As many of you have probably already heard, Amazon launched the Kindle for iPhone app last night. This is a big deal “ for Amazon (extending the reach of Kindle content) and for the eBook application category on the iPhone, which just had The 800 pound gorilla move into the neighborhood.
It ‘s also a very big deal if you ‘re an iPhone user and you ‘re fond of reading eBooks on the iPhone “ as you now have a powerful new app to do this with, and one that offers the biggest range of paid and popular content straight away.
I like eBooks on the iPhone a lot, and have several apps for this purpose already. Last night, I woke up in the wee hours with a bit of a stomach bug and couldn ‘t get back to sleep. The stomach ache is now mostly gone (I hope) “ but the unplanned largely sleepless night gave me a perfect chance to install and try out the new Kindle app. Read on for some first impressions and more screencaps
Here ‘s some of what you can do with the new Kindle for iPhone app, per its App Store description page:
- Buy a Kindle book from your Mac, PC, or iPhone using a web browser and wirelessly transfer the books to your iPhone
- Read first chapters of any book before you buy
- Download the Kindle books you already own for free
- Adjust the text size, add bookmarks, and view the annotations you created on your Kindle device
As that last point subtly indicates, you cannot make new annotations via the iPhone app “ but you can see all those you ‘ve added via a Kindle device, if you own one.
If you are a Kindle owner, you also benefit from Whispersync “ which ‘allows you to seamlessly switch back and forth between your Kindle device and Kindle for iPhone while keeping your bookmarks and reading location synchronized between devices ‘ I don ‘t own a Kindle, but I ‘ve already seen several web reviewers praising how well this feature works.
I love the ability to grab free sample chapters before buying. I know this has been available via desktop computers for quite a while “ but for whatever reason I ‘ve never really made much use of it on a PC. On the iPhone, I already grabbed two sample chapters last night, and ended up purchasing one of those books.
The Kindle app ‘s user interface is fairly basic “ it is not a match (yet) for programs like Stanza or many of the ‘self-contained ‘ individual eBook apps for the iPhone. It is good enough though, especially for a 1.0 version of the app.
It ‘s simple to use, with a very sparse layout and very few available commands / options. Swipe to turn pages forwards or back, tap once on the screen to bring up top and bottom command bars that let you: Return to the app ‘s home screen; navigate to the Cover page, Table of Contents, Beginning, or a specific page location; adjust the font size, sync furthest page read info; and bookmark pages. There is no vertical scrolling or auto scroll available now.
I agree with a comment I saw earlier at Daring Fireball saying that a tap (at side of the page) to turn pages is probably a much better gesture than the swipe for this purpose, as it has to be repeated so often.
The home screen in Kindle for iPhone is also very simple in its layout “ showing you your sample and purchased content (which you can sort by how recent it is, by title, or by author) and offering a link to ‘Get Books ‘. The Get Books screen advises that you ‘re best off visiting the Kindle Store page on your Mac or PC “ although you can also do so via the iPhone ‘s Safari browser.
The Kindle Store experience on the iPhone is far less than great at the moment “ so the app ‘s recommendation to shop via a PC when you can is good advice. Don ‘t get me wrong “ everything works fine in Safari on the iPhone. I was able to browse, take a closer look at titles that interested me, download sample chapters, and purchase a book without any hitches directly on the iPhone. The far less than great part of things is that the Kindle Store pages are not optimized for the iPhone at all “ so it takes a lot of pinching, zooming in and out, and horizontal scrolling to get around and do all the things you normally do when browsing and selecting titles.
I feel confident this is something Amazon will address quite soon “ as they have typically offered very good iPhone optimized content on their main site.
I was impressed that the Kindle Store needed no prompting or effort on my part to recognize that I had the iPhone app and pull in my phone ‘s device name “ so it was there immediately as a choice for where to send content to.
Another limitation of the Kindle iPhone app “ in comparison to an actual Kindle device “ is that apparently you cannot get newspaper and magazine content. I ‘ve not tested that piece as yet though.
As mentioned above, I have quite a few eBook reader apps “ and several standalone titles as well “ on my iPhone. Here are my first day thoughts on how the Kindle fits into the mix for me and what the future may hold for my other apps in this area:
Classics “ I ‘ll keep this one at least a while, as I ‘m trying to persuade my daughter to read ‘The Jungle Book ‘ and some of its other titles with me “ and its UI is pretty good.
Stanza “ Will definitely keep this one “ as it offers access to tons of good *free* content, and has a very nice UI.
Standalone Titles “ I have a few of these that are keepers, some are gone after one or two readings. I consider this a slightly different category to real reader applications.
eReader “ This one will probably be leaving my home screen soon. It ‘s a good app but is now trumped by the Kindle app “ due to the sheer amount of content available via Amazon, the sample chapters feature, and a more compelling overall experience. Using eReader ‘s app has never really gripped me somehow.
Kindle for iPhone “ Definite keeper and instant favorite app for popular and paid content. I hope they ‘ll add a few bells and whistles to the UI soon, and optimize the Kindle Store pages “ but even as it stands right now this is a very good app. It definitely served me well during my sleepless hours last night!
Oh, and the one book I purchased last night and read quite a bit of, is ‘Songbook ‘ by Nick Hornby. Hornby is the author of ‘Fever Pitch ‘, ‘High Fidelity ‘ and a number of other excellent and funny novels.
Music features heavily in Hornby ‘s novels and he ‘s also been a music critic for the ‘New Yorker ‘. Songbook is ‘his ultimate list of 31 all-time favorite songs. And here are his smart, funny, and very personal essays about them, written with all the love and care of a perfectly mastered mixed tape… ‘
I love his quote describing the songs contained in it:
"All I have to say about these songs is that I love them, and want to sing along to them, and force other people to listen to them, and get cross when these other people don’t like them as much as I do"
Anyway “ Kindle for iPhone is in the App Store now, and it ‘s free. Check it out soon and let us know what you think of it
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