Wattpad For iPhone and iPod Touch
Good news! Wattpad is already available for iPhone and iPod Touch.
To those who didn’t know, Wattpad is a mobile application for online mobile ebook reading. “Online” means you have to use an internet connection. The best part is… with iPhone and iPod Touch, there would be no connection fee compared to other phones because they are wifi capable.
This may be the best device for Wattpad or the other way around for online mobile eBook reading. It is already available for download from App Store for free.
They are currently running a contest, they’re giving away an iPod Touch to a lucky Wattpad fan. Not bad but I’m hoping that I will win so I can test and read more eBooks and experience wattpad on iPod.
I wonder if I could also download ebooks and read it offline just like what I did on my N6630. The only way toknow is to own (or win) an iPod Touch. (my fingers are crossed… LOL)
Online Mobile eBook Reading
Speaking of online eBook reading, first you should have a proper connection settings. Options to have a proper configurations:
- Go to your phone’s manufacturer’s website
- Call your network provider and request for “over the air” configuration
- Install an application that automatically configures your settings
I’m using Settings Wizard for my configurations. In my country, GPRS connection is common to prepaid and postpaid subcribers but not the internet connection to prepaid subscribers. It depends if you’re using an old sim card, this is a gossip from my mobile blog friends that new simcards available now are not internet capable. I guess its true, its really hard to find one nowadays. It doesn’t matter if you have the right configurations, its with your network provider’s simcard. I am among the lucky ones, I still prefer to used a prepaid simcard to control my connection cost. Anyway, why am I talking about mobile internet connections here?
I’ve tried wattpad mobile application last week on my 6630. The application doesn’t work on my 6630, I always have the “Error, Invalid GZIP format” or sometimes “error” prompt. I’ve tried it on GPRS and inet connection, both with same results. I’ve used Opera browser instead using internet connection and access their website, it works fine except for the connection charges. I do not prefer to read my ebooks online whether on mobile or on the net.
Wattpad do have a list of eBooks submitted by members. There are 3 ways to read their eBooks:
- Go to their site using the wattpad reader on your phone and read it online (If their application is Ok with your phone’s connection) or download it for offline reading.
- Go to their website using a computer, register and download jar or jad file, then install it to your mobile phone.
- Go to their website, copy the text file, paste it to notepad (its in txt format, convert it to whatever format you want), then transfer it to your phone.
Note: The wattpad application is for online mobile ebook reading. You don’t need it anymore if you prefer to download their java eBook files.
HTML eBook format on Mobile
There’s a lot of eBook files available on the web, its confusing to others understanding these formats and what mobile application to use. Sometimes, we came across with html formats. HTML or Hyper Text Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. In layman’s terms, it should be read on the web therefore its NOT an eBook format. There are lot of sites intended for online reading. There are ways to read it online, using GPRS is the most popular but it is costly. In the Philippines, it will cost you 0.15 cents/kb. Good for you if you have WIFI supported symbian phone.
If you downloaded a html file, it is possible to read them on symbian phones. I’m using Opera 8.65 in reading HTML file on my 6630 occasionally. You can open the html file through FExplorer. Here’s how to do it. After opening it to Opera, just add it to your opera bookmark for future reading. I don’t suggest to read HTML files on your phone frequently, Opera browser consumes a lot of memory in RAM (random access memory). The symbian system will close all applications including Opera, sometimes the phone will restart by itself. Here are the tips to avoid this:
- Limit yourself with 1-2 pages as possible
- Delete images included in the html file (do this using Fexplorer)
- Close all running application including FExplorer (after opening html file)
- Turn off images at the Opera settings
- Clear the cache of Opera before reading
- Restarting your phone before doing all these could help also
This is just an option if you’re in a hurry to read the file on your phone. For larger html files, do take some time for conversion. Take note that Opera is for browsing purposes only, its impossible to bookmark your eBook page or change the layout settings like what were doing to regular eBook readers.
