Kobo + iPhone = Not so slick

I’m pretty disappointed in the Kobo/iPhone integration so far. I was eager to have a few books from my kobo library on my phone, so downloaded the Kobo App the first day I got Harley.

When I launched the app and logged into my account I expected for my books to magically appear on the iPhone – or at least be given the option to synchronize my books with my account. No dice.

Time to put on my geek detective hat and explore. I tried browsing in the library to the book I had already purchased. While it appeared Kobo was prepared to let my buy the book once more, I didn’t see any option for downloading the book.

Being a bit of a nerd (and figuring I could cancel before the transaction went through – or call the customer support line and get them to fix things if anything went wrong) I clicked on the Purchase link to an ebook I already owned.

Well, don’t you know it takes me to Safari, thanks me for purchasing (no opportunity to enter a promo code, confirm the total amount of the purchase after tax or anything!) and then starts downloading the book to my iPhone.

But here’s the thing – ALL of my books started to download to the iPhone. And I still haven’t received a receipt from the Kobo store thanking me for my purchase. So maybe that’s the way to get things going after all!

After the books downloaded I opened one and tried to flip through it. I went to the last chapter (the scrolling bar was pretty neat) but when I got to the last page nothing happened. I couldn’t flip to the next one and the the app is now hanging on that page. I can’t figure out how to even pull up the menus to bring me back to my book list.

I also managed to make the app crash six times. I feel like I’m using beta software

Oh well, at least I can still read on the actual reader. But I’m definitely disappointed Kobo doesn’t seem to live up to their promise of giving me a seamless reading experience on any device.

Update: I’ve managed to get back to the book list. The book I was trying out is still in “Open” state at 100% read. I can’t for the life of me figure out how to get it to “done”.

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