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Free eBook Reader From wattpad

by Bull on Apr 9th, 2008 at 4:59 pm EST
12 Comments »
 

wattpadLove reading in your spare time? Want to catch a quick witty joke or poem before your meeting?

Look no further, this free eBook reading and sharing Java application from Wattpad is pretty cool. Wattpad is all about the community. Content is uploaded by community members and read by others. You yourself can upload content as well after creating a free account.

After downloading the Java app from m.wattpad.com it’s very simple to use with a friendly user interface.

watt3.png watt4.png

As you can see you can also change the background and text colors to your liking from a list of preset choices, along with the text size. I wish more applications had this feature.

Getting an eBook is easy, with two ways of doing so. First you could go visit the Wattpad.com site on your home computer, find a story you’d like to read, and grab it’s code on the right hand side of the page. Then go back to the application on your phone and punch it in. Wattpad does the rest. Or secondly, you could just find it via the application’s internal browser:

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watt8.pngGetting the story via “Read Now”, either from the website or the applications internal browser is very fast.

Downloading the entire story to “Read Offline”, however is a bit more involved. If you select this feature, the application will launch the appropriate page in your BlackBerry browser, where you can choose several different download options. If your limited on space you could download the book in parts, or just download the Full version. The stories are in .jad format, and once downloaded, you simply select Run from the download screen, and it will launch the story in Wattpad, where you can read it at your leisure.

I assume that it can be easy to forget how many stories you’ve downloaded after a while, thus filling up your phones memory pretty quickly, so keep an eye out on that! So far I haven’t found any major issues with this application, so hopefully you’ll enjoy it as much as I have. Happy reading!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 9th, 2008 and is filed under Free Software, News.
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12 Comments to “Free eBook Reader From wattpad”

  1. Posted by: Nikolaus
    April 9, 2008 at 5:47 pm EST

    Hey not bad! Easy install, and works just like described. I’m looking forward to my next airport wait when I can sit and read what is out there.

  2. Posted by: Bull
    April 9, 2008 at 5:58 pm EST

    :D Glad you enjoyed it

  3. Posted by: Ivan
    April 9, 2008 at 8:00 pm EST

    Thanks for writing about us! If you have any suggestions, we’d love to hear from you.

  4. Posted by: Bull
    April 9, 2008 at 8:02 pm EST

    Not a problem! Glad to have done it

  5. Posted by: Luciano ES
    April 9, 2008 at 9:38 pm EST

    I’ve always wanted to have a decent Blackberry reader for the many .txt files I have in my desktop, so I was excited when I ran into Wattpad. But it has three flaws.
    .
    Minor flaw: no support for BIS. You must have a direct TCP connection, which my carrier does not allow. The only option left for me is the “offline” installation, which is indeed a little more involved as Bull himself put it.
    .
    Minor flaw: even worse, this “offline” installation converts every piece (book or document) into what looks like an application to the Blackberry. So it has to be installed and take up device memory. You can’t keep your books in your memory card. Oh, and when you uninstall a Wattpad book to free up space, you have to reboot the phone or the space won’t be reclaimed. Isn’t that cute?
    .
    Major big huge unbelievable flaw: instant and compulsory sharing of your content! That’s insane. What if my content is private/sensitive? It will be left out in the open for everyone to see. It even gets announced in the “What’s New” section of the site. And there is no Delete option. It’s there forever.
    .
    And what if my content is copyrighted? So long as I have bought the book, I think it’s perfectly fair use to have a copy in PDF or TXT format to read on my Blackberry. But sharing it with the world is most certainly NOT fair use. Sure enough, just take a stroll around Wattpad and see for yourself: most of the material Wattpad is offering is commercial copyrighted material. That is piracy! I wonder how long it will be until Wattpad gets shut down.
    .
    I wonder if Ivan is loving hearing from me this time around. I wrote to him two months ago to point out those issues. He addressed my concerns with BIS connection – “Only TCP connections are supported at the moment” – but completely dodged the copyright issue. I just visited the Wattpad site and no changes seem to have been applied. You can’t have private uploads. Should I be surprised? Probably not. In fact, by looking at the Wattpad Web site, one can easily assume that piracy is indeed the primary purpose of Wattpad.
    .
    There is a better option in town. Read yesterday’s edition of Berry Review and learn all about it.

  6. Posted by: Ivan
    April 9, 2008 at 9:52 pm EST

    Luciano is right. The site is for sharing your works or material that can be distributed without violating the IP rights. Please note that many works were published on Wattpad by the copyright holder and cannot be redistributed, so please refer to the terms of use attached to the individual works.

    There are plenty of document readers for the blackberry, so we realize that’s not what we are here to provide. We are trying to create a place for authors to publish their works and a place for people to read interesting works on their mobile device.

    Please note there is a review period for all your uploads. If you mistakenly shared some material, or realize there’s an error in your upload, you have the option to delete it during this time. I hope this helps clarify the process.

  7. Posted by: Bull
    April 9, 2008 at 9:54 pm EST

    Wow, some very good points Luciano. Thanks for bringing those forward. I didn’t notice the TCP connection, I guess my carrier does allow that.

  8. Posted by: danigirl
    January 18, 2009 at 10:00 pm EST

    I love wattpad! I have tons of books with me ready to read whenever and whereever I am. It’s especially great at night in bed b/c I don’t keep my hubby up.

  9. Posted by: Chrizzy
    March 26, 2009 at 5:23 pm EST

    You can now delete the ebooks you’ve finished reading..just go to options>advanced options>applications>right click the file and press delete

    You will need to restart your blackberry though for the deletion to reflect.

    Thanks!