Category: Books
Seller: Indigo Books and Music Inc.
Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0 or later
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch
File Size: 1.2MB
Version Reviewed: 2.0
Price: The app is free, but the price of individual books varies

I’ll admit I hadn’t heard of Shortcovers until just recently. However, after visiting their website, it quickly became apparent that they have a great selection of eBooks available in their store, and numerous ways to consume that media, as well. In fact, buying a book through this store allows you to read it on your iPhone, Blackberry, Palm Pre, Android device, or even your Mac or PC’s web browser. I would almost describe it as the Audible of eBooks for people who aren’t tied to the Kindle store through that device.

As I said, you can read and purchase eBooks through Shortcovers on your iPhone using their free iPhone application. After downloading it, you must create an account to be able to purchase books, done through the application by launching a Safari sign-up page which then gives you a link to return to the application on your phone.

Using the Discover tab on the application allows you to find books from various selections at the website. For instance, some of the options include Featured, NYT Bestsellers of both Nonfiction and Fiction, Oprah’s Picks, Most Popular, Under 5 Bucks, and even a variety of free books. Tapping on a collection simply brings up another table view with the book’s cover on the left side and the title and author next to it in the cell. If you tap a free book, you can start reading it right then and there (after being shown what it’s all about). However, if you want to buy a book, you’ll have to use the web browser to do so through the app.

If searching through certain selections of books isn’t what you want, the app also has a Browse tab that organizes the books by categories. For instance, some of these categories include Computers, History, Family and Relationships, Romance, Sports, and Travel. Clicking a category will subdivide the menu into fewer, more specific categories. As an example, clicking the Science and Nature category then gives the options of Mathematics, Nature, Pets, Science, and Technology. Some of these may even subdivide as well. Eventually, however, you will get the the same sort of listing as before with the book covers on the left of the cell and the information on the right. It makes finding books of certain types extremely easy and quick.

If you have a specific book you’re looking for and want to bypass all of that, you can simply search for it using another tab in the application. The search works well and simply brings up a list of books related to your search as you would expect. Another tab allows you to access help topics as well as email a friend about the application.

Once you’ve purchased or selected your free books to read, though, is when the real fun starts. In the I’m Reading tab along the bottom, you can access all of the books you’ve downloaded to the device and filter them by free or paid. The Shortcovers application handles the reading of books very well. You can choose to read the book as either one long vertically scrolling page or a series of pages. Either way, it appears as plain black text on a white background by default. Furthermore, the text can be read in either landscape or portrait mode.

The menu options for the book appear and disappear much like the options when viewing photos from Photos.app on the iPhone. They allow you to paginate by either clicking an arrow, sliding a scroller, or simply swiping your finger across the screen. Furthermore, a Slide Up menu allows you to rate, tweet, or email about the books as well as find related reads. An options gear is also present and allows plenty of customization for reading. You can, for instance, lock the rotation, turn on night reading or alter the text and background color all together, change the font style and size, or even change the line spacing. It really makes reading an eBook extremely easy and fun on the iPhone.

When you launch the application, it will remember where you left off and open that first so you can quickly continue. Also, all of the customization features make it possible for users to create any type of reading experience they are comfortable with.

I only had a few issues with the application. It did freeze on me a couple times throughout my use with it, causing me to have to reopen it. Also, although it works functionally, the loading screen that appears for selecting a table cell item sometimes cuts the animation short and is a little awkward when compared to the iPhone’s normal user interfaces. Other than those small gripes, though, I would strongly recommend Shortcovers to anyone looking to read on the iPhone. This application and its book reading process are superb.