Manga Rock MangaFox is a complete re-write of the Manga Rock reader app. The reasons for this entirely new app are posted on the developer blog, but it basically comes down to this: the websites that Manga Rock uses for downloading scanlated manga are pretty volatile sources. They could go up in legal flames at most any moment and the iPhone app has to be able to switch sources and be able to scale up and down.
So while the old Manga Rock app still works (and enjoys a few unique advantages at the moment), this newer version is just a lot better at handling larger volumes of manga.
That said, I’ve written this review from the perspective of a happy Manga Rock user who has been a little sceptical about making the jump to a new app that seems to do exactly the same thing.
[If you aren’t familiar with how Manga Rock works, please see my initial review here]
Ridiculously large selection
One of the biggest (and I mean BIGGEST) changes with regards to Manga Rock MF is the size of the catalogue. The old Manga Rock app had about 1000 titles in its prime, whereas Manga Rock MF sports around 6000. However, to be perfectly honest, the size of the catalogue hasn’t really had a positive effect on me thus far.
I’m still perfectly happy sticking to the manga my sister suggests and I was actually a little surprised to find that one of my favourite titles as a teenager, Naruto, was missing from the Mangafox catalogue. This is almost entirely that this is due to legal reasons (Naruto is licensed in North America), but it’s a surprise nonetheless — especially when Naruto is still accessible from within the old Manga Rock app. However, if you are the type that likes to explore, the addition of about 5000 more titles from MangaFox, should even things out in the long run. Besides, nothing is stopping users from keeping both apps installed.
Evolution?
Manga Rock MF is being marketed as “Manga Rock. Evolved” and while that may be the case from the developer’s standpoint, it feels almost exactly the same to me as a user. Manga Rock has always been a snappy app on my 3GS and the newer version feels about as fast (although I did notice some occasional slowdowns while the app refreshes its enormous database).
What has seen a slight change is the manga browser. You can still browse by letter or search for titles by name, but the filters have been improved significantly. Instead of narrowing titles down by letter, rank, and date updated, Manga Rock MF allows you to filter by status and category as well. You can use several filters at once, so if you’re on the hunt for a Mystery manga that also happens to feature Mecha, you can check both categories off (I didn’t find anything that fit the search, unfortunately).
The only improvement this browser needs now is some way to reset all filters. The category list is a very long horizontal bar and it can be a pain to de-select a given category when you want to see the whole manga list again.
Conclusion
Aside from the changes listed above, I honestly haven’t noticed much of a difference between Manga Rock and its MangaFox counterpart. That’s not to say that Manga Rock MF isn’t great — because it is — but it’s not that much better than the already-fantastic MangaRock app. All the things that you enjoyed in the first app are here (download manager, unlimited download queues, and great manga reader).
MangaRock MF is available today as a free download, although it will require an in-app purchase to unlock all its features. You can buy the full version of the app for just $0.99 for the first four days, after which point the in-app purchase will be set to its default price ($2.99, I think).
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MangaRockMF was provided by NotABasement for review on Just Another iPhone Blog. For further information regarding our site’s review policies, please see the “About” page.
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