Wattpad - an eBook Reader

Wattpad is an eBook Reader for the iPhone.  Much like Audiobooks, Wattpad draws its content from an online repository of public-domain material, in this case Project Gutenberg.  It's a free app, but has ads.  There are no ads when reading the books, however.

Finding a book was fairly straightforward.  Both title and Author searches work, and the results give you the book's title, length, and language.  All results are filtered by the language specified in the search screen; there's no option to disable the language filter.

There's a couple of nifty features you can use while reading the book.  Autoscroll scrolls the text automatically at an adjustable rate to save you from having to tap a next page button.  This is activated either by the Scroll button or by double-tapping the text.  Rotation lock prevents the display from locking so if you want to read laying down, the text will stay the way you want it.  On the right side is an indication of how far into the book you are.  This also serves as a way to navigate rapidly.  I didn't explore the Share button very much, but tapping it seems to allow you to share what you're reading via Facebook, Twitter, and email.

A single tap on the text hides the scroll bar on the right and the controls on the bottom leaving you with text and the title bar.  I found this much less distracting while reading.   Without the controls, though, only double-tapping starts and stops scrolling.
There were two issues with this app that made it a good app, and not a great app.  The first is that the default text is Black on White, which made my eyes sore very early on.  To remedy this, I changed the color scheme to grey on black, and was able to read for hours.  The other quirk is that every so often the text jumps back a paragraph or so.  This wasn't a huge issue, but it was irritating at times.  It's a free app.

I give this app a thumbs up and a thumbs sideways.  Thumbs up for concept, thumbs sideways for execution.

Audiobooks

Audiobooks are great. They're good for exercising, they're good for housework, they're good for any mindless task. This appropriately named iPhone app brings you the hard work of the LibriVox project streamed over the internet (Wifi or 3G/Edge).

Book selection is good but limited to those books in the public domain, but there's more than enough to last a good while. Don't expect Harry Potter and The Davinci Code. This app specializes in the classics. Even Catullus is represented (in Translation) Among the top of the Most Popular list are "The Art of War," "Pride and Prejudice," The 9/11 Commission Report," and "The Divine Commedy." From my listenings thus far, the voices reading the books aren't consistent; Each chapter is read by a different volunteer. This, while it may seem unpleasant, has not proven to be so.

Finding a book is straightfoward, as is resuming where you left off. When you launch the app, there's a friendly green button that will take you to where you stopped; no more misplaced bookmarks. While listening there are controls for navigating chapters and for skipping around within a chapter. There also is a pause/play button and a volume control.

All in all, this is a wonderful app. It's simple and it does what it says on the tin. Thumbs up for concept, thumbs up for execution.