iVerse brings comic books to iPhone, Android
Saturday, February 28th, 2009There’s no question that comic books and magazines will eventually have a portable platform suited to them, just as the iPod took nearly four years to reach a saturation level as the de facto portable music player.
The Kindle 2 might have been that device, had Amazon found color e-ink to be cost-effective. For now, though, we’re stuck with struggling innovations, and iVerse Media has made a big push to get theirs out.
A photo of the Hexed cover as it appears on the G1 screen.
(Credit: Seth Rosenblatt/CNET Networks)
Earlier this month, just in time for WonderCon 2009, the big comic book and media convention in San Francisco, iVerse launched its comic book-reading app for Android, following on the heels of its iPhone app that debuted in November of last year.
The thought of cramming the detail-rich comic book page onto the tiny touchscreen of a smartphone seems ridiculous, because it is. iVerse solved the problem by chopping comics into panel-size chunks.
On both Android and the iPhone, you slide your finger across the screen to move on to the next panel. Slide it in the other direction to move back. Reading the story is surprisingly clear and clean, and although it may seem counter-intuitive, there should be no concerns about eyestrain from squinting because it’s one panel, presented in high resolution.
From there, the Android and iPhone apps diverge in functionality, though the features remain largely the same. I tested the Hexed No. 1 comic for both the iPhone and Android.
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Originally posted at The Download Blog
