[Update] – See Classics in action, with our brief video walk-through. Just added.
Let me first say I’ve never really been the reading type. I went through a spell while on holiday one year of picking up a book and not being able to put it down. The most prominent of these two being ‘Digital Fortress’ [Wiki] and ‘The Da Vinci Code’ [Wiki] by Dan Brown. Two amazing reads if you ever get a chance to look at them.
Anyhoo, for the purpose of this review, I last night bought Classics. Not because I like reading (although I can feel I probably will again, after using this app for a while), I wanted to talk to you about it’s clearly leading user interface …
[Update]
Original Article:
Now technically, Classics isn’t an e-book reader. Usually, an e-book reader would allow you to read whatever you like, electronically. Unfortunately, the basic idea of Classics, is the developers picks what you can and can’t read. The Classic Collection. I’m sure they’ll setup some sort of request service, to request your favourite book to be added further down the line, but for now anyway, it’s a closed library.
There are currently 12 books included within Classics, and these include:
Alice in Wonderland, Call of the Wind, Robinson Crusoe, The Jungle Book, 20.000 Leagues under the Sea, Paradise Lost, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Time Machine, Flatland, Hound of the Baskerville’s, Gullivers Travel’s and The Metamorphosis.
Alternatives
Now, even without being a regular reader, I can tell that’s a pretty decent collection. However, it’s not the books which will ultimately sell this application to App Store customers, it’s the user interface. Sure enough, there are a slurry of ebook readers already on the store today, including the likes of; Stanza [App Store], eReader [App Store], Book Library [App Store], and many others.
Make no mistake, if you want a good ebook reader, which you can add your own books too, Classics is not for you. If however you want a slick visual reading experience – this app is definitely for you.
User Interface / Visuals
It’s leading. You can just tell the developers have taken a lot of time to think this type of interface out. In fact, the designers of the application actually designed their own book covers for the 12 currently included titles, apparently out of sheer love for them. After using Classics UI, I can tell you it works exceptionally well.
When you first open Classics, you’ll be presented with a old looking bookshelf, on which sit the 12 included titles. The bookshelf is scrollable with a downward or upward swipe.
Something which didn’t need to be included, but I thought was pretty nice that it had been, was the ability to move books on the bookshelf. Tapping and dragging book, allows you to pick it up, then place it anywhere you like on the bookshelf. Re-arrange the entire order of them if you like. You could literally put a book at the bottom of the bookshelf once you’ve finished reading it.
Opening a book is a simple tap away. Once a book is open you’ll see it’s actually depicts as if there are multiple pages in the bottom right. At the top you have a back button in the top left, and a chapters button in the top right. Ok, How do I move to the next page? – You can either swipe your finger horizontally from right to left, or just touch the current page once. This is where the user interface really comes into play. When turning a page, coupled with a life-like ‘page turning’ sound, your also met with the visual representation of a real page turning. I’ll admit, I actually sat playing with turning pages for the first 10 minutes or so – I’m not trying to bumph it up – as you know we do pretty unbiased reviews here at RazorianFly, but seriously? – you have to try this.
Illustrations / Drawings
Throughout the books (and where appropriate) the developers have included some book’s illustrations – and every reader will tell you, if you can visualise bits of what your reading, it makes it easier to take in the story. Another nice touch.
Progression Meter
The normally static menu bar which runs horizontally at the top of these applications, in Classics actually shows you how much ‘book’ you have read. It does this by lightly (but noticeably) shading in the percentage you’ve read. At a glance, your able to see exactly how much of the current book you have left to read, which I also liked.
Keeping your Place
The last feature is an essential one. The ability to place a virtual bookmark at the place your currently reading. Classic’s will do this automatically either on application quit by the home button, or when the back button is tapped to return to the bookshelf.
Features I’d like to see …
Although visually strong, Classic’s isn’t ‘the’ ebook reading solution for the touch platform. There is no ability to add your own books – This is massive. If I where the developers, I would concentrate on building a default library of book covers which can be applied to user-chosen books. I imagine this is the only major deal-breaking feature for readers not investing in Classics. It’s a closed library. Only the developers can add to it, which to be fair, sucks – As someone over on Mac Rumor’s stated:
“Nice looking app but I think I’ll be sticking with Stanza. I want to read the books on my own list, not someone else’s.”
– Yoppie (Source)
As well as this, other titles such as for example Stanza, are taking full advantage of accelerometer resources and building in features like Cover Flow. Rule number one: In order to capture your market, you have to stay up with and supersede your competition. Classics just isn’t doing that as far as it’s feature set goes.
Overall, I’m getting the general impression of the application is; “It’s got a great UI, looks stunning, but it was a nice effort, I’ll stick with what I have …” – which I find a real shame, as I believe if they bring this app up to the standard of the competition, it is a real competitor. The iPhone and iPod touch are slick devices. We’ve already seen clear evidence of users buying applications solely on the aesthetic and quality of their icons. Having said that, I believe this aesthetic versus functionality crowd is split. There’s no doubting, this is one for the style-conscious.
Check them out: Classicsapp.com
Grab the App: Classics
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