Instapaper announced last night that its reading app got a lot more interesting. Among the numerous improvements  is one that will surely catch everyone’s eye. The app now supports a faux page curl as a page turn option.

While everyone is probably going to ooh and aah over the page turn, I have to say that I’m not impressed. Yes, it looks neat, but it doesn’t add anything to the function of the app. It just looks pretty.

I don’t understand why anyone would want it; like many I have been reading on a screen of one kind or another for decades now. I don’t need fake page turns to trick myself into thinking I’m reading on paper. A screen is just fine.

But the other updates do appeal to me, including a new and faster page turn mode. But that’s not all:

• New draggable dot bar to replace the scroll bar in pagination mode
• New two-finger-swipe gesture to close an article
• Full-screen now has “Auto” mode to switch to full screen after a few seconds
• The subtle Twilight Sepia color tint can now be selected at any time
• Added sharing to Drafts and the upcoming Quotebook 2.0
• Many bugfixes and performance improvements

You can find the app in iTunes.