Apple Updates iBooks App with Nighttime Reading Theme, New Fonts, More

[spinedoc77]

Decent changes, I've been waiting for nighttime reading for a LONG time. The kindle app has always had nighttime reading so I've made all my purchases thru amazon.

The ibooks app is still handicapped in that there is still no way to view a book as one page when in landscape mode. The kindle allows this and is the only way I can read a book, I usually fold out my ipad cover so my ipad is leaning towards me and that only works in landscape mode. Unfortunately it's a good update, but not enough to sway me from exclusively using the kindle app.

 

[HiRez]

I like Night Mode and the Iowan font is a very nice reading font. But, "full screen" is disappointing on iPhone, there's still a lot of wasted space there. Yes, you lose the page edges and status bar, but the text doesn't adjust to fill that space. I'd like a true full screen mode where the book title (hello? I know what I'm reading!) and page number (why are page numbers important with flowable and resizable text?) go away, and the text expands out. It's enough to fit an extra 3-4 lines of text on the screen, and slightly wider as well. That would make a huge difference and make for less page flipping.

 

[DuckSoup]

Does anyone else have the problem when after they update the App store still says there's an update for it? I want that 1 icon to go away. AHHHHHHHH!!!!

I get that occasionally. It eventually solves itself and goes away..

 

[therockyroad]

Decent changes, I've been waiting for nighttime reading for a LONG time. The kindle app has always had nighttime reading so I've made all my purchases thru amazon.

You might not know but you have always been able to triple click the home button to reverse the colours in any app. I've been using iBooks and other document readers in this "night mode" since the beginning.

You can do it on a Mac too (command-option-cntrl-8).

 

[B Gallagher]

"full screen" is disappointing on iPhone, there's still a lot of wasted space there. Yes, you lose the page edges and status bar, but the text doesn't adjust to fill that space.

How has "full screen" mode actually changed? I know they touted it as a feature in this update, but I haven't noticed any change from the previous version.

 

[Cartaphilus]

Now that Steve Jobs has departed -- R.I.P. -- I hope Apple's management can now move beyond some of Steve's bloody-minded areas of resistance:

1) create an iBook reader for Mac. - I currenrly have 200+ Kindle books, and would much have preferred to get them in iBook format. But I want something I can read cross-platform on my iPhone/iPad as well as Mac.

2) matte screens for iMac and Cinema Displays, and 13" MBP and MBA. C'mon, see the reasons given at the petition site http://macmatte.wordpress.com

What was the reason Jobs or whoever gave for not allowing iBooks to be accessed by a Mac? I just can't imagine one.

I am in your position exactly, buying and reading books using the various Kindle apps instead of buying iBooks (which I would otherwise prefer) and being restricted to my iOS devices.

 

[vitzr]

I've used this app a lot. These new changes are great. Very well done.

 

[thelonelylimo]

Night mode is simply amazing.

 

[Number 41]

That one situation is when you are reading for more than 15 minutes.

I read on my iPad for hours at a time with no problems.

 

[odklizec]

How has "full screen" mode actually changed? I know they touted it as a feature in this update, but I haven't noticed any change from the previous version.

From how it looks, the so called full-screen mode now hides the phone status bar icons and texts (clock, battery info, etc.). What's disappointing, the redundant status bar is not covered by the book so the empty space is wasted. And the same apply for empty space taken by hidden iBook controls. It's completely wasted space!

I would expect that in the full screen mode, all redundant space from hidden controls, status bar and header/footer would be filled with text? Or am I missing something important?

 

[self]

I like Night Mode and the Iowan font is a very nice reading font. But, "full screen" is disappointing on iPhone, there's still a lot of wasted space there. Yes, you lose the page edges and status bar, but the text doesn't adjust to fill that space. I'd like a true full screen mode where the book title (hello? I know what I'm reading!) and page number (why are page numbers important with flowable and resizable text?) go away, and the text expands out. It's enough to fit an extra 3-4 lines of text on the screen, and slightly wider as well. That would make a huge difference and make for less page flipping.

+1. I'd rather have another 3-4 lines of text than the ever-present title and page number.

 

[pro2type]

Annotations improved

Another improvement is, that in your annotations overview, you can actually see the text you have highlighted. Before 1.5 it showed the start of the paragraph in which the highlighting occurred. Heck, in 2.0 we may even se the whole highlighted text, and an option to export it.

 

[JellyFish]

These features are all nice, but WHERE ARE THE BOOKS????

iBooks still seems to pale in comparison to Amazon when it comes to book selection. When is Apple going to take this issue seriously and bulk up the book selection?

I use the Kindle app on my iPad because, most of the time, I simply can't find the book on iBooks. I also hate how the iBooks store is set up.

Apple has 80 billion dollars in the bank. Can't they hire people to acquire more books? Seriously, iBooks didn't launch yesterday. They have had a lot of time to add more books, but they still lag way behind Amazon.

I hope somebody at Apple has plans to get more books into the iBooks store. Otherwise, I will have to stick with the Kindle app.

 

[APlotdevice]

These features are all nice, but WHERE ARE THE BOOKS????

iBooks still seems to pale in comparison to Amazon when it comes to book selection. When is Apple going to take this issue seriously and bulk up the book selection?

I use the Kindle app on my iPad because, most of the time, I simply can't find the book on iBooks. I also hate how the iBooks store is set up.

Apple has 80 billion dollars in the bank. Can't they hire people to acquire more books? Seriously, iBooks didn't launch yesterday. They have had a lot of time to add more books, but they still lag way behind Amazon.

I hope somebody at Apple has plans to get more books into the iBooks store. Otherwise, I will have to stick with the Kindle app.

As I understand the publisher must agree to use the controversial agency model pricing to have their books published in the iBooks store. Not all are willing to do this.