This application comes with high recommendations from James Kendrick, so we’re going to pay it some heed. We’ve talked about reading ebooks on your BlackBerry before, mostly in relation to the MobiPocket reader. Kendrick introduces us to a new one, at least for the BlackBerry platform. It’s called eReader, and it sounds like an excellent alternative to MobiPocket. Or, rather, it sounds like it eventually will be an excellent alternative. It’s going to be stripped down for the initial public release, seeing as it’s eReader’s first stab at a BlackBerry reader.
The one drawback is that you won’t be able to buy books OTA, at least not at first. This is a nice feature if you’re stuck with nothing to do on a lengthy commute, and it should come along as eReader further develops the application on this platform. You can access your online bookshelf via the app, though, so that’s a plus.
Kendrick relates that the eReader “handles the large screen very nicely.” He’s referring to the Storm, though you can use eReader on other models. I’m always a bit wary about e-book readers on mobile devices — I don’t like reading books on my computer, and it’s the same issue with a BlackBerry. I, like many others, can only read a backlit screen for so long. Still, when it’s a choice between boredom and eye strain, I’m with eye strain every time.
I’ll throw up a link to the release once it’s live, but in case I’m late to the party you can check out eReader.com and see if the BlackBerry icon pops up.
