Solar System for iPad vs Borble Planets
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Solar System for iPad
Explore our solar system with this interactive electronic book. Discover planets, moons, and spacecraft through stunning 3D objects, movies, and animations. Control orbits and view real scientific data for an immersive learning experience.
- Interactive orrery with controllable orbits
- Detailed 3D astronomical objects
- Spacecraft imagery from NASA, ESA, JAXA
- Live astronomical information from Wolfram|Alpha
- Richly illustrated with interactive diagrams and videos
- Exclusive theme song by Björk
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A breakthrough electronic book about our Solar System, offering hours of interactive exploration and presenting a treasure trove of visual information. Bestselling author Marcus Chown leads us on a grand tour through the incredible diversity of planets, moons, asteroids, comets and spacecraft that surround the Sun in our cosmic backyard. Illuminating his insightful and surprising text are a wealth of beautiful 3D objects, movies, images, animations, and diagrams, all fully interactive, richly detailed and accurately based on real scientific data. Set the heavens in motion in an interactive orrery that allows you to control the orbits of the moons and planets, observing them from any viewpoint with breath-taking surface detail. View the latest imagery returned by both manned and robot spacecraft, beautifully presented on the iPad screen. Then double-tap any astronomical object to jump directly to its chapter in the interactive book. Solar System for iPad is brought to you by RGB (creators of The Elements) and Faber & Faber (London’s greatest independent publisher). It raises the bar yet again on what an interactive book can be. A perfect gift for anyone with an iPad: Solar System allows the imagination to roam free from Mercury to Pluto and beyond. ------------ Awards: Winner of the FutureBook Digital Innovation Prize (The Bookseller Industry Awards) – March 2011 ------------ Reviews: “There is so much to this application that I can only begin to scratch the surface on its offerings. As with The Elements the content and presentation truly make learning fun and inspiring.” - WIRED Magazine “The new Solar System for iPad app is an amazing and extraordinarily attractive resource for amateur astronomers... an out-of-this-world digital book that is as informative as it is beautiful. It’s a stellar example for other reference app makers on how to best take advantage of the tablet medium.” - USA Today, Marc Saltzman ------------ Features: • Exclusive theme song by Björk • More than 150 beautifully presented story pages • Richly Illustrated with interactive diagrams, videos and 3D objects • Over 40 rotatable and zoomable 3D astronomical objects • Over 600 images from NASA, ESA and JAXA space missions • Detailed captions including technical data • Live astronomical information from Wolfram|Alpha® ------------ Languages: English, German, Japanese ------------ About the author: Leading science writer and former radio astronomer Marcus Chown is cosmology consultant to New Scientist magazine and the author of numerous books including The Quantum Zoo (known internationally as Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You).
Borble Planets
This augmented reality app brings children's planet drawings to life as 3D models. Scan colored creations to see celestial wonders appear in AR, offering an interactive space exploration experience for young learners.
- AR planet creation
- 3D model transformation
- Scan colored drawings
- Interactive space exploration
- Educational for children
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Embark on an out-of-this-world journey with BORBLE 4! This AR app transforms your child’s colored creations into 3D models of planets and celestial wonders. From Mercury to Neptune, watch as the planets come to life in augmented reality with just a scan of your card. Perfect for young astronomers and dreamers aged 3 and up, BORBLE 4 offers a fun and educational exploration of space, right in your hands.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Borble Planets at Free against Solar System for iPad's $12.99. Borble Planets also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.3) and device support (3 vs 1). Solar System for iPad's advantage is ratings volume (22 vs 1). On ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Borble Planets is free to download; Solar System for iPad costs $12.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Borble Planets holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Solar System for iPad has 22 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
| Parameter | Solar System for iPad | Borble Planets |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $12.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.3 (22 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 54.8% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 22 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 months | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.1 GB | 121 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | NatureGuides Ltd. | SOFTECH TEXAS LLC |
Customer experience
Solar System for iPad
Borble Planets
Bugs and requests
Solar System for iPad
Reported bugs
3 issues- App crashes on launch for some users
- Unresponsive controls and freezing issues
- Incorrect or outdated information in some areas
Requested features
4 requests- Update Pluto and Ceres imagery
- Add information on newly discovered dwarf planets
- Improve interactivity and 3D modeling
- Provide offline access to content
Borble Planets
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Solar System for iPad
No in-app purchases
Borble Planets
No in-app purchases





