TrekInk: Review of Star Trek Comics app for iPhone/iPod touch

stcomicsappEarlier in the week TrekMovie reported that IDW has released a new Star Trek application for iPhone and iTouch that allows you to buy and read Star Trek comics. After playing around with it, today we have a review.

 

Star Trek Comics Version 1.0
From IDW Publishing, built with iVerse Media technology, press release

No time to drive over to your local comic shop? Don’t want to be seen hanging out in your local comic shop? Never read a Star Trek comic before and have no idea where to find one? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then IDW Publishing has an app for that. All you need is an iPhone or an iPod touch, an iTunes account and a credit card. Let’s take a look at how it works.

IDW Publishing’s Star Trek Comics app for iPhone and iPod touch is a free download from the iTunes Store that requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later. You need the latest version of the OS because in-app purchasing is enabled, allowing you to buy and download Star Trek comics at will. To get you started, IDW is currently offering three free comics: Star Trek: Countdown #1, Star Trek: Alien Spotlight – Borg, and Star Trek: Year Four – The Enterprise Experiment #1. Along with more issues from these series, other series offered are Star Trek: Nero, Star Trek: Mirror Images, and selected comics from Star Trek: Archives. Prices range from $0.99 to $1.99.

After downloading the app and syncing your iPhone/iPod touch, firing up Star Trek Comics will display an empty shelf which you can fill with comics. Downloading comics is simple. You can start from the storefront, a featured titles page, a new releases page, a top paid titles page, or a free titles page. You can also search by title to find something you like.

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New releases list

Once you navigate to a current issue, just click on the price button and let the iTunes Store spirit your hard-earned money away. Once the financial details have been settled, your comic will download immediately.

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Single issue listing

If you download all the free comics and the app manual, your shelf won’t look quite so bare anymore.

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Shelf view

You can also display your comics in a list view.

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List view

The manual is all of one page and simply tells you what you can do with your finger and your hand. As if you didn’t know all this already, right?

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Star Trek Comics app: The One Page Manual

I own an iPod touch and need a Wi-Fi connection to download comics. If you have an iPhone you’re probably less likely to see the Cannot Connect screen.

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Data must have written this error message

There are only a few setting to personalize the app. You can receive push alerts for new releases and series updates. These services only make sense if you have an iPhone. You can also update and restore previous purchases.

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Settings

You can select how you’d like page transitions to look. Do you feel like sliding, fading or curling?

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Page transition choices

Finally, holding your iPhone/iPod touch in landscape mode, you can read your comics panel by panel. Swiping your finger on the touch screen will bring the next panel or page. Tapping the screen will show you the panel or page count. There may be 60 to 100 panels per comic.

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I thought Janeway was dead!

In portrait mode, you can see the full page of the comic as it appears in print and see how the panels fit together.

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Full page view from Star Trek: Alien Spotlight – Borg

So, what’s the reading experience like? Reasonably good. Most panels are easy to read. Panels that originally appear on splash pages may be split, which is a little disconcerting, but acceptable. The editors have done a good job breaking down the comics I’ve read in print, into panels. If you aren’t a comics reader, this is a great way to introduce yourself to the Star Trek comics universe. If you’re a casual comics reader, this is a convenient way to keep up with Star Trek comics and sample other titles as well. IDW has opened two other storefronts for Transformers and G.I. Joe comics. Meanwhile, iVerse Media is bringing Marvel comics to the iPhone/iPod touch with their own comics app. For a Star Trek comics collector like myself, the Star Trek Comics app is an amusing diversion. However, I think I can see the day when Star Trek comics are published digitally first, then published in print as trade paperbacks. One final note for Android phone owners. iVerse Media’s previously announced plans for Android comic apps is on a back burner while they concentrate on the iPhone economy.

Pros:
You can get a comic now! and read it now!, for half the price, or better, of print comics, as long as you have network access wherever you happen to be when you get the urge. You don’t have to board, bag and store your comics. Your family won’t shake their heads in exasperation as your office fills up with comic after comic, followed in short order by the spare room, the garage, and so on.

Cons:
I don’t get to bag, board and store my comics for posterity. I’d rather tap than swipe to change panels. Apparently I’ve been spoiled by the Kindle app, which lets me change pages by simply tapping the screen. Why go to all the effort of swiping my finger across the screen when an elegantly economical tap will do? There are no bookmarks and you can’t zoom in to examine the artwork.

More platforms coming
Don’t have an iPhone or an iPod touch? IDW Star Trek comics are coming to PSP later this year. And in early 2010, IDW will be adding Android, Blackberry and other mobile platforms. Anybody have a PSP I can borrow?

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Coming to a PSP near you

Mark Martinez is an obsessive-compulsive Star Trek comics reader and collector. You can visit his website, the Star Trek Comics Checklist for more than you ever needed to know about Star Trek comics.

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I’ve been a Trekker for years but I’m just now getting into Star Trek comics. I have a brand new iPhone that is hungry for aps. This seems like a logical one for me. A download link would be nice.

Don’t know where you got the idea Janeway was dead though; she was perfectly alive and well the last time we saw her (Nemesis).

@2

Books

I dig the app. I really like the shelf view… I previously purchased all the Countdown comics for iPhone separately and I’m wondering if there is a way to get them to show up on the shelf without having to buy them again.

Being a trekker myself and just getting a new iPhone, it is logical to check it out and to start fill the phone with apps :-)

clearly the Borg comic book takes place pre-Before Dishonor! ;)

At least in my mind it does…..

You can borrow my PSP if you want.

Does anybody know how I can transfer the comics I’ve already purchased from IDW into this app? I really need to create some space on my iphone homescreens but the only way I seem to be able to do this is if I delete the comics I’ve already bought and then buy them again as an in app purchase!

If you have an I phone you can just go to the Ap store icon on your I phone.

You then just search Star Trek there are a lot of Star Trek Ap s some free.

I recommend the free Phaser Ap.

I love the Star Trek Mobile Game. I think it is 1.99 at this point.

Omg! I have an iPod touch and a PSP! And my local store has never carried Star Trek comics! I am freaking very excited about this!

Reaction 1: How the hell is Janeway alive?

Reaction 2:
THE PSP?! YES!

Oh wait. I can’t buy anything off the PSN store. (No credit card, no way to pay)
/facepalms.

Love the app, works very well. Just make sure you use the iPhone horizontally, if you didn’t figure that out yet, otherwise it’s unreadable.

Yeah you can already download the free Star Trek: Year Four – The Enterprise Experiment comic on the PSP. After the newest update and installing the comic reader software, log in to the PSN and enter this code: 724K-A4BG-JLD7 into the redeem code portion of the store.

Here’s a few more free comics (not Star Trek) for the PSP.

EC2N-9HBR-HJD6
63N8-R2BF-9E4D
FF3N-H7B6-M2JF

I love this thing. Now I just need to get me a 16GB Memory Stick Pro Duo.