Review: Stanza for iPhone
I do not have a Kindle, and if I can sell your blood and faster, I’m not about to buy a new style soon. Even if I pre-ordered a Kindle today 2, I understand that my daughter has come before school before they could ship Amazon.
So instead, I will be content to continue to read to the former: In my iPhone.
I keep saying that e-books in hand and never completely replace traditional books. But with the iPhone, I have a refined taste in my RSS reader, lover of Instapaper (and rediscover some of the classics of the classics ().
As indicated earlier, Classics is a great application with a nice interface. But are limited to securities that developers and format of the cargo, which for the moment, 16 books are very slim. Most importantly for the purposes of this review, we can not add their own books.
Strophe Lexcycle is the solution for e-book for the iPhone and iPod touch. With Stanza, you can download the books for more than a dozen sources, including Project Gutenberg online library of over 27,000 books without copyright. You can import your own library, including Epub Stanza eReader and PDF files using the desktop applications. And if this were not enough, the application is also a feed reader.
Stanza of the interface May not be as elegant as a classic, but perhaps the most versatile of all. Verse allows you to customize as much or as little as you like and legibility is never an issue. The application of the type of books by title, author, subject and the final reading. It’s easy navigation and searches are a breeze. And he never seems to hang.
I was shocked a few months ago with Instapaper sizes and custom fonts, you can choose between three are together. Well, this is nothing. Verse, not only lets you select from 21 to scale the fonts, you can also adjust your margins and line spacing. And although I had little trouble navigating Stanza functions of the application of the documentation is complete and does not require language to English translation.
I found that downloading a book to my iPhone extremely easy. (You must have a Wi-Fi, 3G or EDGE connection, of course. You can also synchronize your device with your desktop Stanza approx.) When you start the application, just press the “Catalog line and also scroll over a dozen sections, with material free and paid. I explored in the library of Project Gutenberg, as he had never done before. When you find a book that you want, simply click on the Download button in the upper right corner. When the book is ready, press Read the book and is now open. Turn the pages, placing your finger on the screen. When you’re finished , just tap the screen, press the back arrow in the upper left corner, and you return the application to the Home screen. You can also change your preferences or the type of selection at any time, inside or outside the book.
The application has a couple of features identified. Strophe opens the last book you read on the occasion of the launch. Most often, what you want it to do, Stanza also his Favorites page. Stanza, but you can disable this function. Verse allows you to search for words and phrases, but only in chapters, not the whole text. The application can really use a book of function.
Here is the problem of the Stanza, and while not affecting the implementation of the utility that can pose a real dilemma for users. La Stanza is free, but its leaders clearly want to buy books through Fictionwise eReader Store. It is not necessary, there are a lot of material to download and read free. But I hope to push sales by Fictionwise is not an essential element of corporate strategy Stanza.
I realize that Fictionwise is one of the biggest stores around ebook. But fact is, Amazon Kindle and have a decisive competitive advantage when it comes to price. Example: The Kindle edition of Bill Bryson A Short History of Everything is just $ 7.96, and traditionalists could buy a used copy of the hard for about the same price with shipping included. The same book through the Fictionwise store costs $ 16.95. As good as Stanza, ie it is not a market twice the price. Many new titles in the form and ebook cost as they would in print.
I’ve seen elsewhere Stanza hailed as a challenge to the Amazon, the type of application that the iPhone could make a mini-Kindle. I think that is true to some extent. The application is first rate and the risk is clear. If you could take the Stanza e-book online with the price of Amazon, which would be a real victory for competition and readers worldwide.
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