Kindle on the iPhone
Released last night on the iTunes app store is the Kindle app for the iPhone. This software is free and allows you to read Amazon purchased books on your iPhone. The interesting part is that if you already have a Kindle, both original and new, it claims to sync with them and allow you to purchase from your phone. I decided to download this app and give it a try. I mean why not? Its free, I have a Kindle, I have an iPhone. If you don’t have a Kindle though it still might be worth checking out if you are interested in reading books on your iPhone. Its free, read my post and see what you think.When you first start the app, after downloading of course, you’ll be asked to register your phone. Its similar to how you register your Kindle to your amazon account. Very basic and very easy. Takes no time and immediately after registering my phone I was presented with a new screen
The Home screen is very plain and basic. It shows a list of books you have purchased and syncs the list, not the actual book. So far on my kindle I only have 3 books. I don’t like to buy too many only when I’m ready to read a new one. I have several in my queue though.
Going to the Archive you’ll see the actaull books. Tap on one and it will begin to download it to the iPhone. This is great, it means that I can pick which books to store on my phone, but it will still allow me to see all the available ones. Over 3G it didn’t take too long to download.
After downloading I opened it up, and to my surprise it opened to where I left off reading on my Kindle the night before. It really does sync everything. I can read it on my phone and when wake up my kindle it will be where I left off on my phone. I’m loving this.
Similar to the Kindle you can change font size, leave notes, create bookmarks. Its nice to change the font size so that it can either fill the screen or make it easier to read.
Finally, you may have noticed on the “Home” screen there was a button to “Get Books” Well, this isn’t the best integration. It encourages you to visit amazon.com/kindlestore through your computers web browser. It is kind enough though to give a link that mobile safari can open just fine and browse for books. It would be nice to use the Amazon.com app or maybe a safari optimized page but this is still new so its ok. If there is anything else I come across I’ll be sure to update.
