My first foray into the world of e-reading was with the Kindle app on the iPhone. I wanted to be able to read e-books for that portability and cheaper price, but at that time Kindle devices, and most other e-readers, were well over $200. I just didn’t want to spend that much. Not only is the Kindle app free, you don’t have to have the Kindle device to be able to use the app.
With the books downloaded into the Kindle app, you can read them and not have to worry about losing your place. The app automatically holds that place for you where you last left off. It will also hold additional bookmarks for you if you want to remember other pages other than your current location. Additionally, you can leave annotations to certain selections, and anyone reading the book after this point can see your annotations as well as any others that have been left.
Once Kindle came out with apps for a Mac and PC, the Kindle app for iPhone increased its usefulness. Now if you didn’t want to read a book on your phone, you could read it on your computer and vice versa. Whipersync will keep the two at your most recent reading location so that you can transfer back and forth with ease. It makes reading e-books every bit as mobile as reading a hard copy book. After I had already downloaded the Kindle App, the iPhone came out with their iBooks app. Trying both, the iBooks app doesn’t have near the ease of use that the Kindle app does, which is odd for a native iPhone app. It’s on my iPhone, but I rarely ever use it, unless it’s to read something that the iPhone sends to the application. I definitely don’t ever read books in it. Aside from the fact that some users think reading a book on a smaller screen like the iPhone can be cumbersome, the only other disadvantage to the Kindle app for iPhone is that you can’t read magazines or newspapers on it like you can the regular Kindle device. You also can’t read them on the Kindle apps for the Mac and PC. If that’s the sole reason you’re considering the download, to read your news, it’s not worth it. But if you’re looking for an easy way to read books, a way that is as every bit mobile as you are, then this is the way to go.
