comiXology app review

    Overview

              I know there are plenty of comic book reader friends out there looking for a review of the conglomerate known as comiXology a cross platform app that acts like a digital locker for your precious graphic goodies. Personally I'm a fan of a novel or a movie but a graphic novel acts like a good middle in the road to visualize what is happening without sound (unlike DeviantARTs newest motion books which are amazing, btw). So I decided to spring for comiXology despite a few bad reviews. Overall I thought app was good, had a large category of titles, and the design was good in theory but the app was sluggish some and there wasn't a home button.

Functionality

      It's kind of hard to define "functionality" for a comic book reader app, but if your talking guided panes view, large title category, some free titles, and good prices (noted I'm not the guy for comic book prices I'm going on rates for books then translating them into comic book prices) then you have to use the comiXology app. Buying comics require a credit card and an account even if you are just looking for free ones (like me). After a simple in app registration you can buy books to your hearts content without leaving the app (unlike Kindle) and reading them straight from the glorious cloud. Of course you can choose to download for offline reading for summer road trips where some graphic entertainment is essential. One thing I wasn't happy about (as usual) was the lack of sharing. Every app should use the sharing charm even if it just posts a message to social media saying your using/enjoying etc in comiXology and since it is a website where you can get graphic novels they should at least include a link which guarantees free marketing even if only about 5% of their users use it. So the core functionality is good only thing is the app isn't completely fluid and it can be a bit hard to maneuver around the app on a laptop.

Design

      This is a two fold part. First part is the main page/store. The use of rectangles/boxes has a template look but somehow it looks good. The store isn't hard to maneuver around and purchasing is easy. The reading experience is great feeling very gratifying. The guided view is my favorite and I really enjoy using it with the cool use of zooming and focusing on one pane instead of having to zoom in constantly. Design is good enough for this kind of app and can't see how you could improve it.

Conclusion

      4/5 Good app has some great bones with a great ecosystem. As a first time user I was using the app fluently after about 10 minutes of fiddling around. I am not a collector (don't have any big graphic novel collection just a few like a classic fav of mine Bone the first free one of course) or a big fan but the app as a novice was a great experience. I recommend it if you have an existing comiXology account with a big collection of media.