Having got my iPhone 4 in time for the holidays it was a perfect opportunity to test its abilities as an ebook reader. My conclusion is that it’s surprisingly good and a great companion for both the frequent traveller and commuter alike.
While the iPad was hailed as the saviour of the publishing industry, my bet is that the iPhone 4’s retina display will revolutionize book sales even more. While the iPad attracts existing book worms that previously luged around with their bags full of paper, the iPhone 4 opens up a whole new market of people that previously didn’t prioritize carrying books on the go but now have a whole library in their pocket.
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve read three books using the iPhone 4. The high resolution retina display makes the text as sharp as print and the bright screen is (with sepia setting) still easy enough on the eyes for longer sessions. The fact of the matter is that as someone who is used to a constant information stream and multitasking with text messages, twitter, and email etc while cramping up in a tube carriage, the shorter pages (compared to a pocket book or iPad) makes it easy to interrupt the reading for a moment and quickly pick-up where I left off.
While the iBook store is similar to the famed iTunes Store, it currently falls short in both depth and breadth of titles. Possibly is this also the reason for the current lack of genre top lists which makes it laboursome to browse through categories.
Overall though, I’m thrilled about a piece of technology that so far has made me read more books in a few weeks than over the last six months, and since it’s a book that’s always in my pocket there’s no reason to stop now.
The iPhone 4 retina display makes text more print-like (click for full resolution and imagine it on 3.5 inch screen)
The built-in dictionary is only a tap away in any book (click for full resolution)
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