Plenty of people out there have been looking forward to the Kindle eReader app for the Android OS for some time now and the waiting has come to an end. Honestly, it looks really good. Users will find all the usual features they’ve come to expect from the kindle platform, including a great selection, displays in portrait or landscape orientation, multiple text sizes, the ability to bookmark your books, and of course the ever-popular WhisperSync feature for those who move from device to device as their situation demands.
The App can be acquired free of charge by searching for “Kindle” in the Android Market or by scanning the QR Code provided for you on the Kindle for Android page, assuming you have Android OS 1.6 or later on your phone. For situations when you can’t carry your Kindle with you, this seems to be about the best you can get as far as portability goes. Not going to compare this application to the iPhone/iPad parallel, since I don’t have that handy to make any direct comparison, but it seems to be pretty much the same features and experience spread over the less hardware-restrictive landscape of Android. Give it a try and see for yourself!
Yea, I definitely think it’s just good strategy on Amazon’s part to get their app on as many devices and platforms as possible to take advantage of their Whispersync technology. That adds a major incentive for people to buy through Kindle. iBooks is in trouble and maybe so are the other stores. Amazon has a killer selection and very reasonable prices.
On the other hand, their app comes a day after an EVEN BETTER version of Kindle was released for iPhones/iPads. This may not go over so well with Android users, who now feel like they are getting the second rate version of the Kindle.
I definitely agree with your points about their positioning and description of the Android app is “usable.” Have more to say, but keeping it short. Thanks for the post. I wrote more on my blog post about this: http://ebookreader-ben.com/android-fail-kindle-app-not-as-cool-as-iphones/
I just got the new Droid application last night. It’s really very readable and synchs wonderfully with my Kindle. I especially like it because I’m hesitant to take my Kindle to places like my doctors or when I’m having an oil change (this morning) or when I go for a hair cut for fear I’ll set it down and forget it. Between office and home, I’d prefer my Kindle, however.
The one thing I see lacking is the ability to highlight or make notes; I do that a lot when I read.
I’m happy to see them spreading to more platforms but can’t we get some Windows Mobile love? At the end of 2009 it had more market share than iPhoneOS and Android combined. The gap has probably closed since then but it’s still a major player.
Windows Mobile 7 – quite possible in late 2010 – early 2011. Earlier versions of Windows Mobile – don’t hold your breath