March 4, 2009

The Kindle iPhone app.

New. I'll try it. I'd like to get all the books I bought for the Kindle I don't use onto the iPhone, which I use all the time.

I will let you know how easily this transition goes.

UPDATE: It was easy — as it always is — to find the app in iStore and to "purchase" it. It's free, and it downloaded normally. I opened the app and saw that I needed to enter my email address and Amazon password, and that caused the downloading of "Archived Items," which was a list — with book cover pictures – of the 11 books I'd already bought. When I touched the name of one item — it happened to be "The Best and the Brightest" — a download of the whole text of the book happened in a few seconds. At that point I could display the text on the bright, clear, small iPhone screen and flip the pages easily with my finger. I'm delighted!

[Typo corrected: "finger" not "figure." Yikes. The image!]

15 comments:

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

My favorite app is the one where you dial a number and you talk to someone live, at anytime of the day or night, no matter where they happen to be.

It’s a marvel… you ought to try it Althouse ;)

holdfast said...

It works well - you can pull down any of the books you've bought, but it HAMMERS the iPhone's little battery and I would not want to read that little screen for more than 15 minutes at a shot. Still, since I usually have several books on the go at once I can have one on the iPhone and another on the Kindle and I don't have to take the Kindle everywhere if I am just planning to kill a few minutes.

Ann Althouse said...

Well, I can't stand to look at the ugly Kindle screen for even 5 minutes.

Randy said...

Well, I can't stand to look at the ugly Kindle screen for even 5 minutes.

I remember reading your comments about this before. Although I've never seen a Kindle screen, I have a Sony Reader. I imagine they have similar backgrounds. In fact, the off-white color is equivalent to most printed books.

Smilin' Jack said...

I will let you know how easily this transition goes.

Yes, please do. I'm so looking forward to being able to read books on my telephone.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to take my laundry out of the refrigerator.

lal said...

i have been using the kindle 2---i love it. but having the same books on
iphone and kindle is spectacular. i can continue reading a book during 15 min breaks i have during the day.
the iphone screen is fine for 15 min.

الفرقد أبو الفرقد said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Randy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jason (the commenter) said...

I find the very idea of a Kindle iPhone app hysterical. Shouldn't they be doing everything possible to keep people from knowing about the iPhone, let alone using it to read books?

Randy said...

Jason: Amazon is first and foremost a content seller. If they expand their market to those unwilling to pay for a Kindle, they make more money.

The Bearded Professor said...

Got the Kindle 2 but sent it back. Who needs it with an iPhone?

Jason (the commenter) said...

Randy : Amazon is first and foremost a content seller. If they expand their market to those unwilling to pay for a Kindle, they make more money.

I understand and agree with you 100%, but I still find it humorous.

Beth said...

Whispersync, part of the iPhone app, allows you to read the same text on a Kindle and on an iPhone, seamlessly. So if you're reading a book at home on the Kindle, and find yourself with some time to kill somewhere else, you can pick up right where you left off on your iPhone. I like that. We don't have a Kindle, but that kind of synchronization makes it a little more tempting.

Unknown said...

Shouldn't they be doing everything possible to keep people from knowing about the iPhone,

How in heaven's name do you keep anyone who is knowledgeable enough to know about the Kindle, from knowing about the far more popular iPhone?

Robt C said...

I wanted a Kindle but backed out because of the price. I downloaded this freebie and tried it out last night. I read in bed for over an hour and it worked great. Small screen NBD. A plus was the backlit screen meant no need for a light, which makes it better for the missus.