As a Kindle owner, I love the fact that Amazon released an iPhone app to allow me to continue reading my content even when I don’t have the actual Kindle with me. Of course, the experience of reading on the iPhone’s much smaller and back-lit screen is worse than on the Kindle, but Amazon has made it a bit better with the new update it just rolled out.
The new 1.1 version of the Kindle app [iTunes link] allows users to read in either portrait or landscape mode. You can also now switch between different background color/text color combinations to make reading easier on the eyes. And turning pages is now easier with tap support and you can now use the multi-touch pinch to zoom in on images. Basically, Amazon has iPhone-ified the Kindle experience.
My favorite thing about the landscape/portrait mode is that while you rotate your iPhone to switch between the two, there’s a lock icon in the lower right hand corner to easily disable this rotation. I wish every app on the iPhone had that, as I cannot stand when things rotate even though I didn’t want them to. The background options of black or sepia along with the standard white is also a nice touch, as it can be hard to read on the white when the screen is fully illuminated.
A couple of weeks ago, Amazon revamped its Kindle book site to be better suited to browse and shop from the iPhone. Now, it seems that the app is already benefiting from Amazon’s recent purchase of the company behind the popular Stanza book-reader app. With this latest update, the Kindle app now shares many of the same features.
Nice, now I can pay to read TC on the iPhone via the Kindle app!
Damn….uhhh! Confusing
http://www.wannadevelop.com
CANADA WANTS THIS!!!
Not fair – we’re still using books up here man.
Hey bozo, I thought the purpose of the kindle was to be able to take it anywhere and read from it when you want. So why would you want to use your I phone when kindle should be available and much easier to read off of?
because who honestly takes their kindle with them everywhere? the iPhone on the other hand is your phone and fits in your pocket.
This is exciting! I’m still waiting to get through a few real books I have waiting for me before I purchase something on the iPhone. I do love the Kindle App, though, and this update sounds great.
Off to download it…
I wish they had added an option for adjusting text justification. Forced full justification creates really awkward white spaces in sentences. That said, being able to read in landscape mode does help a bit on this front.
Funny thing is going to happen. Apple will release a big iPhone, tablet like eventually. Of course it wll have the app store and amazon will want to be on it, and then where does that leave the kindle? Maybe apple is amazons way out of the hardware business, once they establish people reading on a device.
So basically they made it look more like iTunes?
Now, if they’d just release a Blackberry version of the Kindle reader, I’ll be very happy.
I only buy books from the Ferenczy Eastern Orthodox monastery in Rumania. They lovingly and laboriously convert best sellers into illustrated manuscripts on vellum that you can treasure in your library. I just finished reading Wilbur Smith’s new novel, Assegai, in illustrated manuscript. Sadly, Wilbur seems to have shot his wad. Writers like heavyweight boxers never seem to grasp when it is time to hang it up.
Can’t wait for an Australian release!
Looks to me like they’re just using the Stanza app for iPhone (the company they bought. Look and feel similar, and it’s only a matter of time before the next version adds color.
(@dusing): I think you’re right.
(@robert_brady) No, they made it look like Stanza. Download that free App and you’ll notice the similarities right away.
@Franci: there is a reader for the Blackberry, and it sells pretty much the same books as Kindle. It’s called eReader, and it’s also a free App that works on iPhone as well.
I agree that full text justification on the Kindle app is horrible. All those blank spaces look quite ugly, and it’s a well-known fact that full text justification is harder to read.
Amazon needs to fix this.
Apparently the App, just like the Kindle device itself, is not available in Canada. That’s ridiculous. Seriously, it’s a website, it’s not like we can’t access it from anywhere in the world, so why limit it to the States?!?