Following the iOS 5 upgrade my favourite ebook reader, Stanza, has stopped working. As the company that wrote the app Lexcycle, has been bought out by Amazon it is unlikely Stanza will be fixed, so I am now looking for another reader app for my iPhone.
As a quick fix, so I could continue reading my current book, I switched to Apple’s iBook app, but to be honest it is a very weak app. It is so slow to open and start reading a book, slowed further by the auto-rotation trying to work out how to display the book. This problem could be fixed by adding a “lock screen rotation” in the app – Apple will tell you to use the system “lock screen rotation”, this is not convenient as I of course open the book before locking the screen or when I have finished reading I have to remember to unlock the screen when I am trying to use the iPhone for other tasks. Come on Apple just add an in app option – make iBooks a better app.
So I need a better reader. I am trying ShuBook and Bluefire.
ShuBook is Asian orientated but it does have English options including excellent English help pages. Bluefire is a much simpler app. Both work well as readers but It was the extras Stanza offered that I liked.
- Stanza worked seamlessly and fast with my Calibre library
- Stanza had links to online free books that liked particularly Munseys
- the app was very fast not interrupting the reading experience when turning pages
Both Bluefire and ShuBook turn the pages quickly and have links to some online book collections (although many of the ShuBook ones are in Chinese, but I can ignore these) and ShuBook has an option for adding your own download locations including Calibre on your PC.
I am going to use ShuBook first – but hope like many others that Stanza is fixed.