Got the new iPhone 3G, and I upgraded my older iPhone to the new 2.0 firmware, which allows you to get iPhone applications from iTunes. I've been having a great time with the new iPhone (although things were definitely funky for much of Friday - launching MobileMe, the new iPhone 2.0 Firmware and the Apple 3G at the same time would be a stretch for any company).
I'll blog about what I've found with the new iPhone sometime later after I've had a chance to play with it some more, but I'm really happy to finally have an eBook platform for the iPhone - so I thought I'd do a quick walkthrough of the new eReader software that you can get for free in the iTunes app store. [Disclosure, I work for Ingram Digital, and we do support eReader software as part of our ebook distribution solution].
Downloading the eReader software from iTunes just took a few seconds on the 3G (still less then a minute on the older iPhone). Launching the app is also very fast, only a few seconds.
Some screenshots from Charlie Stross' latest science fiction title Saturn's Children (review courtesy Cory Doctorov). Reading eBooks on the iPhone is gratifying, page turning is a finger flip, and the interface is spare and simple.
Turning the iPhone sidewise gives you the long view. The title bar doesn't disappear, but the developers say that will happen shortly (see the blog comments to this Teleread post). Both views are easy on the eye.
Logging into your bookshelf for eReader.com or Fictionwise.com is straightforward.
Some readers had some difficulties last week, but I had no problem accessing my ebooks. I did get one time-out when I attempted to download all my ebooks, but the second try worked fine.
Here are side-by-sides of the Kindle and eReader on the iPhone (The Stand by Stephen King). The smaller, brighter iPhone screen is showing the same number of words as the Kindle. The Kindle is the premiere ebook reader, but I think that the eReader/iPhone combination is compelling. Listening to music while reading off the iPhone screen is a great experience.
The Kindle is still the winner when you're buying ebooks, though. I bought a few titles from Fictionwise and eReader from the iPhone, but it's not nearly as easy as Kindle's Whispernet experience. Of course, you can only go to one bookstore on the Kindle :-).
