems. Even though the eReader application was listed as July 9, as you say, today was the first day the “update” function mentioned its availability to me.
Also, I have found that if I update applications from iTunes they don’t always update to the phone when I sync. It’s inconsistent. I’ve found that the best way to do it is to update from iTunes and then disconnect and go into the App Store application on the phone and update, again, from there. That’s the only way I’ve been able to be sure to get all the updates onto the phone.