Borders iPhone App

I (heart) Borders.

Borders is the place to be at lunch time, after you have exhausted all the willpower to read the endless paperwork and documentation that comes with the job. What better way to escape all that reading, but with more yet enjoyable reading!

So naturally when I was browsing through the iPhone Apps store and saw that Borders had its own App and that it was FREE, I ensured that that "FREE" quickly turned into an "INSTALLED." I assumed that this App was just another point of sale medium for the store, and I was not wrong. But was surprised me was that the App already had five e-books loaded for my reading pleasure. Five books that were also FREE! Those five books  being, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Grimm's Fairy Tales, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,  Dracula and Pride and Prejudice.

Lets have a looksee:

The first page is the "I'm Reading" page where it shows you your e-library collection. You have the choice of viewing it as a shelf or as a list. They pretty much look the same except that as a shelf they are arranged in alphabetical order horizontally, whereas as a list your e-books are arranged vertically. Once you have chosen the book that you want to read, reading it is as easy as flipping through the photos on your iPhone. With a quick flick with your finger across the screen from left to right, you turn your page just like a book. Even when you exit out of the App, a red Borders' bookmark is put in place so you know where you are at, and that page is re-opened once you re-enter the App and select your book.

Personalised Reading Experience
There are various options to make your reading session through the Borders' App a personalised reading experience. This screen shot contains the following options:

• You can choose to add or remove the bookmark by simply touching the little bookmark with the "+" sign next to it.
• The bookmark sign next to that is for the option to choose what bookmark you want to use, once you have purchased a few different bookmarks.
• "i" gives you a quick synopsis of the book you are currently reading.
•  "..." is a really handy option to remember. Here you can can elect to have your pages flip over, scroll or fade in or out to the next page. All of which are non-evasive and run quite smoothly with no 'chugging.'
• For those who require bigger or smaller font size, "..." also gives you options to change the size and type of the font to view your e-book with. The fonts available are Default (the font in all my screenshots) Georgia, Times New Roman, Trebuchet and Verdana.
• Brightness options under the "i" and "..." functions are useful for those who may find the screen too bright for their eyes.
• Under the Brightness options there is the half black and white circle icon that gives you 'Night Mode.' A mode that inverts the screen from the standard black text on white to white text on black.

Browsing and Purchasing Functions
Discovery Tab:

Simple to use. Touch the Discovery tab and you are given a list of categories of e-books ready for purchase from Borders. Once touched, the category of books are listed for you with a photo of the cover page and the price for purchase. Once you touch the book you are interested in, the Borders App gives you a small synopsis of what it is all about.

Browse Tab:

Just like the Discovery Tab, once you have touched the Browse Tab you are provided with a list of categories of e-books that are available in the Borders' catalogue. You can touch the category, and it will give you a list of sub-categories to eventually listing e-books that may interest you. Again, it will list the books with a photo of the front cover and price for purchase and once touched, it will take you to a quick synopsis. Purchasing is a matter of touching the book and logging into your account to complete the transaction.

Overall Jist
I think this is a good little App for those who like to read on the run. Especially for those who take public transport and do not want to carry another item in their bag such as a heavy book or an e-reader. The Borders App gives you quite a bit to work with to personalise your reading experience to make it more enjoyable, and so far from my experience the books quickly and seamlessly load and pages with very little "chug".

Admittedly I have not purchased any e-books to see how smoothly the application would work once one has an impressive e-library (I like my hard copies). But I assume it will work just as smoothly, if only with a little lag once more e-books are purchased (Here is me being optimistic). The only downside may be that if you read for a long time, it will use up your phone battery. Which is not a good idea if you did not have a charger handy.

I had a little play with Borders' new e-reader the Kobo, and from my experience I preferred the iPhone App over that. The text in the Kobo flashes in and out when it moves between pages and after a few seconds, that had already started to annoy me a bit. But I'm not completely writing off the Kobo, as a no go. It is a super light and super slim e-reader. The screen does not have a back light which for some, may be easier on the eyes (for those who get issues when looking at a bright screen for too long) and with no back light, the Kobo does not use as much energy to power it as the iPhone does. But this is not a review for the Kobo.

So before going on another random tangent, I'd close by saying that if you want a portable reading device, have an iPhone already, and are not going to miss the smell and feel of a new (or used) hard copy book, then the iPhone App is pretty good. Especially since its FREE.  Even if you want to be tight and not purchase any of the e-books, I find the Discovery and Browse Tabs allows me to have a look at what books Borders have in their collection which I may make note of to purchase the hard copy in the future.