After the launch of the OVI Store, there have been some bashing on how poor the user experience is, such as the search functionality being ridiculous and the inability to redownload purchased applications.. Despite that, I have found it adequate to my usage, on my N97.
Yesterday, when I tried to fire up the Download! application, there was only one thing showing up which as you might have guessed is the OVI Store, so Nokia obviously are now finally phasing out the Download! application which brought us some limited freebies such as different wallpapers and what not.
Browsing through the store I again came across some neat “applications” there. Offscreen is perhaps a developer you’ve probably have heard about and they provide a variety of many useful and not so useful applications. In the ebooks department they offer five classic books which are Sherlock Holmes, A Study In Scarlet, The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, Treasure Island, The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn and Around The World In 80 Days. All these books can be used in both landscape and portrait mode and fit nicely on the screen. To turn the pages you simply touch the leftmost or rightmost side of the screen or you can slide the scrollbar at the buttom. (On the N97 you can’t turn the pages with the D-pad.) To navigate in chapters you use the left icon on the top.
Carnival Comics have been rolling out different comics in the thriller and horror category. The drawings featured in these “applications” is very good and can be compared to comics like Hellblazer and Swampthing. For those concerned about it being suitable for minors or not, I can tell you that there is some blood and that skeletons and ghosts do appear in these comics. To navigate in pages the touchscreen or the D-pad can be used. There is no convenient scrollbar here, but as these comics come in separate chapters, this is really not necessary.
While I like the offers, there is one minor disadvantage. Since these are “applications” it means that you’ll end up with having one icon for each item you install. Personally I don’t find that too inconvenient as you can just uninstall them after finishing reading them. Unfortunately these are only compatible with Symbian-powered handsets running the S60 5th Edition.
Do you like these solutions to comics and ebooks or do you still stick to Mobipocket or other ebookreaders on your phone?
