Wattpad

Sorry kiddos, the summer is drawing to an end and it's time to start getting ready to crack those books again.  In fact, we venture to guess that some of you might already be in class right now and should be paying attention to the teacher or professor.  We're here to help you start the new school year off right and are happy to give you an invaluable resource with more than 50 Android apps geared for back-to-school season.  Whether you are looking for handy apps to have in the classroom or if you need a new set of kicks, we've got you covered. Many of the apps listed below are free, but there are the occasional pro and paid versions. We suggest coughing up a couple of bucks and getting the paid clients as they generally offer more features and remove unsightly ads.  What's more, some of these have excellent tablet experiences for those of you who have a Honeycomb device. Also bear in mind that we're not advising you download every single title below, that would be silly.  No, we're simply pointing you in the right directions based on your needs. Hit the break to see what apps we recommend for you as summer ends and the school year begins. Shop for School Supplies and Clothes Find Deals Wherever You Go Get Some Shoes on Those Feet! Reading Apps and Services Cloud Storage and Note-Keeping Apps Official Google Apps Additional Resources for Students What Did We Miss? Try as we might, we know we're gonna miss a few apps.  That's where you come in!  Leave a comment below to share your picks for helpful Android apps for back-to-school time and we'll add them to the list! Read More

Wattpad is currently the most popular BlackBerry e-reading app, and the third most popular on iPhone. It’s also billed as “the word’s most popular ebook community. Wattpad gives you access to over 100,000 free ebooks and allows authors to upload their material for sharing. Wattpad also offers social features so that you can connect with like-minded individuals for recommendations and discussion. To celebrate updates to the (free) Android app, which include tablet-focused feature additions as well as optimizations for display on larger screens, Wattpad has made available 4 award-winning sci-fi stories from tor.com. See the full press release below. Also see the Wattpad website, where you can manage your library and connect with friends. Press Release: Wattpad Adds New Features to eReader Android App Wattpad, the world’s largest ebook community, has recently updated its Android App. In the last quarter, the Android was the fastest growing app for Wattpad, surpassing both iPhone/iPad/iPod and BlackBerry downloads. With the launch of several Android tablets as well as the growing number of Wattpad users who use Android devices to share and read original fiction, Wattpad continues to focus on this area of growth and has added several new features. Writers and readers can save any story for off line reading, access new categories of select content and view ebooks in a wider range of styles. The Wattpad community can take advantage of all the social networking capabilities that connect readers with their favorite authors. “Wattpad has already firmly established itself as one of the leading ebook apps for all mobile devices, including iPhone and BlackBerry,” explains Allen Lau, CEO and co-founder of Wattpad. “As readers continue to utilize their mobile devices not only to connect with friends but to read fiction, the Wattpad Android app combines these capabilities, providing a reading experience that is uniquely adapted for Android users.” The Wattpad Android App has been optimized for tablet display, for a richer ereading experience. The app works on all Android devices including the Archos 5 Internet tablet, as well as Verizon’s Motorola Droid X, Sprint’s HTC EVO™ 4G and the Google Nexus One. Read More

The Kindle book reader has finally made its way to the Android Market, giving Amazon a nice bundle of mobile apps.  While iPhone users have had a number of high quality readers for their phones, Android users have been left with fewer selections. Here are some ebook readers Android users do have to choose from. Kindle with Whispersync offers mobile access to your Amazon account, Kindle books and recommendations.  The free app lets you purchase and read any Kindle book, also tying in with your Whispersync account. The app isn’t as robust as the iPhone version, but it does expand the ways in which you can access your Kindle content. Kobo is another Android newcomer.  It’s free app offers a searchable library of books to read on your phone. Flipping through digital book pages is easy, and custom settings make for more comfortable reading. The library here is still growing, though the streamlined app is amongst the easiest to navigate and search. With a cozy interface and easy navigation, Aldiko is a good alternative to the new Kindle. Search from thousands of titles, add them to your bookshelf and download them to your device. The free app comes with all the bells and whistles, from text resizing to searchable bookmarks. FBReader acts as a library, with a range of books you can add to the free app.  The books, most of which are free, can be downloaded in-app or accessed through the Android Market. Keep track of recent books, search by tag, and filter by author or title.  There are quick tabs for table of contents, and you can toggle for day or nighttime reading. The free Word-Player Book Reader app lets you read files from its library or your own SD card, with support for several file types. You can also navigate and bookmark your files for easy access later on. Word-Player also has a text-to-speech add-on app, though I’d wait for an improved version for that feature. Wattpad is a social ebook community of writers and fans.  Receive recommendations for content and users of interest, read user-generated content and share your own work.  The free app has over 100,000 titles, active users and plenty of ongoing discussions. BookWorm isn’t a reader, but it can hold your entire library.  The free app keeps track of books of interest, whether you’ve read them yet or not. Add books by search, scan Read More

Father’s Day is just around the corner.  So whether pops is near or far, there’s an Android app for both you and dad.  No matter what kind of guy he is, the Android Market has something for the sports lover, the avid reader, and even the grill master. Make it memorable by “gifting” dad one of these Android apps, so he’ll never forget how much he’s loved, no matter where he is. GolfCard has finally made its way to Android phones, giving dad a golfing aid to track courses, rounds and scorecards. The $9.99 app comes with a range finder and has tens of thousands of courses in its database. Analysis tools for your playing trends give you feedback on every stroke of dad’s golf game (and his friends’ too). Wattpad’s mobile book service has been around long before the Android or the iPhone, making it a good option for dads that like to read. Designed for mobile reading, the free Android app is also an ebook community, where dad can share comments and read the uploaded works of other members. To expedite tasks on the honey-do list, iHandy Carpenter has several functions for dad to use around the house. At $2.99, the Android app comes with a spirit and surface level, a ruler and a protractor, as well as a plumb bob for good measure. From meat selection to cooking recommendations, the Meat Cooking Reference app can help dad get ready for summer grilling.  The free Android app has guides for meat cuts, cooking temperature and measurement conversions.  The reference app is quick enough for dad to use without looking like he needs the help. If you rely on dad to send money every once in a while, make it easy for him by suggesting Venmo. This free Android app offers a simple way to share money, with a "Trusting" feature that acts as a shared account between you and the "Bank of Dad." Better yet, you can eventually get around to paying him back using this very same app. When dad needs to get away, the WHERE app can really come in handy. From sports bars to karaoke, cigar bars and local happy hours, this free Android app acts as a search and navigation tool to help dad around town.  Using GPS, the Android app can also keep tabs on friends and display real-time reviews from other users. SportyPal is for the health-conscious Read More

While you may well be excited about the Apple iPad and its iBookstore, iPhone and iPod touch owners choosing not to upgrade to the newest 9.7-inch device can still get e-reading on their iProduct right away thanks to a shelf-full of great e-book reading apps available now in the App Store. Though it’s unlikely you’ll want to consume War and Peace on your iPhone, having a few e-books on board for a quick read on the train or your lunch break is a great way to pass some time. And who knows, depending on the title, you might learn something new too. Here we’ve pulled together a list of five free apps that offer you e-book reading abilities on your iPhone. So pick the one that suits you, get a title downloaded, and drift off into good-book bliss. This free app from book selling giant Barnes & Noble comes with five free “classic” e-books (which we’d probably save for those so-bored-you-could-poke-yourself-in-the-eye-for-amusement moments) and a free copy of Merriam-Webster’s Pocket Dictionary. Any titles you download are stored in the cloud, so you can access them from a Mac or PC as well as different handheld devices. The ability to change the background and text color to a scheme that suits you is very welcome on a non-e-ink display, while the swishy wow factor comes in with Cover Flow-style book browsing as shown in the screen grab above. Incidentally, Barnes & Noble also owns Fictionwise, the company behind the eReader app, which is also available for free in the App Store. Cost: Free This app can be used by those who are Kindle-less, but really shines for those that have bought into the Kindle ecosystem, as it offers Amazon’s clever “Whispersync” feature. It allows for seamless switching between the Kindle device and Kindle for iPhone. Whispersync knows where you are in a book, so you can read half a chapter on the bus, and when you get home, your Kindle device will give you the option to pick up where you left off, which is pretty clever. Another nice touch is the ability to lock the screen in portrait or landscape mode, so if you want to read in bed, the accelerometer won’t drive you nuts. Cost: Free Although other e-reader apps support such titles, Stanza makes access to the 50,000 free e-books of Project Gutenberg and Feedbooks easy, and offers a similar Read More

The iPad, even before it was officially unveiled, was being hailed by some as a possible Kindle killer.  Well, no one is going to actually stand behind that statement quite yet, but many eBook app developers are certainly excited for what the iPad has to offer, including Wattpad, the world’s most popular eBook community. Wattpad has officially announced that they intend to have an iPad-specific version of their popular eBook app available in time for the device’s launch in March. “No doubt Apple has created a game changer for ebooks,” said Ivan Yuen, CTO of Wattpad. “An iPad optimized version of Wattpad will be available when the iPad goes on sale in March.” Wattpad’s current iPhone and iPod touch app allows users to find and read all kinds of written works published by the massive Wattpad.com community.  The iPad version of Wattpad, however, won’t simply be a higher resolution version of the iPhone app.  The developers intend to take advantage of the added screen real estate by including some of the more important social content that they simply couldn’t fit into the iPhone app, such as author profiles, comments, messages boards, and more. The team also brought up a good point about ads in iPad apps.  Since Wattpad is an ad-supported free app, the iPad version will be able to display more ads without compromising the user experience. Expect Wattpad’s announcement to merely be the first of many eBook iPad app announcements to come in the near future. Read More