iPhone text editors

It is apparent that serious software developers do not consider worth their effort to create full-featured applications for iPhone or iPod Touch. Otherwise it is impossible to explain the absence of some very basic programs such as a well designed word processor for iPhone. Everything that I was able to find is very rudimentary. After some searching I zeroed in on three apps that I like. One became my text editor of choice.

1. Documents (free). This app allows syncying with Google Docs, which is very convenient. Unfortunately, it is impossible to change font size and the text ends up being rather tiny.

2. WritePad (free). A decent program. I think it is not very well described in the snippet on AppStore. Here is why. This app supports handwriting recognition. Somehow, the impression that one receives is that it does just that. However, you can use normal iPhone on-screen keyboard. Font size is changeable. I really like this program, but in its present version it does not allow to change the color of the background. This happens to be a crucial feature for me.

3. WriteRoom ($4.95). This program has its roots in a word processor for Mac OS, so the author probably knows what he's doing. You can change the color of the background and the font size. You can easily go from document to document using arrows at the bottom of the screen. Also, this app is the best in terms of saving work as you type. You will not loose work after accidentally hitting the home button on your iPhone. There is also a full-screen mode.

So my suggestion is that you try WritePad first. If you are not satisfied consider purchasing WriteRoom.

iPad picture (the real deal), price and specs

Well, here it is. iPad.

Can't say that I am disappointed, because I did not expect much. It is too big to carry around. A stay-at-home device for me, because my commute is too rough. It beats Amazon Kindle, but I don't like Kindle for all the same reasons. It is really strange to see that they are showing us all those subway maps on the iPad. Maybe Steve Jobs travels first class on the subway?

OK, iPad's specs:

.5 inches thick
compass, speaker, microphone, N-Standard Wi-Fi
16GB or 64GB
3G, WiFi.
No SD!


I am guessing no Flash support and no Windows Media support.



iPad AKA a huge iPod touch!

The iBooks app is an obvious thing. But I really must guess that iBooks will be available on iPhone.

PRICE: $499 for a 16gb model!

People who just bought Kindle DX should probably start crying now.

To summarize: Man, am I glad to have a regular old iPhone 3gs! I will probably get iPad third generation, as well.

eBooks on iPhone: my ultimate (for now) solution

It took me several days to figure out just the right combination of ebook reading software on my iPhone. It seems that at the moment no app of this kind can perform all functions that I find absolutely necessary. Namely, I want to be able to read fb2 books and they must be very well organized on the device with multiple nesting folders. GoodReader (presently $1 at the app store) works very well with folders and handles PDFs using reflow technology. However, this reader does not support fb2 format. I also don't like the fact that when GoodReader opens zip files the resulting files are not stored in a temp folder, but instead show up in the same folder as the archive. UBooks is a free app that reads fb2, but it does not support nesting folders. But a very nice feature of this reader is the fact that it stores files in a folder seen by iPhone Explorer, which makes uploading files very easy. So, my combined solution right now is to load my digital library in zipped txt format into GoodReader using WiFi (works quite well, although a bit slow) and use UBooks for any additional books in fb2 format. And, of course, there is a Kindle app for newly purchased books.

There is also an app called ShortBook ($5) which looks very promising. It looks like it relies on internal info in fb2 files for its database, so the resulting list is quite manageable. But I don't like the way book pages are presented and the interface is a bit convoluted. I was going to give this app a try, but its free version kept crashing every time I attempted to change the font from the default Arial to Verdana. I guess I will wait until buying it.