QuickReader review

We review QuickReader, an independent eBook app that teaches you to read at superhuman speeds

In one of our favourite cartoons of all time, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Frylock once attempted to convince Meatwad to stop watching so much television and to read a book instead. Meatwad's answer was difficult to argue with: "Shake says books are from the devil, and TV is twice as fast."

Well, they might still be from the devil, but the QuickReader iPhone app could be just what you need to bring ebook reading up to TV speeds.

The app is essentially two-fold, offering a customisable e-reader app on the one hand, and a system for teaching you to speed up your reading techniques on the other. Whether you actually want to plough through your eBooks quicker is a matter of personal preference, but at least the app offers a robust application for looking at ePub files at normal speeds, too.

Firstly, the eBook reader is as complete as any. You can adjust it to best fit your ideal screen, changing the fonts, margins, tint colour and page turning style, which might not sound too important but it's no bad thing tuning the reader to your eyes. You can also drop your own ePub-formatted ebooks into the app, so long as they're not DRM protected, and all the free online resources are available in-app.

This includes the likes of Feedbooks, Smashwords and Project Gutenberg, and there's a smattering of un-copyrighted titles built into the app so you can start reading straight away. Admittedly there's nothing particularly outstanding about QuickReader as an eReader app - especially if you consider that the likes of Stanza is available for free - but it's certainly the equal of its closest rivals.

Where it branches of the well-trodden ebook reader path is in its speed reading facility. You can set a words-per-minute limit, with around 300 words per minute considered average and 700 words fast, and as you begin reading the app sequentially highlights a small section of words and works its way through the book.

At first, 300 words per minute seemed very fast, but admittedly, once you get into the flow, it becomes astonishingly readable. The idea is that you use the system regularly - at least once a day - and build up your speed reading over time. Clearly the method works, as the highlighting helps you to keep both track and pace with the story.

You might well ask why you need to be able to read really, really fast, and that's a valid question. Enjoying a good book has nothing to do with speed. However, there's another off-prescription benefit to using the speed reading system built into QuickReader. The extra attention and concentration required to follow both the story and the highlighting means you involuntarily clear your mind and ignore distractions around you.

Certainly for us, just keeping up demanded 100 per cent attention, and the usual ambient distractions simply couldn't find their way through. The result is that, although you're firing through the story faster than you'd normally attempt, you're also giving it a lot more concentration - and that's a very valuable commodity.

So in the end QuickReader might only deliver an off-the-shelf eReader app, but it more than earns its money in other respects. If you're an avid reader and passionate about your ebooks, this app is definitely worth a thorough test.

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