Screenshot_2013-12-23-16-09-21Today I was reminded that Baen has a mobile version of its website and mobile apps under development. I’ve been trying out the Android version, which can be found in the “Baen Mobile” forum on the Baen Bar. It offers some interesting features, but is a bit rough and unpolished as of yet—it is early beta, after all.

The app promises a convenient way to access both your library and the Baen Bar, but it seems to have some way to go yet. The feature that lets you download books into the app to read them there has a tendency to download books multiple times, and I haven’t yet been able to convince it to get into the Bar for me.

Screenshot_2013-12-23-16-09-51Screenshot_2013-12-23-16-44-21I put all my Baen books in my Calibre library, so I can pull them down via OPDS into my Android reader of choice. But for people without that level of expertise who buy a lot of Baen books, this could be a very convenient thing.

I’m not sure I could recommend the app for day to day use just yet, as it seems to have a few kinks that still need working out. But the mobile website, accessible via http://www.baenebooks.com/mobile, looks quite nice even on a device the size of a smartphone. It seems a quite reasonable way to browse and read. Font size and serif/sans serif can be chosen from a settings dropdown, just as in the full-sized version.

Nate covered this story on his own blog a couple of weeks ago, too.

(The screenshots at top and bottom left are from the Android app on my Nook HD; bottom right is from the mobile web site on my smartphone.)

1 COMMENT

The TeleRead community values your civil and thoughtful comments. We use a cache, so expect a delay. Problems? E-mail newteleread@gmail.com.