Comments on: Using The iPhone As An eReader Takes A Step Forward With iLounge’s “iPod and iPhone Book”

By: jwfrancis

jwfrancis — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 11:16:04 +0000

danc
I think I was just a little disappointed that a specifically formatted iPhone version of the book still requires all manner of pinching and zooming. PDF has always been a problem on mobile devices as it doesn’t, by default, provide any text reflowing functionality. HTML by contrast was specifically designed for reading on different devices, which worked well until the advent of hard CSS layouts etc.

By: danc

danc — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:42:39 +0000

jwfrancis-
For me trying to pull it up as an email attachment took forever, while when I took the Evernote route it was rather quick.
I found the version that was reduced in size took a bit of pinching etc but was quite readable for my (getting older quickly) eyes. It wasn’t as easy to read as, say, I find the NYTimes mobile version but it was quite readable for me.
Unfortunately the screen size is the screen size which is why I would LOVE something a bit larger like the iTablet that remains a thing of myth.
Still, I am glad to see things like an iPhone/iPod Touch version like this emerging. It bodes well for what the future of devices like this will bring.

By: jwfrancis

jwfrancis — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 21:32:06 +0000

I’ve tried this and can’t see the difference between the formatting I’m getting reading via Evernote and Mail – both just open the PDF in the PDF reader on the phone. The PDF reader doesn’t support double tapping on a column to auto resize as Safari does. What’s the big deal with the ‘iPhone’ formatted version anyway – the text is still too small for my (old) eyes when unzoomed anyway?