3D Bookshelf – iPhone App Review

3D Bookshelf ($0.99)

Version – 1.0.0

REVIEW – “Bring the full book experience to your iPhone!”

There is just something about reading books on an electronic device that is not quite the same. It may be the same information and it may even be in a very similar format but it still just doesn’t seem right to many people. If you’ve felt this way about eBooks then the 3D Bookshelf app for iPhone and iPod Touch may be exactly what you’ve been waiting for!

My first impression of this app is that the visuals are outstanding. What impressed me the most though is how easy it is to use! When you open up the app you will be taken to a bookshelf full of books that you can flip through using a “coverflow-like” interface. Each book has some basic information on its cover and there is more detailed information about the book in the little text box below.

In the upper right corner of the main book select screen there is a settings button. Here you’ll find the option to clear your “bookmarks” and turn the app sounds on/off. These sounds include things like page turns. In the upper left corner there is also a “i” button. This button takes you to a screen with some basic information about the app as well as a help screen and contact information for the developers.

To select a book all you have to do is touch it. The book reading screen will open up and zoom in on either the first page of the book, or the last page you were looking at when you last opened it. Turning pages is as easy as dragging your finger in the direction you would like to turn the page or touching the small arrows in the bottom left and right of the screen.

What if you want to skip through and find a certain section of the book, or even a specific page? There are several different ways to quickly navigate books. One is by using the “Contents” page by touching the icon in the upper right corner of the screen. When you touch it the book will automatically turn to the page(s) in the book where the table of contents is listed. Touching any chapter will take you directly there, and touching the icon in the upper right corner will take you back to where you were before.

The second way to navigate quickly from within a book is to swipe upwards. When you do you will see a bar at the bottom of the screen with a small dot that represents where you are in the book. Touching the little ball and dragging it around will quickly move you through the entire book much like “scrubbing” through a video.

While the interface is very slick there are couple of things I would like to see in this app. One of them is the ability to set a bookmark to a specific location rather than just having the app remember where you had it open last. The other thing that I’m sure is coming is the ability to add more books to read. I’m not exactly sure what kind of format these books are in or if it would be possible to use a standard format like ePub to download books into the app in the future but it is hard for me to commit to using a book reader app that has no import feature.

With all of that said this is an excellent app if you are looking to read some good classic literature on your mobile device. More impressive than the visuals and interface of this app is the fact that it is extremely stable. With all the time I spent playing with it I experienced no slowdowns or crashes whatsoever! If you’re looking for a great reading experience on your mobile device and you just can’t wait for the iPad’s release I would highly recommend that you pick up this app that is available for a limited time for just $0.99 in the App Store!

- David H.

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