All posts tagged Comic Book Reader

Posted:
August 8, 2009
Tags:
Comments:
5

Comic Reader Mobi looks very promising…

There’s a new iPhone comic reader application ,and it’s called  Comic Reader Mobi

The developer Ty Landercasper told me about his new comic reader app made for iPhone and iPod Touch (there’s also a version for Windows Mobile, and coming soon to Blackberry) . Ty told me,  “It has everything you’d expect from a full featured comic book reader, native support for rar, zip and pdf files. Automatic bookmarking, and fast load times. But what really makes it unique is the lens feature!
The lens allows you to only zoom in on a small section, preventing the need for scrolling around.”

It’s hard to describe, but easy to demonstrate. Check out this YouTube video to see what it’s all about:

Here’s the info from his website:

  • Autosizing lens. Just tap on any text, and the lens will zoom in on just that part. Finally you can see the whole comic as the artist intended without sacrificing readablity!
  • Native support for zip,rar,cbz, cbr and pdf files.
  • Use the comic sync tool (Windows only), for ultra fast USB uploads to the iphone. No need to wait for slow file conversions or sync over your wireless connection!
  • Autobookmarking. Comic Reader Mobi remembers your last position in every file, and even in every series. Switch between them without ever having to worry about losing your place.
  • Next page is prebuffered so there is no lag between pages
  • High quality Image resizing ensures that images look their very best
  • Bring up the transparent onscreen controls by douple clicking on the page, or pressing the lower corners
  • use the stand pinch gesture to zoom in on comics

I’m super buried in work right now, so I haven’t yet had a chance to try out the application. But if any of you readers have tried it, please leave a comment and let us know!

Comic Reader Mobi

Posted:
July 19, 2009
Tags:
Comments:
28

ComicZeal Review: the Best and Most Flexible iPhone Comic Book App

The iPhone comic book reader mystery has been solved!

There is finally an easy and enjoyable way to read (and convert) all your digital comic books on the iPhone and iPod Touch…and its name is ComicZeal.

I have been using ComicZeal since the first day it was released (thanks again to reader Maddux for the tip), and I have been thrilled with its performance. ComicZeal is fast and smooth and the most flexible solution yet for reading ANY comic book on the iPhone or iPod Touch. By the way, I have no affiliation with the developers, and I get no commissions or freebies for writing this review!

The most important features of ComicZeal are:

    Comics are downloaded to your iPhone so you can read them offline anytime.The comic images are big enough to see all the text and details, and they smoothly scroll –almost glide– across your iPhone screen.Comics can be resized quickly and easily using the standard pinch technique.

    Comics can be read portrait or landscape mode…but landscape mode only works when the iPhone is tilted to the left (the top of the iPhone facing left). Not sure why, but it’s good to know.

    You can turn pages easily by tapping a button on the bottom of the screen.

    ComicZeal remembers your place! If your in the middle of reading a comic, and you turn the iPhone off, when you come back to the app it will resume where you left off.

    For me, the most critical point is that ComicZeal has made a converter that will let me take ALL my old comic files and quickly convert them to ComicZeal’s format.

Why doesn’t ComicZeal just read .cbr and .cbz files? Well, they answer this one on their website:

“A [.cbr file] is way too large for the iPhone. Each page is roughly three times the size of the maximum image that the iPhone can easily display (1024×1024 pixels). If the large images are used on the iPhone, they must be broken into smaller pieces and shown to the user as they scroll through the page. This takes up a lot of processor time. Processor=battery so the battery life suffers.”

I have converted a couple of comics from my collection, and they look fantastic! The converter software is a separate (free) application that runs on your desktop. I will go into the details of using the ComicZeal Creator software in a future post, but there’s not much to it. Nice and simple!

How do you get the converted files to your iPhone? You can either use your own wireless network to download them from your own computer, or you can do what I did and upload them to your own webspace, and then download them off your own website to your iPhone. Anybody can do this, and it allows everybody to share their own iPhone comic downloads! Take a look at the simple and dinky website I just put up today for this very purpose: http://iPhoneComicBox.com

August 13, 2009 UPDATE! ComicZeal has lowered their price!

The ComicZeal reader app is available on the iTunes App Store for only $4.99

The ComicZeal Creator software is available for Mac and Windows. It is still in beta, but all I had to do to get the software was email the developer and ask for it. If you have any question or comments about ComicZeal or any other iPhone comic book apps, please leave a comment!

Posted:
January 23, 2009
Tags:
Comments:
0

iPhone Comics are going Mainstream, Baby!

The New York Times has an article about reading comics on your iPhone or other mobile devices. It looks like even the mainstream press has figured out that reading your comic books on an iPhone is a great way to keep up on your daily recommended dose of comics.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/business/media/28proto.html?_r=1

Soon, even the daily comic strips like Garfiels and Pearls Before Swine will be easy to read on your iPhone or iPod Touch. The more we demand it from publishers, the sooner we can have all of our favorite comics on our iPhones!

Posted:
September 9, 2008
Tags:
Comments:
6

ComicZeal Releases a Nice New Iphone Comic Book Reader App

iPhone Comic App Dept: I just downloaded the new ComicZeal app for iPhone, and it is a winner! (Thanks to Maddux for the tip!) With ComicZeal you can download a fantastic assortment of public-domain comic book files and read them in their very simple-to-use reader.ComicZeal iPhone Comic Book Reader AppComicZeal Iphone Comic Book ReaderThe comic book files download fast, and they stay on your iPhone so you can read them off-line anytime you want. They are a very good resolution. The images open quickly and they pinch and zoom very fast, with a very smooth response.

The comics can be read in portrait and/or landscape mode, too!

I have emailed the developers at bitolithic.com to find out how comic book creators and publishers can create their own iPhone comics to work with their ComicZeal application. I’ll post a real review and more details as soon as I get a chance. Check out ComicZeal at: http://www.bitolithic.com/ComicZeal/comiczeal.htm and http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=288016881&mt=8

UPDATE: The ComicZeal developers replied to my email and told me that they’ll be releasing a beta version of their iPhone-comic generator software which will allow creators and publishers to post their own comics that work with the ComicZeal app. from Emiliano’s email to me:

I’m specially glad to hear that you have some comics you would like to put up on your website. The creator is being designed for people such as yourself, I’d love to see a library of comics hosted at other websites. We’re working hard to get the creator up for beta test.
ComicZeal has posted more detail HERE about the ComicZeal Creator software. I really appreciate the level of information they’re offering here. I know a lot of people want a native .cbr reader for the iPhone and iPod Touch, but their article helps to explain why converting to their .cbi format will make a better iPhone comics reading experience.
← Older Entries