Great!  
By: Report a Concern -
Version:
I've read about 20 books so far on my iPhone 4 and I've never had such a terrible experience reading until I got this app. There are no bookmarks so if I need to go back and reference I lose my page. I cannot turn off the magnifying area that comes up almost every time I turn a page. I cannot highlight. It needs some work and I hope google can follow through like it does with it's other apps. Great job getting books off the public domain however stanza has that also.

Typical Google…  
By: jayflesher - Dec 7, 2010
Version: 1.0.1.1670
Google has always rushed to get products out on the market and then fix the bugs that are brought up by people who use those products so there are bound to be problems with the app at first. Plus google has been steering towards the cloud which explains why it takes you to Safari to purchase books, it integrates your online ebook library with the app. There are certain things we take for granted in other ebook readers on the iphone and ipad but Google may eventually roll out updates to add those great features. This is a great first version for an app that may eventually become a top competitor.

Need way more foreign language books!!  
By: Xendula - Dec 7, 2010
Version: 1.0.1.1670
I had high hopes that with this reader app, books in foreign languages would finally be within reach ( impossible to buy German/French/Romanian books within the other apps), and this is a start, but only a start. Searched for Colette, narrowed my searches down to 'free books' and 'written by' her, et voila, within seconds I had something that resembled a 'real' book on the screen, complete with old handwritten notes on the borders. It reminded me of the old books I used to borrow from my local library, and this is a very different approach than iBooks &Co, thanks to Google's effort to build a library of scanned books with the help of users all over the world.

Not as good as Kobo :(  
By: YesNoCancel - Dec 7, 2010
Version: 1.0.1.1670
I love Google and I'm sure this app will get better. But it's not as polished as the Kobo app (which is even nicer than iBooks IMO). Kobo gives you more control over style and the type of page turning. And most importantly- you can transfer in any epub format book you happen to have laying around via Dropbox.@Google- please make this app more polished and able to accept epub from Dropbox. Ideally you could also upload your own epub to the cloud. Thanks.

Good Start, but has annoying quirks.  
By: Yekrats - Dec 7, 2010
Version: 1.0.1.1670
Google has made some amazing products late in the game. But in my opinion, google books is very good. It flows very well and is my ereader of choice. It's selection of books is great. However some annoying features have come to light. The screen goes black very quickly and most times before I can finish a page. And then when I unlock my iPhone I have to wait while the app has to load the app again. great app but annoying features.

Look. I'm misunderstood!?!  
By: dissata - Dec 7, 2010
Version: 1.0.1.1670
People have beenComparing this directly with the kindle app and iBook. That's a semi unfair comparison. This app is isn't anereader as much as it is a convenient way to connect to google books. This includes many of those scanned books which are Pdfs and not in a mobile format, such as all those turn of the century books that were scanned.you could, if you want, still download some of the books offered and import them into your fav ereader, but bravo for google for making that unnecessary.

Good for Public Domain Texts  
By: ThePrufrock - Dec 7, 2010
Version: 1.0.1.1670
The one reason that this app is exciting for me is that Google has been hard at work the last few years cataloguing 19th and 20th century public domain texts. Most of what I read are classics, and Google's selection of free works is more extensive than what can be found in iBooks or Kindle.But like others are saying, Google really needs to add annotation features and integrate the app within the larger cloud.

No annotation capabilities  
By: MWR1 - Dec 6, 2010
Version: 1.0.0.1637
Looks good, but until there are annotation capabilities, google books is of no use to me as a scholar. Also, there is no 'back' function so in the one book I've purchased, I went to an endnote and it was very cumbersome to get back to where I was. Also, the book doesn't have hyperlinks, which is areal pain, but that may be the publisher's fault rather than Google's. I really like the fact that it maintains its page numbers, even if you change fonts. This becomes very important if you want to cite books, and the Kindle location system doesn't cut it.

I love it!  
By: Skutsdead - Dec 6, 2010
Version: 1.0.0.1637
This is about as seamless as a transition between a native app and a web app can be. It's really smooth and really easy to search, buy/download, and start reading. A lot of great classics are free (I'm going to enjoy re-reading Captain Blood), and far more books are for sale. It would be better to be able to buy/download books in-app, which is why I give it four stars, but it does transition between the app and the web app really well. Even an in-app browser would be totally sufficient. Nice work!

Good but not flawless  
By: CDRdude - Dec 6, 2010
Version: 1.0.0.1637
Just tried this out, and I like it a lot so far. The reading itself is great, and the book selection is impressive. I haven't done much more than scratch the surface, I have no doubt.I do think that the browser for new books could be improved a little. For example, after selecting a book, when given the option to continue shopping, I would prefer to continue from where I left off, rather than go to the home screen. I was in the free books category, several pages past the front page, and to continue from where I left off was several 'clicks'. I'd also like to see subsections of the main categories for free public domain books, as an example, I could look under Fantasy, then Free Fantasy, and find Jules Verne's 20,000 leagues under the sea.I haven't experimented much with the search yet, but I would also like to be able to search for free books, and filter by genre, author, publisher, etc. I don't know yet if that is already in there, because I haven't seen a page with searching tips. Thinking about the search options for googles web portal, I would like to be able to search like this: (please let me know if it's already possible)genre:humor published:1800-1910 author:-twain free(search for free humor books written between 1800 and 1910, and not written by Mark Twain)Don't let my criticism fool anybody though, this is already great app, and I'm only putting the effort into this review because I think it can go from great to perfect.

Awesome  
By: Report a Concern -
Version:
I like the simple uncluttered UI. Huge repository of books. Probably the largest selection of any online ebook store. But I have one small gripe. When you want to buy or download a book, the app throws you into Safari. And then it sends you back to the app to see your book. Stanza has had an excellent built-in browser for a while now, so there is no reason that Google couldn't incorporate a built-in browser too. It makes the purchase/download experience a little smoother. Maybe the next update will have that feature. All in all, this ereader is very nicely done.

eReading By Google  
By: Smart Hair - Dec 6, 2010
Version: 1.0.0.1637
I really like this app. Ebook reading has come a long way now. Making it easy on the eyes is one thing that still needs some work. Google uses similar UI elements and functionality as the others it competes with i.e. Kindle, Nook, iBookstore. The one gripe I have so far is the page turning. Page turning on an iPhone 3GS is a bit wonky. Rendering the reading experience a little paced impaired. Bugs may be the culprit here and that's something Google can fix with an update. In the end the collection is vast, the UI pops like v2 of anything out there, it supports ePub, and it wonderfully syncs with anywhere I go via google account. I can definitely recommend this to anyone with a home/office computer, a eReader, a smartphone, or just someone with a hunger for reading.

Great start  
By: thoughtfuluser -
Version:
It's awesome to have all of Google books available on my iPod. There is room for improvement but it's a good start. One annoying bug: if you turn off the animated page turns AND read using the scanned pages then there is a problem with the page rendering. The page will look right at first and then sort of stretch out vertically so that you can't see the top and bottom lines. Avoidable if you switch back to animation but would be nice if it were fixed.

Great start with immense selection of books  
By: Oralarts7 - Dec 8, 2010
Version: 1.0.1.1670
I'm surprised at all the one star reviews. As a voracious reader, I was eager to try out this new app from Google. It is a solid first iteration with an amazing selection of books out of the gate. Is it as polished as iBooks - no. However, as with all Google products, it will improve over time as they iterate quickly. And it has far more books than iBooks (probably the biggest ding against Apple's reader).

Great start with immense selection of books  
By: Oralarts7 - Dec 8, 2010
Version: 1.0.1.1670
I'm surprised at all the one star reviews. As a voracious reader, I was eager to try out this new app from Google. It is a solid first iteration with an amazing selection of books out of the gate. Is it as polished as iBooks - no. However, as with all Google products, it will improve over time as they iterate quickly. And it has far more books than iBooks (probably the biggest ding against Apple's reader).

Great!  
By: Report a Concern -
Version:
I've read about 20 books so far on my iPhone 4 and I've never had such a terrible experience reading until I got this app. There are no bookmarks so if I need to go back and reference I lose my page. I cannot turn off the magnifying area that comes up almost every time I turn a page. I cannot highlight. It needs some work and I hope google can follow through like it does with it's other apps. Great job getting books off the public domain however stanza has that also.

Great!  
By: cheryl00 - Dec 8, 2010
Version: 1.0.1.1670
A great start! Keep it coming!!!!!!

Making eBooks more tangible  
By: Report a Concern -
Version:
Great app from google! Nice work using the cloud. There are plenty of free books to read and the un-free books are cheaper than most places I'm aware of.I hope they make the page turn animation a bit smoother in the next update...

Lovely  
By: NHmom - Dec 7, 2010
Version: 1.0.1.1670
Beautiful app. Hooray for letting us read on the web OR IPhone/IPad. Hooray for the elegant look. Check out the page turn with the print on the back of the page being turned. Very lovely.

Typical Google…  
By: jayflesher - Dec 7, 2010
Version: 1.0.1.1670
Google has always rushed to get products out on the market and then fix the bugs that are brought up by people who use those products so there are bound to be problems with the app at first. Plus google has been steering towards the cloud which explains why it takes you to Safari to purchase books, it integrates your online ebook library with the app. There are certain things we take for granted in other ebook readers on the iphone and ipad but Google may eventually roll out updates to add those great features. This is a great first version for an app that may eventually become a top competitor.