Eucalyptus review

Rob Potter

We review Eucalyptus, an eBook reader with more than 20,000 books on offer

Published on Oct 8, 2009

The iPhone app store seems to be overflowing with eBook readers, but Eucalyptus is more polished than most, more flexible and more fun too.

The reason we’re so impressed with Eucalyptus is that iPhone eBook readers typically fall into two categories: The first serves up immaculately made eBooks, but gives little choice over the titles you’re provided.

Think along the lines of Classics and you’ll see what we mean, sure it looks great, but you can’t read just anything.

Then there are the more flexible eBook readers, lapping up any text you throw at them, but offering mixed results because of their willingness to read anything.

Eucalyptus falls neatly in the middle. OK, it won’t read just any old text, but that doesn’t mean your choice is limited. It grabs books from Project Gutenberg, meaning there are thousands of texts to choose from.

They’re formatted correctly too, since Eucalyptus knows what to expect from a Gutenberg file.

A built-in browser lets you quickly and easily find books to read, presenting them as a searchable list, or a gallery of the latest pics. They’re all free too: downloading complete with a cutesy animation and blistering speed.

So if the books are free, why is Eucalyptus a paid-for app? Because the developer donates 20% of its earnings to Project Gutenberg to help keep it alive, and guarantee more books in the future.

The app itself is beautifully made, and simple to use. Reading is a pleasure, with pinch-to-zoom controls present and correct, unlike many rival eBook readers.
It’s certainly one of the best reading apps available for the iPhone, and by donating a portion of its profits to keep the books coming we can’t begrudge the cost either.