I needed a new phone so I went to the Telstra store.
For the past few months I had been developing an unhealthy aversion to the iPhone. Everyone seems to have one, I am almost positive that I saw the local homeless man on Fitzroy St updating his Twitter account via Tweetdeck the other day.
So while browsing phones in TLife I was steering clear of the iPhone section and focusing on the one displaying phones which all looked suspiciously similar to iPhones anyway. I approached a saleswoman with a perfectly acceptable Samsung phone (touch screen and all!) and was promptly told that with the same deal as was offered with this try hard iPhone I could get the real thing!* Full credit to this woman’s sales skills, as I was hooked. Without quite realising how it had happened, I was walking out into the sunshine of Bourke St with an iPhone, a big fat 24 month contract and a snazzy red case.
Needless to say I felt a significant amount of guilt at having gone against my building dislike of the iPhone revolution. However I consoled myself with the old saying, ‘If you can’t beat them, join them.’
And join them I have. In doing so I must admit I am a definite fan. Apple really do make the easiest to use, best looking and genuinely useful products. I have officially converted.
Now, you may be wondering how this blog relates to reading. Lately I have been following the developments surrounding e-readers and the move towards digital books. After doing a fair amount of research on the topic I had come to the conclusion that I appreciated there is a place in the market for e-readers but was an old fashioned print girl myself. This conclusion was not based on any real trial of the product though, and I have since tested it after downloading the free Stanza app onto my iPhone. Stanza is an electronic library and an e-reader designed specifically for the iPhone. It took less than 30 secs to download, cost me nothing and I was suddenly faced with a huge resource of reading material right at my touch screen compatible fingertips. I was impressed. What impressed me even more though, was the readability of the downloaded material. It really was quite easy on the eyes, and I felt as though I was looking at the page of a book. This was on Stanza’s default layout settings but if you don’t share my sentiments there are many other options of layout involving brightness, font, colour, line spacing, margins, how the pages are turned and much more. This discovery has really destroyed my main argument against e-readers, that being their sight detrimental, wrinkle causing readability. Also, in terms of space it is much easier to have all my books stored on my iPhone as opposed to lugging around heavy novels in my handbag. Once again, I have been converted by a technology that I had too hastily prejudged.
In saying this, there are still significant disadvantages to Stanza. To begin with it chews up my iPhone battery, not ideal. Secondly, I am personally quite frustrated with the amount of times I have to turn the page! This seems odd and I have even surprised myself that I am annoyed by it. Even so, I am vexed by this. My concentration flickers with this high rate of page turning.
As a whole, I like it. I can see myself using this application and enjoying it. It will not replace the print for me, though. It is great in short stints, for example, if I am travelling somewhere that I do not want to take a book to. But above all else, it does not completely mimic the pleasure of reading a printed book. I can see e-readers being very popular, but like I have said in another article on the same topic, e-readers will not overtake the print market, instead dominating a market adjacent to and slightly overlapping that of print.
*Did I say the same deal? I meant the same deal plus $169.95 extra for the handset and an extended warranty of $89.95)
Lady Of Leisure 