Impressive!
I’ve been a sceptic about the Kindle since the day it launched. In the meantime I’ve seen it and it is pretty cool. Amazon made an Kindle for iPhone app that is completely free, which makes a lot of sense. Also a Kindle for Mac app, but I find it hard to sit in front of my Macbook and read a story. It’s simply not the same as lying on your back on the couch or reading on the toilet.
At first I thought now this is pretty useless! The iPhone screen is WAY too small for anyone to read a book on. It CANNOT be a pleasant experience. Boy was I wrong?! It is fabulous.
The interface
I love the Kindle for iPhone user interface. It is dead simple. It fills the entire screen with the page. No scrolling or zooming necessary. To page, you simply swipe your finger across the screen. Okay, true, there isn’t a crapload of text on a screen if you read it (like these examples below) in the biggest font size available. This means if you read like a bloody speed demon, your finger are going to get some serious exercise! That wouldn’t be a bad thing either.
When you tap the screen a simple interface appears that allows you to manipulate either text size, text and background colour and manage your bookmarks and locations.
The 3 text and background colours are also very useful.
Black text on a white background.
White text on a black background.
Grey text on a creamy (like a real book page) background. They call it the sepia option.
What is amazing is how useful this actually is! When I was reading on the couch I had it black text on white and it was great. Later when I went to bed and was reading in complete darkness I found the white background too bright and actually straining my eyes so I switched to white text on a black background and it was perfect.
Flip the phone sideways and it turns the book into landscape.
You can highlight certain text or even make notes by simply touching and holding the screen. What is even better about this is if you use Kindle for Mac, Kindle for iPhone and you have a Kindle, it will sync your annotations, highlights and bookmarks across all the devices.
I love the bookmarking feature of the Kindle. Funny that when I read a paper book, I fold the corner when I stop reading to bookmark my place. The Kindle app does exactly the same. Next time when I want to continue reading, I go to the bookmarks and I simply tap the location where I want to go to. Note that you can have many bookmarks throughout the book, so it really is handy.
The sign up process
This is the one area that almost impressed me the most. You need to have an existing Amazon account in order to register for the Kindle store. I have an existing Amazon account, but it is extremely old and I couldn’t remember the login detail, so I created a new account. It was a breeze. I even added my credit card detail and set up 1-click purchasing without hassles. Back at the Kindle store, I registered for the Kindle bookstore by entering my Amazon account detail and off we go. Searched or browsed for books, hit 1-click when I wanted to buy a book and next time I opened my Kindle for iPhone app it fetched my newly acquired book.
All this took me less than 5 minutes. If you have an existing Amazon account it would literally take you no extra time, but typing your username and password. That is impressive!
The book selection
This was my major gripe since the launch. There are only 335 000 books in the Kindle store. Not all the books are being sold as Kindle books and what sucks even more is that if you are in South Africa, you often get books that are in Kindle format, but are not allowed to be sold in our area. A book like Freakonomics is in Kindle format, but you’re not allowed to buy it that way in South Africa.
What did surprise me was that although it is still quite restrictive and limited, there is actually quite a number of books that did in fact interest me and are readily available. By the time I’ve read the books they do have, much more should be available.
The book prices aren’t bad. For example, Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers cost just over $11. It is much better than what you’d pay for the paper book. I bought Mecury Falls by Robert Kroese for a mere $2.99 which is well worth it! The book Erlang Programming will set you back $33.99 which is quite steep. Then again, programming books never come cheap anyway.
To check out the book selection, click here.
Conclusion
I love it. It will replace books for me forever. I will have to find something else to put on my book shelves to fill the space. It is by far my new favorite iPhone app. If you own an iPhone, you should definitely get it. If you don’t own an iPhone, then this is the second most important reason to get one! Get the app here.
Will I buy a real Kindle? No, I won’t as I don’t think I need it. The Kindle for iPhone is sufficient for my needs. Yes, better display, better experience, blah, blah, blah… Can it beat FREE?!
I must also add that I absolutely love the fact that books are now as mobile as my communication device. Never again will I have to page through a Femina, Fairlady or Huisgenoot while waiting for the dentist. It will definitely make me read a lot more.
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Software developer at Afrigator.com
Love Python, do PHP.
